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Postdoc position in quantitative imaging of pathogen infection of plants

Posted 26 Mar 2024
Work experience
1 to 5 years
Full-time / part-time
Full-time
Job function
Degree level
Required language
English (Fluent)
Deadline
12 Jul 2020 21:59

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Functie

Are you enthusiastic for the endeavor to connect biology and physics to enable the development of innovative imaging methods for plant disease phenotyping? If so, you could be the right person to work as a Postdoc on a NWO TTW partnership project entitled “PATHOVIEW: automated imaging of pathogen-infection of crops to understand, track, and quantify disease resistance traits”, which is a collaboration between Utrecht University, the Delft University of Technology (TUD) and the vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan. As the selected candidate, you will work under the supervision of Prof Guido Van den Ackerveken at the Plant-Microbe Interactions group externe linkat UU and Dr Jeroen Kalkman at the Department of Imaging Physics externe linkat TUD.

The PATHOVIEW project aims to provide new technology to improve the selection and breeding of resistant crops. Currently, research on pathogenic microbes and host plant resistance is hampered by the lack of automated imaging and analysis methods. To effectively identify and use plant resistance traits, we aim to develop new imaging solutions of novel biomarkers to quantify pathogen infection and plant resistance. We will work on downy mildew, which is the number one disease of lettuce and is caused by the pathogen Bremia lactucae. New automated imaging tools and methods will strongly enhance our knowledge on downy mildew diseases, resistance mechanisms, and new traits for resistance breeding. The project is a combination of biological and technical research aimed at uniting different expertise and methods to develop a sensitive, unbiased, and automated platform for digital plant disease phenotyping.

As a Postdoc you bring in experience in measuring plant phenotypes, using sensors and imaging methods, acquiring quantitative data, image processing/analysis, and the integration of biological and physical data. Your work will involve the discovery of biomarkers, the implementation of advanced visualization technologies, and multiscale 3D plant imaging. The developed methods will be instrumental in the research on pathogen virulence and plant immunity traits that is envisioned within the project.

Profiel

We are looking for a committed, driven and collaborative colleague, who:

  • has a PhD in biology/physics and proven experience with image acquisition/processing/analysis and/or plant phenotyping;
  • has a fascination for applying state-of-the-art technology to answer biological questions and feels at ease at the interface of biology and physics;
  • has excellent communication, presentation and writing skills;
  • is a strong team player and shows initiative;
  • has a hands-on mentality.

Aanbod

  • an exciting research opportunity in our dynamic Utrecht Plant-Microbe Interactions group in close collaboration with the Delft Imaging Physics team;
  • a full-time position for 2 years and 4 months;
  • a full-time gross salary ranging from €2,790 to €4,402 in scale 10;
  • benefits including 8% holiday bonus and a 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
  • a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions externe linkbased on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (cao).

In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the cao for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. For example, there are agreements on professional development, leave arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment yourself via the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This way we like to encourage you to continue to grow.

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Education
Utrecht
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