PhD student in Plant molecular biology

Umeå University - with its 29,000 students and over 4,000 employees - is an organisation in constant change and development.Umeå University conducts groundbreaking research within several areas - several in which we are among the best in the world - within others regarded as the leaders in Sweden.We are one of Sweden's largest providers of education and offer a broad and attractive range of courses and programmes.Our campus constitutes an inspiring environment for everyone that studies and works here.We wish to co-operate with companies and organisations throughout the Umeå region and all over the world.PhD student in Plant molecular biology A PhD position is open at Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of plant physiology, Umeå university The PhD student will work in the project "How do trees know that it is autumn?" with the aim of understanding the biochemical and genetic regulation of autumnal leaf senescence in aspen (Populus tremula).In the project, we work with many different techniques and approaches.One approach is physiological and biochemical characterization of the senescence process in the leaves, including studies using DNA microarrays and metabolomics.Another aspect of the project is genetics and natural variation; autumn phenology traits are our "model traits" in a larger program aiming at finding the optimal way of identifying the genetic polymorphisms regulating important traits in trees.We employ high-throughput DNA sequencing to obtain the full genome sequence of a number of aspen individuals, and use association mapping to identify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) responsible for variation in autumn phenology.In addition, we will use transgenic approaches to generate early-flowing aspens to facilitate controlled crosses and segregating populations to allow for QTL (quantitative trait loci) mapping.We will also test a method to prove the functions of the allelic variants of important genes that we identify.The PhD student will work in some, or all, of these subprojects.The recruitment procedure will follow the Higher Education Ordinance ("Högskoleförordningen" Chapters 5 and 7).Prerequisites include either i)240 ECTS credits (swe.Högskolepoäng) of higher education studies of which 60 should be on an advanced level (Master level) with focus on Molecular Biology or Biotechnology, preferentially on plants, or ii) 120 Swedish (old) credits (swe.Poäng; corresponding to 180 ECTS credits) of higher education studies if they were taken before July 1, 2007 or equivalent competence.Advanced courses, or other experience in genomics, plant physiology and genetics are of advantage, as well as evidence of proficiency in written and oral communication in English.The application should contain a CV and relevant documentation, and a personal letter of one A4 sheet describing yourself and your reasons for applying to this position.For more information, contact Prof.Documents sent electronically should be in MS Word or PDF format.We look forward to receiving your application!