Research Associate in Plant-Fungal Ecology

at  Imperial College London

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• Download: Job Description Research Associate.Pdf
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ABOUT THE ROLE

The Waring Lab at the Silwood Park Campus of Imperial College London is seeking a community ecologist interested in field-testing a new approach towards suppressing the pathogens of one of the world’s most important staple crops, wheat (T. aestivum). We aim to do this through manipulation of the extant soil microbiome. The project has two overarching goals: 1) to develop a lab-to-field pipeline for microbiome optimization in arable soils, focusing specifically on suppression of the take-all fungus, Gaeumannomyces tritci, in the wheat rhizosphere; and 2) to advance our fundamental understanding of microbial community dynamics in complex environments. This project represents a multi-disciplinary collaboration among the Pawar, Ransome, Graystock and Bell labs.
Through directed artificial selection, we will develop soil microbiomes that exhibit suppression of take-all disease in the greenhouse setting. Your role will be to test the efficacy of those microbiomes in the field, and to identify particular microbial taxa and/or metabolic networks which most strongly influence crop performance. Field trials are expected not only to identify optimal protocols for inoculum delivery, but also to enhance our fundamental understanding of community assembly processes in the wheat rhizosphere. As such, you will play a key role in the design of the field trial, and may develop companion experiments in the lab or greenhouse which will help us understand the ecological patterns that play out in the field.

WHAT YOU WOULD BE DOING

Your primary task will be to design and carry out a field experiment to explore how interactions among fungi and bacteria in the wheat rhizosphere promote (or suppress) wheat growth and resistance to G. tritici. You will manipulate these microbial communities through introduction of optimised, disease-suppressive inoculum already developed by our team. Throughout the field trial, you will link the processes of microbial community assembly and turnover to plant physiology, unlocking the potential of the soil microbiome to boost crop performance. The experiment will also involve development of practical methods to deliver the disease-suppressive inoculum and monitor its establishment.
You will be assisted in this effort by a team of four PDRAs, two research technicians, and many post-graduate students across the five collaborating lab groups, who will be engaged in the laboratory optimisation of the disease-suppressing inoculum, molecular and culture-based studies of microbial physiology, and computational modelling to understand and predict the dynamics of microbial communities. By working closely together, this team has the potential to significantly advance our capacity to manage complex microbiomes to improve the sustainability of agriculture. You will therefore be expected to interact frequently with your colleagues in the laboratory, in the field, and through regular group meetings. You will also have the opportunity to supervise of undergraduate and post-graduate student projects. Finally, you will be provided the resources to advance your own career along your desired path, through mentorship, professional development opportunities, and opportunities to develop collaborations that extend beyond the core group, including with Rothamsted Research and CABI.
You will be expected to communicate the findings of your research through conference presentations and scientific publications. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to connect directly with farmers and other local stakeholders who are collaborating with our research group.