PhD Student - Department of Biotechnology

Last application date Jun 15, 2022 00:00

Department LA25 - Department of Biotechnology

Contract Limited duration

Degree Master Degree in Bioscience Engineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology or an equivalent degree in Life or (Applied) Biological Sciences

Occupancy rate 100%

Vacancy type Research staff

PhD Research Topic: Optimization of exogenous dsRNA treatment to boost plant tolerance to abiotic stresses

Induction of RNA interference enables to downregulate the expression of particular genes to boost abiotic stress tolerance. In this project we will investigate how dsRNA delivery in plant cells and plant tissues can be optimized using novel types of carriers coupled to dsRNA. Furthermore we will study in detail the uptake of dsRNA, its fate in the plant cell or tissue, and optimize the conditions for targeting of gene down-regulation, aiming towards plants with improved tolerance to abiotic stresses.

Selection criteria/skills :

• You have (or will obtain by the end of July 2022) a Master Degree in Bioscience Engineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology or an equivalent degree in Life or (Applied) Biological Sciences. Hands-on expertise plant biotechnology or plant biochemistry skills are definitely a plus.
• You have excellent study grades.
• You are an enthusiastic and highly motivated student that can design experiments independently.
• You are a team player with good English communication skills, motivated to work in a collaborative project with other researchers, PhD students, postdocs and technical assistants.
• You are passionate about plants, cells, microscopy and interested in plant biotechnology, protein chemistry, biochemistry and heterologous expression systems.

Our offer :

• The opportunity to obtain a PhD degree from Ghent University.
• We offer a full time PhD scholarship for 1+ 3 years. Your salary will be around €2000 per month.
• Preferable start date is September 1, 2022.
• Collaboration in young and very dynamic scientific team.

Please send your CV, transcript of records and a one-page cover letter explaining how you would approach the position to [email protected] by June 15 2022. Please merge all documents together into a single PDF file.