PhD Studentship available in Graduate School MiCon
The group of Ute Krämer (Molecular Genetics and Physiology of Plants) at RUB is inviting applications for a PhD Studentship (65% TvL-13) to work on “Biosynthesis of the metal chelator molecule nicotianamine”. The successful candidate will work in an international research group within the interdisciplinary Graduate School MiCon awarded by the German Research Council DFG. In this project, biochemical and molecular biology techniques will be employed to unravel how nicotianamine synthase functions. This enzyme is found in plants and filamentous fungi, and it plays a central role in the handling of essential nutrients (iron, zinc) as well as in naturally selected evolutionary adaptations to heavy metal-contaminated soils.
www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mikrobiologie/micon/pdfs/MiCon_abstract_Kraemer_2018_02_12.pdf
We are looking for candidates with a background and some laboratory experience in biochemistry and molecular biology. Knowledge on structural biology and on chemical analytics of organic molecules is advantageous. As biological systems, the project will focus on plants, filamentous fungi and E. coli (as an expression system). The methods to be used are established and comprise PCR-based cloning, heterologous expression, site-directed in vitro mutagenesis and other modern molecular biology techniques, protein purification, immunodetection and –localization, protein-protein interaction tests, protein activity measurements, HPLC analytics, phenotypic assays, in silico analysis of sequence data and structural modeling. The Graduate School MiCon provides a training programme tailored to individual needs, as well as an interdisciplinary network of outstanding opportunities for a progressively autonomous development of one’s own scientific project.
Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) is among the leading Research Universities in Germany. As a modern reform-oriented University, it bundles the entire scope of scientific disciplines on a single campus. Dynamic interactions between academic disciplines and their distinct cultures stimulate inter-disciplinary cooperation among researchers and students alike. Both culture and nature are easily accessible from RUB, which is located in the Rhein-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, through an excellent public transport infrastructure.
Please submit your application (motivation letter, CV, one-page summary of Master Thesis and degree certificates in a single pdf file) as soon as possible and no later than 31 May 2018 preferably by email to:
Prof. Dr. Ute Krämer
Molecular Genetics and Physiology of Plants
Fakulty of Biology und Biotechnology
Ruhr University Bochum
ND 3/30 North
Universitätsstraße 150
D-44780 Bochum
Telefon: +49 234 32 24291
E-Mail: Ute.Kraemer@ruhr-uni-bochum.de