The Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) is seeking a Postdoctoral researcher for the EU-funded project pre-HLB with several European partners. This work will be done in close collaboration with a technician. The EU citriculture is threatened by the emerging Greening disease Huanglongbing (HLB), considered the most devastating citrus disease due to its rapid dispersal, severity and fast progression of symptoms, huge losses in fruit production and quality, cost and difficulty of preventing new infections.

You will be involved in identifying effectors of the bacteria and the insects using transcriptomics and proteomics and in identifying metabolites relevant to the interaction using mass spectrometry. The bacteria (CLas) causing HLB are vectored by psyllids. Sap feeders such as psyllids secrete saliva into leaf tissue. These salivary secretions contain so-called "effectors" that manipulate important steps in the plant's molecular defense network. Plants respond by making toxic metabolites and by producing volatiles to attract natural enemies of the psyllid. This project is aimed at: a) identifying effectors from psyllids and Clas in order to facilitate breeding for more resistant citrus plants; b) to identify volatile and non-volatile metabolites relevant for the defense response to the psyllids or the bacteria and to map the corresponding genes.

You should have a PhD in plant molecular biology, biochemistry or molecular phytopathology and preferentially have experience with proteomics and metabolomics. You should have excellent communication skills, be willing to supervise students and be keen to work in collaboration with our EU partners and to travel to Brazil for several experiments.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year.

The appointment will be on a temporary basis for the period of 1 year. After satisfactory performance evaluation it will be extended with 2 more years to a total duration of 3 years. The monthly gross salary will be maximal €3,514 (scale 10-6) in the first year, based on a full-time appointment and depending on relevant work experience. We offer a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% per year, an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. Favourable tax agreements may apply to applicants from abroad. 

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look at our website.

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.

Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences

The Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) is an institute that belongs to the Faculty of Science. Its approximately 230 scientists and staff members work in 16 research groups that perform excellent research, centred on four themes:

1. Green Life Sciences
2. Cell & Systems Biology
3. Neurosciences
4. Microbiology

The theme Green Life Sciences consists of 5 research groups: Plant Physiology, Molecular Plant Pathology, Developmental Genetics, Plant Cell Biology and Plant Hormone Biology. This project is a collaboration between the research groups Plant Hormone Biology and Plant Physiology that study the role of plant hormones and other signaling molecules in the interaction between plants and other organisms such as insects.