PhD or Postdoc position: "Investigating nanoplastics pollution in the ocean"

THE PROJECT

Ocean plastic pollution is a global problem and the ever-increasing demand for plastics will most likely increase this problem. Nevertheless, floating and sedimented micro and macro plastic in the ocean only make up for one percent of all the plastic that has ever entered the ocean. Where is all the rest?

One possibility is that the plastic has fragmented into sub-µm sized nanoplastics (NPs). Previously, this was difficult to detect but we can now quantify NPs in the ocean using mass spectrometry (Thermal Desorption coupled to Proton Transfer Reaction – Mass Spectrometry - TD-PTR-MS).

During NP generation, a plethora of lower molecular weight compounds are produced which might be more attractive for microbes than the unaltered polymer. These products can be identified with Orbitrap mass spectrometry and microbial degradation can be measured as a function of concentration change and/or by using stable isotope assays. 

THE VACANCY

There is one vacant position, which can either be filled by a PhD candidate or by a Postdoc.

In this project we aim to detect, identify, and quantify nanoplastic in the ocean and to investigate if these particles and/or other plastic-derived low molecular weight compounds interact with marine microbes. For this position you will be working at NIOZ Texel but also for Utrecht University. 

At NIOZ, the UU-NIOZ student will:

• Produce NP in the laboratory and incubate sea water samples with these NPs;
• Inoculate samples with microbes and monitor microbial activity in the incubation;
• Take samples over time for subsequent NP measurements with TD-PTR-MS and Orbitrap-MS;
• Measure low molecular weight compounds with Orbitrap-MS.

At UU, the UU-NIOZ student will:

• Work up samples for analysis;
• Measure NP identity and concentration using TD-PTR-MS.