Post-doc Ecology and Evolution of Microbial Infectious Ecosystems (1.0 FTE)

Founded in 1614, the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) enjoys an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Flexible study programmes and academic career opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 37,000 students and researchers alike to develop their own individual talents. As one of the best research universities in Europe, the University of Groningen has joined forces with other top universities and networks worldwide to become a truly global centre of knowledge.

The Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)
GELIFES, the largest institute of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) fills a special niche in the life sciences by covering and integrating mechanistic, evolutionary and ecological approaches, aiming to understand adaptation on all levels of biological organisation. Researchers pursue fundamental questions while collaborating with partners from nature conservation, industry, medicine and other realms of society. Our research fields include ecology, conservation biology, evolutionary biology, behavioural biology, chronobiology, genetics and genomics, neurobiology, physiology and theoretical modelling, using a wide array of research tools. Research levels range from molecular and organismal to populations and ecosystems, performed under laboratory, semi-natural and field conditions.

Job description
We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic quantitative microbiologist for a fully funded 2-year postdoc position. The postdoc will be jointly supervised by Dr. Marjon de Vos (Experimental Microbial Ecology and Evolution, GELIFES), Prof. Alan Wolfe (Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago, United States), and Prof. Rampal Etienne (Theoretical Biology, GELIFES).

As a postdoc, you are committed to conduct independent and original scientific research, to report on this research in international publications and presentations, and to collaborate within the UTIR consortium. The intention is to start the first half year in the Wolfe lab (Maywood, IL, USA), the other one and a half year will be spent at GELIFES, University of Groningen (NL).

Project summary
The postdoc position is part of the NWO ENW-XL consortium project ‘Urinary Tract Infections Revisited: Microbial Eco-evolutionary Drivers and Regulators’ (UTIR). In this project a multi-disciplinary team of clinical microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, bioinformaticians, modelers, chemists, and eco-evolutionary microbiologists will combine in vivo measurements with in vitro reductionist bottom-up experiments to identify the evolutionary strategies of microbes, and investigate how and why an established urinary microbiome goes “off balance” into a disease state that leads to recurrent urinary tract infections.

The work will consist of a combination of microbial growth experiments and data analysis.

Specific requirements: Holds a PhD with specialization in microbiology (preferably has experience with fastidious microorganisms), ecology or evolution, quantitative biology, skills in bioinformatics, data management and analysis, and statistics.

In addition to specific qualifications outlined above, the candidate has a good command of English (oral and written), is a team-worker, is highly motivated to work within the field of microbial ecology and evolution at the interface with medicine within an interdisciplinary consortium, possesses excellent communication skills and has the ability to write scientific papers and deliver presentations.

We offer you, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary of € 3,557 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 4,670 gross per month (salary scale 10) based on a full-time position and dependent on qualification and work experience
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income
• an 8.3% end-of-year bonus and participation in a pension scheme for employees
• a temporary 1 FTE appointment for two years.

The preferred starting date is 1 September 2023