PhD position: Phylogenomics of plant defence plasticity to insect attack

at  Wageningen University Research

DO YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO RESEARCH INTO DEFENCE STRATEGIES OF PLANTS AGAINST VARIOUS INSECTS? ARE YOU FASCINATED BY THE GENOMIC FLEXIBILITY THAT PLANTS EVOLVED TO TACKLE COMPLEX CHALLENGES? WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURSUE A PHD WHERE YOU BECOME PART OF A COLLABORATIVE ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT IN A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS? THEN YOU MIGHT BE THE CANDIDATE WE ARE LOOKING FOR!

Plants respond to insect attack by mobilizing defences that specifically target the current attacker. How this response limits or provides opportunities to deal with future attack and how plants account for future risks will be the focus of your research. Your task is to mine genomic data to reveal phylogenomic patterns in signaling pathways underlying defence responses against insect herbivores within diverse plant species of the Brassicaceae family. Your project seeks to link ecological interactions with molecular defence mechanisms through comparative genomics by focusing on gene presence-absence variations, copy number changes, and visualizing synteny and structural rearrangements across multiple genomes. In addition, you have the opportunity to measure transcriptomic responses of various Brassicaceae plants to attack by multiple insect herbivores, quantify resistance to these herbivores and may delve into causality of genes in defence plasticity by creating knockout plants.

You will directly collaborate with fellow PhDs, post-docs and technicians. The team aims to link plant physiological adaptations to attack by multiple herbivores in a plant phylogenomic context (your work) to plant growth-defence strategies and plant-insect interaction patterns in the field. Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• Partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.
The gross salary for the first year is € 2.770 - per month rising to € 3.539,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.
There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

• Partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme