Postdoctoral Fellowship in Smart Oral Delivery Platforms for Targeted Therapeutics

Acknowledgement of Country
CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation .

Role highlights

• Pioneer technologies that improve bioactive therapeutic delivery
• Join an innovative team in Livestock & Aquaculture
• Launch your career at CSIRO – Australia's National Science Agency

About CSIRO
As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

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The opportunity
CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system, wherever they pursue their subsequent careers.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the demand for sustainable production systems are driving urgent global need for smarter, non-antibiotic interventions in animal production. While many next-generation therapeutic strategies, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), probiotics, bacteriophages, and immune modulators, show promise, their effectiveness is often limited by challenges such as poor stability during feed processing, low stability in water, rapid degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, or limited bioavailability at target tissues.

The successful candidate will address these barriers by developing oral delivery platforms for fragile therapeutics and functional compounds in feed. Leveraging CSIRO's unique integration of feed manufacturing, materials science, aquaculture nutrition and health, this fellowship will pioneer encapsulation and smart carrier technologies that improve the stability, precision, and efficacy of bioactive delivery in monogastric animals, with a focus on aquaculture species. A key component of the project will be to explore the use of low-cost, sustainable materials such as biochar and agricultural by-products, including the valorisation of agricultural waste streams through dry fractionation, as carrier matrices for oral delivery platforms.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Conduct literature reviews to assess current oral delivery technologies and identify key gaps in feed-based delivery of labile therapeutics and bioactives.
• Design, develop and optimise novel oral delivery platforms (e.g. nanoencapsulation, matrix encapsulation and carrier systems) to stabilise and protect labile bioactives during feed processing and digestion.
• Evaluate the potential of low-cost, sustainable materials (e.g., biochar and agricultural by-products) as carrier matrices for oral delivery platforms.
• Conduct in vitro testing of compound stability, release kinetics, and bioavailability using simulated feed manufacturing and digestive models.
• Undertake in vivo validation of delivery technologies in model organisms (e.g. Artemia) and production species (e.g. fish, prawns), assessing therapeutic efficacy, pharmacokinetics, host response, and potential cytotoxicity.
• Apply multi-omics approaches to analyse complex biological datasets and elucidate mechanisms of action at the host–microbe–diet interface.
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to integrate food technology, feed formulation, processing, and animal health insights into scalable, industry-ready solutions.
• Communicate research findings effectively through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, industry forums, and technical reports.
• Deliver innovative and impactful research aligned with CSIRO's vision to reduce antibiotic use, enhance animal health and welfare, and support sustainable high-value protein production.

Role particulars
Location:
Brisbane, QLD

Salary:
AU$99,990 - AU$109,527 per annum (pro-rata for part-time % superannuation

Tenure & work schedule:
Specified term of 3 years, Full-time

Reference:
100800

As the successful candidate, you will bring:
Essential Criteria

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD). The doctorate must be in a relevant discipline area, such as animal nutrition, feed science, pharmaceutical sciences, materials science, microbiology, biotechnology, or similar. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of relevant research experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one of the following areas: materials science and biomaterials engineering, pharmaceutical and drug delivery sciences, digestive biology and gut physiology.
• Experience in designing and conducting experiments with scientific rigour, including in vitro simulation models and/or in vivo animal trials relevant to oral delivery and digestive biology.
• Proven ability to analyse complex datasets and apply scientific methodologies effectively.

Desirable criteria

• Practical experience or strong understanding of encapsulation technologies and carrier matrix development.
• Experience working with antimicrobial peptides, probiotics, bacteriophages, nanoparticles, or similar bioactive compounds.
• Familiarity with multi-omics approaches and/or data integration methods.

For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the Position Description .

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?
While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don't let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting you up for success
We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact Laura Mason via and let us know how we can support you.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements
W e work flexibly at CSIRO , offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO .

Inclusion and belonging
Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility
Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents and Australian Temporary Residents who hold a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Child safety
CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy .

How To Apply
Please apply online and submit a CV and cover letter (maximum 2 pages) that demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the selection criteria of this role.

Applications close
15 October 2025, 11:00pm AEDT