PhD Position: Development of Magnesium-based biodegradable microdevices for drug delivery

Organisation/Company Politecnico di Milano Department Mechanical Engineering Department Research Field Engineering › Biomedical engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 25 Aug 2026 - 12:00 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 40 Offer Starting Date 1 Oct 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number 101312169 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

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Offer Description

Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) seeks a highly motivated PhD candidate for a fully funded, international doctoral position within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks (MSCA-DN) project MicroMan4Health (website: ), Data-Centric Micromanufacturing Platform Towards Added Value in the Health Sector. The shift from process-centric to data-centric micromanufacturing constitutes a paradigm evolution in how knowledge, control, and value will be created in micromanufacturing platforms for the health sector.

About the host

Politecnico di Milano is a leading Italian technical university where more than 45.000 engineers, architects and designers are educated each year. PoliMi has always aimed at the quality and innovation of teaching and research by developing a fruitful relationship with the economic and industrial sectors.

Research background

Manufacturing of microcomponents as intraocular drug-delivery carriers places extreme demands on tolerances and functional quality. The design of such components needs a better definition of requirements to assure their functionality, intersected with their manufacturability at the extreme end of achievable accuracy. Moreover, support is needed towards future automated process planning and Digital Product Passport requirements.

Research objectives

This doctoral project aims to establish a fully digitalized and traceable process chain for manufacturing magnesium-based biodegradable intraocular drug-delivery carriers. The work focuses on defining process tolerances, mapping each step of the manufacturing workflow, and creating a process planning ontology that links machines, fixtures, parameters and constraints to support future automated planning and Digital Product Passport requirements. Using IIoT-enabled tracking and bio-metrology, the project will validate a robust and repeatable production route for industrial-scale micro-carrier fabrication.

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• Define and characterise the complete process chain for producing magnesium-based intraocular micro-carriers
  
• Implement a process-planning ontology integrating resources, capabilities and constraints
  
• Develop IIoT-based traceability aligned with Digital Product Passport requirements
  

Expected results include:

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• Validated tolerances and certified verification procedures for micro-carrier components
  
• A comprehensive ontology describing all machines, tools, parameters and constraints required for scalable fabrication of magnesium-based biodegradable drug-delivery carriers.
  

Validation and industrial relevance

The research builds on MgShell’s expertise in biodegradable drug-delivery technologies ( ) and Politecnico di Milano’s strengths in microfabrication and digital machining. Secondments include MgShell (3 months) for industrial process definition, the HUD (University of Huddersfield)(2 months) for bio-metrological verification, and KUL (KU Leuven)(1 month) for microfabrication process-chain analysis.

A.1 You do not yet hold a doctoral degree

A.2 You hold (or will shortly complete) a Master’s degree in biomedical engineering or a closely related discipline, with very good results, qualifying you for admission to a doctoral programme. Knowledge of non-ferrous material properties and behaviour in MedTech applications (e.g. corrosion) and their characterisation is fundamental

B. Technical skills

B.1 Strong interest and hands‑on experience in advanced/micro manufacturing, precision engineering and digital manufacturing, especially related to the MedTech‑oriented context

B.2 Hands‑on experience in quality assurance, data science, data‑driven modelling, digital manufacturing workflows, and Digital Product Passport

B.3 Hands‑on experience in machine learning, ontologies and knowledge graphs, IIoT and digital‑twin concepts, and programming (e.g. Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW or similar engineering software)

B.4 Strong interest in metrology

B.5 Experience in working with experimental setups, laboratory equipment, measurement equipment, process monitorin