Consultant - Plant Phenotyping for Accelerated Breeding Applications

at  International Atomic Energy Agency

Consultant - Plant Phenotyping for Accelerated Breeding Applications - (TAL-NAFA20240916-004)
Organization: NAFA-Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory
Primary Location: Austria-Lower Austria-Seibersdorf-IAEA Laboratories in Seibersdorf
Job Posting: 2024-09-19, 7:23:00 AM
Closing Date: 2024-10-03, 4:59:00 PM
Duration in Months: 6
Contract Type: Special Service Agreement - SSA
Full Competitive Recruitment: No

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Required -

SKILLS AND EXPERTISE

• Plant Breeding and Genetics

• Plant Diseases Control

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Master’s Degree - Advanced University Degree in Plant Breeding and/ or Plant Genetics
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience
• Sound knowledge of phenotyping strategies for biotic and abiotic stresses for line selection, trial scoring
• Expertise in breeding operations viz. sowing, scoring, harvesting, integrating data and reporting
• Expertise in screening large populations in GH and/ or field for identifying traits that could be improvedfor crops using mutation breeding approaches
• Experience in non-invasive technologies to analyse experimental and breeding populations
• Knowledge of experimental designs and statistical methods are essential.

The consultancy involves providing research and development expertise for development of mutation breeding pipelines to create new mutant germ plasm and cultivars that address improved yield, response to biotic and abiotic stresses, appropriate pre- and postharvest characteristics, or overall fitness of legume and cereal crops. The consultant will actively work within the IAEA mandate conducting laboratory and field activities for establishing newer mutagen sources and their biological effects on crop species using novel breeding technologies. This includes screening mutants induced by space environment, exploring new alleles from mutant offsprings, innovating excellent germ plasm. The consultant will assume responsibility for high-throughput phenotyping and devise strategies for in vivo and in vitro phenotype characterization assays for traits of interest. Contribute to population developed for MutMap analysis and bulk segregant analysis to determine the genetic associations and carry out marker-assisted breeding to study the genetic basis for the observed resistance.