PhD in functional genomics, antifungal discovery, synthetic biology (1.0 FTE)

The group of Dr. Sonja Billerbeck has an open position for a 4-year PhD project. In the Billerbeck lab, we use a combination of synthetic biology, genome engineering, protein engineering, and environmental microbiology to access, understand and engineer the functional diversity of nature’s yeast-based mycobiome for applications in human health, industrial biotechnology and to answer fundamental questions on yeast (pathogen) biology.

During this PhD project, we will develop and use a functional genomics approach in the human fungal pathogen Candida glabrata to elucidate the modes of action of a set of bio-mined antifungal proteins.
The project will entail molecular cloning, CRISPR/Cas technologies, Next-Generation Sequencing, and data analysis and leaves room for new creative technology developments.

The Billerbeck lab is embedded within the Department of Molecular Microbiology (MolMic) at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB). MolMic also encompassing the Labs of Profs. Arnold Driessen, Dirk-Jan Scheffers and Tessa Quax. MolMic is a group of ~ 30 enthusiastic microbiologists and together we study and engineer the functional diversity of microbes on a molecular level. We work with the whole microbial tree of life, from Archaea (Quax, Driessen), to Bacteria (Scheffers, Driessen), to yeast (Billerbeck, Driessen) and filamentous fungi (Driessen). Methodologically we use molecular biology and protein biochemistry, fluorescent microscopy, genetic and genome-engineering, next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry, and other biophysical techniques.