Wageningen University and Research centre is looking for a PhD or Post-Doc candidate who will work on one of the Systems Biology projects on Reconstruction of metabolic networks.

We are interested in candidates with a background in the exact sciences (statistics, mathematics, physics, (theoretical) biology), who are eager to work on a project in the life sciences.
The duration of the project is three years for a Post-Doc and four years for a PhD.

This position is embedded in a project aiming at unraveling flavonoid networks in Tomato. Amongst other factors, these networks are, responsible for Tomato taste and as such highly relevant in breeding new Tomato species. In this project, experimentalists and modelers strongly cooperate. The present position is on the modeling side and focuses on reconstructing the metabolite networks from the data generated in this project. To that end existing methods could be applied, but also new methods have to be developed. Read the rest of this entry »

PhD Positions for the research on insect-plant interactions of the Laboratory of Entomology and Wageningen University, Netherlands.

We are looking for: Food-web ecology has shown that plant responses to herbivory constitute a major force in structuring insect communities. Herbivores that induce responses in plants affect the plant phenotype and thereby indirectly, i.e. mediated through the plant, affect other community members. Such plant responses to environmental changes in terms of herbivore attack have been extensively characterized for pair wise interactions using transcriptomics on molecular genetic model plant species. Yet, food webs include multiple interacting organisms at several trophic levels that cause combinations of stresses that interact in inducing a response in plants.
This project will address interactions among 4 trophic levels in a plant-insect system. The project will address the mechanisms that underlie the trophic interaction network that provides hyperparasitoids with cues to locate their otherwise inconspicuous hosts (primary parasitoids) and how this even allows hyperparasitoids to smell abundance of their hosts from plant-derived cues, using ~omics tools.   Read the rest of this entry »

Wageningen University, Netherlands is looking for 1 PhD (or Post-Doc) candidate for project related to Ecology and modeling.

By 2030 the human population is predicted to be over 8.3 billion with a 50% increase in demand for food and fuel and a 30% increase in demand for clean water, while mitigating and adapting to global warming.
The project is part of the SoilTrEC project, sponsored by the European Union. The challenge of the SoilTrEC project is to understand processes that dictate how soils are formed, degrade and develop abilities to provide essential eco-services. The appointed candidate is responsible for the ecological component in the SoilTrEC project. The job includes field sampling, biological analyses in the lab, and modeling. Thus, practical and theoretical work are combined.
By analyzing food web dynamics, structure and stability during soil transformations through the analysis of field data and simulation modelling the problem of the valuation of the ecological contribution is tackled. Read the rest of this entry »

International PhD position in University of Heidelberg University, Germany

The relationship of proteasome regulation and pathogenesis will be studied in a murine model of cardiac hypertrophy. In this exciting study with potential impact on human health, murine models of heart diseases will be utilized and monitored using in vivo measurements, such as echocardiography. The successful applicant will become proficient in a wide spectrum of current technologies in genomics, proteomics and physiology to complete the project. A strong interest in molecular pathways involved in human heart diseases and protein degradation will be highly beneficial for this project.
References:
1. Gomes AV, Young GW, Wang Y, Zong C, Eghbali M, Drews O, Lu H, Stefani E, Ping P. Contrasting Proteome Biology and Functional Heterogeneity of the 20S Proteasome Complexes in Mammalian Tissues. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2009 Feb; 8(2):302-15.

2. Lu H, Zong C, Wang Y, Young GW, Deng N, Souda P, Li X, Whitelegge J, Drews O, Yang PY, Ping P. Revealing the dynamics of 20S proteasome phosphoproteome: A combined CID and ETD approach. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2008 Nov; 7(11):2073-89.   Read the rest of this entry »

2011-2012 Doris Zimmern HKU-Cambridge Hughes Hall Scholarships and Edwin S H Leong Hughes Hall Scholarships for qualified candidates who are Master’s degree holders of HKU and wish to pursue Doctoral degrees at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge.

Applications for the Doris Zimmern HKU-Cambridge Hughes Hall Scholarships and Edwin S H Leong Hughes Hall Scholarships for the academic year 2011-12 are invited from candidates in the following three categories:

Scholarship for MPhil degree at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge for students admitted to PhD studies at HKU

A scholarship will be open to academically qualified candidates who have been admitted to the 4-year PhD programme at HKU. The scholarship will allow the student to pursue relevant Master’s studies for one year at Hughes Hall leading to a Cambridge MPhil degree, during which the student will have to apply for non-study leave from HKU. Read the rest of this entry »

A Research Project aiming at the development and application of a new generation of biomarkers to study the role of environmental agents in human disease.

EnviroGenomarkers is a European FP7 research project aiming at the development and application of a new generation of biomarkers to study the role of environmental agents in human disease.
The project concerns the large-scale application of –omics technologies in a population study aiming at:

• the discovery and validation of novel biomarkers predictive of increased risks of chronic diseases in which the environment may play an important role (breast cancer, Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma, childhood diseases including allergy, neurological and immune diseases, thyroid disruption),
• the exploration of the association of such risk biomarkers with exposure to a number of high-priority or emerging environmental pollutants with carcinogenic, immunotoxic or hormone-line properties, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PBCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), cadmium, lead, phthalates, brominated flame retardants, ambient air pollutants and water treatment byproducts),
• the discovery and validation of biomarkers of exposure to the above environmental pollutants.   Read the rest of this entry »

PhD Researcher Positions within the Paleoclimatology group, which make part of a NWO-funded Vici program, the program involves scientists at Utrecht University, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), and various European and US research groups.

Currently, we seek to fill four PhD-research positions within the Paleoclimatology group, which make part of a NWO-funded Vici program – entitled ”Evolution of astronomically paced climate changes from Greenhouse to Icehouse world” – granted to Dr. Lucas Lourens.
The Vici program aims to detect the non-linear response mechanisms within the global climate system to astronomical forcing using an integrated data-modeling comparison approach applied to four key intervals, which experienced different background pCO2 concentrations. These intervals comprise: (1) the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciations (~3 Ma) when pCO2 values declined below pre-industrial (~280 p.p.m.v.) values, (2) the mid-Pleistocene transition when dominant obliquity-paced glacial cycles culminated into a ~100-kyr rhythm, (3) the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets from the Oligocene to the mid-Miocene (~25-12 Ma) when background pCO2 values were still well above pre-industrial values, and (4) the warmest period of the Cenozoic (~55-50 Ma), when pCO2 reached values of more than four times the present-day (~385 p.p.m.v.) value. The Vici program involves scientists (including two postdoctoral fellows) at Utrecht University, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), and various European and US research groups.

Further details Read the rest of this entry »