PhD position in Plant Development and Molecular Biology (1.0 FTE)

We are looking for an enthusiastic, communicative, and highly motivated colleague with experience in molecular plant sciences to do a PhD in our group. You will be working on an NWO funded project that seeks to

m

ap the site of

et

hylene

a

ction (META), in protecting the Arabidopsis root meristem from hypoxic injury. This project builds on our previous

work

, characterizing the positive effect of ethylene on root meristem hypoxia tolerance. We now seek to identify the specific cell types and related mechanisms that are essential for this process. To do so, META will use a combination of physiological, genetics and computational modelling approaches working closely with the Plant Systems Physiology group at Radboud University. You will be directly supervised by

Dr. Rashmi Sasidharan

and will collaborate intensively with

Prof. J. Xu

,

Dr. V. Mironova

 and a PhD student also working on META and focusing more on the computational modeling approaches. 

Your project will involve generating cell-type specific tools including conditional mutants and various reporter lines. Our goal is to identify root cell-types essential for ethylene action. We aim to identify mechanisms underlying collaborative action of cell-types towards meristem protection during hypoxia stress and the potential involvement of molecules such as ROS and auxin. The molecular genetic tools will also be used towards microscopy-based high-resolution growth analyses. This will be the basis for building 3D computer models for visualizing and testing cell type specific effects. Your project will require extensive molecular cloning, genetics, and high-resolution microscopy techniques. In addition, you will be tasked with developing and executing experiments, data analysis and presentation and writing manuscripts. You will also get the opportunity to gain teaching experience.