Postdoc Position Available at the Department of Ecology, Environmental and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University
Postdoc Position Available at the Department of Ecology, Environmental and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University
A postdoctoral research position in Fungal Biology is available at the Department of Ecology, Environmental and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University. This postdoc offers an opportunity to explore fungal adaptation to extreme environments. The postdoc-project can be developed after the interest of the applicant, and may involve genome analyses, degradation assays, lab and/or field experiments.
Motivation: Crude oil and petroleum products are of specific concern in pollution studies due to their structural complexity, slow biodegradability, biomagnification potential, and the serious health hazards associated with their release into the environment. Bioremediation, that makes use of natural microbial biodegradation activity, constitute an attractive alternative to physicochemical methods for restoration of PHC polluted environments. By the study of fungal genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other high-throughput methods, it is becoming increasingly evident that fungi hold a wide array of characters making them able to live in extreme environments. In this project, we will investigate the microbial community in the underground mining facility in Kiruna (Kiruna underjordsgruva, KUJ), which is contaminated with pollutants because of the use of petroleum products for maintenance of machinery. Isolates from the mine are available in the laboratory, and these can be studies for their degrading capacity and genomic adaptations.
The research will be conducted within the Johannesson research group, within the Department of Ecology, Environmental and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University. Johannesson group is currently moving to Stockholm from Uppsala University, see the group-info here: https://www.iob.uu.se/research/systematic-biology/johannesson/ The project is a collaboration with the groups of Anna Rosling and Maliheh Mehrshad.
For more information about the Department, see here: https://www.su.se/department-of-ecology-environment-and-plant-sciences/about-the-department
Required qualifications for applicants are 1) a PhD in Biology, Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Genomics, Microbiology or related field, 2) experience in one or several of the following areas: bioinformatics, biochemistry, microbiology, mycology, and 3) demonstrated communication skills in English.
The position is a two-year scholarship, financed from Carl Trygger Foundation. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
To apply, send your CV, including contact information for two references, and a cover letter stating your research interest to: Dr Hanna Johannesson, hanna.johannesson@ebc.uu.se.