The successful applicant will work as a PhD student on an NWO-funded project investigating flooding recovery mechanisms in Arabidopsis thaliana. The selected candidate will work under supervision of Dr Sasidharan at the Plant Ecophysiology group.

Essential:

-     An MSc in the area of experimental plant sciences.

-     A strong background in genetic and molecular techniques.

-     Excellent English oral, written and presentation skills.

 Desirable:

-     Bioinformatics experience on microarray and/or genomics datasets.

-     Affinity with interdisciplinary research

-     Familiarity with whole plant / physiology/ ecomolecular approaches. 

The candidate is offered a full time position for one year with an extension for a further three years if the evaluation is positive.

The salary is supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. In addition we offer: a pension scheme, a partially paid parental leave, flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities. The research group will provide the candidate with necessary support on all aspects of the project. You'll find more information about Working at Utrecht University here.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major societal themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The city of Utrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, with a charming old center and an internationally oriented culture that is strongly influenced by its century-old university. Utrecht city has been consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the Netherlands.

The Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Mathematics. The Faculty is home to 3500 students and nearly 2000 staff and is internationally renowned for the quality of its research. The Faculty's academic programmes reflect developments in today's society

The Plant Ecophysiology group is an internationally recognized plant research group embedded within the Institute of Environmental Biology at Utrecht University, one of Europe’s leading research universities. We are a highly dynamic and competitive research group with multiple national and international collaborations. Successful candidates can expect to work with a highly ambitious, creative and international team of PhD students, post-docs, tenured staff and research assistants.

Project Summary

There has been a global surge in severe, unpredictable flooding events. These have caused widespread damage to agricultural and natural plantings resulting in major economic and biodiversity losses. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of flooding survival mechanisms in plants is therefore an extremely relevant research area. An important aspect of flooding survival is plant recovery following floodwater retreat. Plants are then weak, susceptible to disease and dehydrated due to reduced root conductance. Molecular mechanisms regulating recovery following submergence are poorly characterised. Previous research from our team has demonstrated that overcoming post-submergence stress is an important aspect of flooding tolerance. Plants acclimated to the low oxygen and low light conditions underwater must rapidly re-adjust to terrestrial conditions upon floodwater retreat. Our research has shown that in Arabidopsis, this involves a massive reprogramming of polysome-associated transcripts. The post-submergence period triggers a network of signalling pathways to cope with oxidative stress, senescence and dehydration via stomatal control. Timely adjustment of stomatal opening influences recovery. The successful candidate will follow-up previous leads in this aspect, to characterise molecular processes underlying recovery with a focus on stomatal control. This project will provide the opportunity to combine cell-type specific genomics, genetics and whole plant physiology in an experimental set-up in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana optimised to study flooding recovery.