Postdoc Position in Biology of Mechanically-Triggered Plant Immunity

The mechanical dimension of plant immunity, which has remained mostly unexplored to date, is the fascinating topic of this GreenTE position. The textbook model postulates that plant receptors recognize pathogen-derived molecules and activate host immunity. However, there are indications that mechanical forces associated with pathogen invasion also contribute to immune activation. The big question is how plant cells detect these forces and translate them into an integrated immune response.

Your job
The goal of this postdoc project is to get insights into the molecular processes underlying mechanosensing of pathogens by plant cells. In this project, you will design and perform experiments that will provide a better understanding of how plants respond to mechanical force during infection. This requires a strong scientific basis in combination with your creativity and perseverance. The envisioned approaches aim to identify early signaling proteins and genes, to functionally analyze candidate genes by studying mutants and perturbed proteins, and to study infection phenotypes at the macroscopic, microscopic and biophysical level.

You will join the Translational Plant Biology (TPB) group, where this project fits well into our ongoing research on plant disease, immunity, and signaling. A key mission of the group is exploring alternative ways of protecting plants against infectious diseases. This is an urgent challenge, for which novel fundamental insights are crucial as well as their translation to enhancing plant disease resistance. Therefore, it is important to understand the concept of mechanosensing during infection and how this can be applied to improving disease resistance.

This postdoc project is part of the Gravitation program, GreenTE (Green Tissue Engineering), a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities. Together, GreenTE will unravel how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. These fundamental insights will be the basis to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed longevity and defenses against disease. You will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to participate in GreenTE events, trainings and collaborations.

This project may be the right fit for you, if you are a proactive, curiosity-driven researcher, who brings a hands-on and can-do mentality. Next to that you have:

• a PhD degree in Biology, Molecular Life Sciences, or related field;
• a strong background in Molecular Plant Biology and Plant-Microbe Interactions, and at least one of the following areas: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, or Biophysics;
• interest in interdisciplinary research, connected to modelling and biophysics, paired with a drive to unravel gene/protein function;
• excellent presentation and writing skills as demonstrated by relevant publications;
• communication skills that enable you to collaborate pleasantly and effectively in the team and consortium;
• working proficiency in English;

• a position for one year (1.0 FTE), with an extension of two additional years upon a positive evaluation;
• a gross monthly salary between € 3.546 and €5.538 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University also offers a range of its own schemes for employees. This includes arrangements for professional development, various types of leave, and options for sports and cultural activities. You can also tailor your employment conditions through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage you to keep investing in your personal and professional development. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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 strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

Working at the Faculty of Science means bringing together inspiring people across disciplines and with a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. The Faculty has six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information & Computing Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Together, we work on excellent research and inspiring education. We do so, driven by curiosity and supported by outstanding infrastructure. Visit us on LinkedIn and discover how you can become part of our community.

The Department of Biology consists of an Education Institute and 12 chair groups with a total of 350 staff members. The chair groups are organized within the Institute of Environmental Biology and the Institute for Biodynamics and Biocomplexity. The department is responsible for the Bachelor's programme in Biology, where we annually welcome over 400 students. This means we educate over 30% of biology students in the Netherlands. Additionally, staff members of the department also teach in the Utrecht Bachelor's programme in Biomedical Sciences and the Bachelor's program of University College Utrecht. In addition to bachelor education, our staff also provide teaching in various master's programmes.

You will join the Translational Plant Biology (TPB) group. The TPB group includes four principal investigators with expertise in different aspects of plant-microbe interactions, plant development, and epigenetics. We exchange expertise to understand the principles of plant biology better and translate this knowledge into technologies that improve the sustainability of agriculture. To ensure that the researchers benefit from each other’s expertise in real-time the team and TPB have regular work-together sessions such as hackathons for data analysis, writing retreats, and thematic meetings. As your project is part of the Gravitation program GreenTE (GreenTissue Engineering), you will also be part of this multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities.

For more information, please contact Professor Guido van den Ackerveken at g.vandenackerveken@uu.nl.

Do you have a question about the application procedure? Please send an email to science.recruitment@uu.nl.