Are you interested in comparing genes and genomes of lettuce with other flowering plants? Would you enjoy being part of a large and diverse team of researchers at several Dutch Universities? Will you develop a comparative genomic framework for exploring and understanding genome and trait evolution of lettuce and its relatives in the Asteraceae family? Than we have an interesting position for you at Wageningen University and Research.We are looking an enthusiastic and motivated plant biologist/bioinformatician with a PhD who would like to do collaborative and creative research in an interdisciplinary team. Within the project, you will take the lead in creating a comparative phylogenomic framework, integrating homology, phylogeny and synteny analysis, of lettuce, other Asteraceae species and more distantly related flowering plants. The framework will be used by you to understand gene, gene family and genome evolution and will facilitate the rest of the team in studying particular traits and genes of interest. As part of the PhD training, you will be also involved in supervising MSc and BSc students as well as teaching in relevant courses. We invite applications from ambitious candidates with relevant research experience and a passion for studying plant trait evolution using phylogenomic approaches.�
About the research programThe project is embedded in the subtheme BigData of the
LettuceKnow program (see below for more information and the
website for additional vacancies). You will join a team of 18 PhD students, post-docs and technicians working in Utrecht, Wageningen and Leiden. LettuceKnow (a NWO-TTW perspective program) started in 2019 to investigate key resilience and architecture traits of lettuce. Lettuce is an important component of a healthy diet with an extensive global use.
The project aims to identify molecular mechanisms and genes for resilience and architecture. The basis for this is the combination of large-scale transcriptomics of a diversity panels of 500 wild and cultivated
Lactuca accessions, cutting-edge phenotyping, powerful integrative bioinformatics & machine learning, and state-of-the-art plant biology. The LettuceKnow team brings together leading scientists in the areas of plant biology, genomics and data sciences to enable the optimal use of big data and discover the genes/alleles underlying important traits. It comprises a diverse research community with a strong focus on resolving major challenges for Dutch lettuce breeders to develop resilient and sustainable varieties that are adapted to changing climate conditions.
The Biosystematics Group and The Graduate School Experimental Plant Sciences The PhD or post-doctoral position will be under the daily supervision of Prof. Eric Schranz in the Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University & Research.
You will be part of the Biosystematics group, with ~30 employees, including technicians, PhD students, post-docs, junior and senior scientists working on fundamental questions about biological diversity.
The group research themes are:
- origin and maintenance of plant and insect biodiversity;
- speciation, domestication and plant-animal interactions;
- applying phylogenetic patterns to test hypotheses on underlying evolutionary processes.