The Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS), one of the largest institutes of the Faculty of Science, is seeking a Postdoctoral researcher plant molecular biology.

The postdoctoral researcher will isolate RNA from plant material treated with strigolactones and send this material for sequencing. He/she will subsequently analyse the RNAseq data and will look for processes that are controlled by strigolactones and can explain the resulting phenotypes, using a range of data analysis tools, including network analysis. The postdoc will suggest new experiments to further pinpoint the underlying mechanisms using further gene expression analysis and plant hormone analysis, if cross-talk with other hormone pathways seems to be involved.

He/she will supervise 2 part-time technicians who will help with plant hormone analysis and candidate gene verification. Together with the technicians, the researcher will design new experiments to confirm the mechanisms identified.

The candidate we are looking for has completed a PhD. He/she has expertise in molecular plant physiology and analysis of RNAseq data/bioinformatics in plants with a strong bioinformatics background.

Furthermore we are looking for a team-player, with good command of English.

He/she will create and analyse RNAseq data from which mechanisms controlled by strigolactones will be inferred that will be further investigated using a range of experimental approaches.

Affinity with plant hormones and/or stress responses is an asset.

The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of 1 year and after satisfactory evaluation it may be extended to a total duration of 2 years. The candidate is also expected to assist in teaching of undergraduates. Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary in the first year will be max €3,358 month (scale 10-6). The Collective Labour Agreement (cao) for Dutch universities is applicable.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences

The Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) is one of the largest institutes of the Faculty of Science. Its approximately 240 scientists and staff members work in 16 research groups that perform excellent research centered on three themes:

1. Cell & Sytems Biology,
2. Neurosciences, and
3. Molecular Life Sciences.

Within the theme Molecular Life Sciences five research groups have dedicated their research to plants: Plant Physiology, Molecular Plant Pathology, Plant Development & (Epi)Genetics, Plant Cell Biology and Plant Hormone Biology. The recently established research group Plant Hormone Biology investigates the role of plant hormones in growth and development and the communication of plants with other organisms. An example of this is formed by the strigolactones that are used by the friends of plants, the symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, for host detection but also by their enemies, root parasitic plants. Furthermore, they have an endogenous signalling function, as a plant hormone that regulates shoot branching and root architecture. In this project we will investigate the mechanism by which strigolactones affect growth and development in plants. We will do that using gene expression analysis using RNAseq and plant hormone analysis. The Plant Hormone Biology group consists of an international team of postdoctoral researchers, Phd candidates and technicians with expertises varying from analytical chemistry to biochemistry to molecular biology.

http://sils.uva.nl/