Research Working Student, Microbiology

Differential Bio is looking for a microbiology working student to support hands-on R&D and robot-driven high-throughput screening in its automated labs in Freising and Planegg-Martinsried, near Munich.

• Company: Differential Bio
• Location: Munich, Germany (labs in Freising and Planegg-Martinsried)
• Employment type: Internship / working student, on-site
• Hours: ~15–20 hours per week, ideally for 6+ months
• Start date: October 2026
• Department: Research & Development

About Differential Bio

Differential Bio combines data, AI and lab automation to optimise media and bioprocesses – building the intelligence engine for the bioeconomy’s future. The team turns wet-lab experiments into model-ready datasets that train machine-learning models, making microbial production faster, cheaper and more predictable for customers in probiotics, food and specialty chemicals.

Role summary

We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Research Working Student in Microbiology (part-time, ~15–20 h/week, ideally 6+ months) to support R&D activities in microbiology and robot-driven high-throughput screening in our automated lab, and to help deliver customer projects in domains ranging from probiotics to specialty chemicals.

You’ll join a small, driven team, including the founders, at an early and defining stage of a growing biotech company. With good performance, this working student position offers direct opportunities to join a pioneering team at the forefront of digital biology and biotechnology.

You’ll work directly with our Senior Scientists and the wider microbiology team, who will mentor you on experimental execution, documentation standards and reproducibility – and you’ll see first-hand how your data closes the loop with our data science and AI team.

Key responsibilities

• Assist in preparing media, reagents and buffers under sterile conditions.
• Support microbial cultivation, including sampling, plating and incubation.
• Perform basic microbiological assays and support data collection and documentation.
• Support media and cultivation experiments, including the setup of plate-based design-of-experiment (DoE) runs.
• Support assay development and validation runs.
• Capture and document data in structured, model-ready templates that feed AI/ML model training and downstream analysis by the data science team.
• Operate and maintain laboratory equipment and the lab automation platform (e.g. liquid-handling robots, plate readers, automated incubators), including setting up, running and monitoring automated plate-based workflows.
• Assist with inventory management, cleaning and general lab organisation.
• Follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) and maintain safety standards.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Microbiology, Bioprocess Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Chemical or Bioprocess Engineering, or a related field.
• Basic understanding of aseptic techniques and microbiological lab practices.
• Curiosity, reliability and willingness to learn in a hands-on environment.
• Strong organisational and communication skills.
• Strong commitment to lab work; must be available for on-site work in Freising at TUM FACIT / TUM Venture Lab FAB or at our lab space at MAxL, IZB Planegg-Martinsried.
• Available for 6+ months at ~15–20 h/week, starting October 2026.

Nice to have

• Prior lab internship, working student role or thesis work in microbiology, fermentation or bioprocessing.
• First exposure to lab automation, liquid-handling robots or high-throughput screening – no prior experience required; training is provided.
• Basic Python or R skills, or general comfort working with structured data and spreadsheets.
• German is helpful for day-to-day lab and campus life but not required – the working language is English.

Benefits

• Get on board early: become an early part of a visionary team using digital biology to unlock the $4tn bioeconomy.
• Competitive compensation through salary – the team is building small but mighty and thinks about compensation along those lines.
• Leadership opportunity: work closely with visionary founders, with the potential to grow into a leadership role with significant responsibility.
• Modern, highly automated labs – including liquid-handling robots and high-throughput screening systems – at TUM FACIT / TUM Venture Lab FAB (Food/Agro/Biotech) in Freising and at MAxL, BioM’s start-up incubator at the IZB in Planegg-Martinsried.
• eGym WellPass membership.

How to apply

Sound like you? Send your CV and a few lines on what draws you to hands-on microbiology and high-throughput R&D to lauren@carbonthirteen.com – every application is read.