PhD student position in wood enzyme technology

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering promotes research and education for sustainable development, for improved health and quality of life. Our research ranges from natural science and bioscience, applied chemistry and biotechnology to chemical engineering. Our educational programs are characterized by technological solutions for improving people’s everyday life, and are continuously developed for meeting and promoting societal and industrial development.

We have approximately 400 employees, divided into five research divisions and one administrative unit. We are situated at campus Johanneberg.

Our department is characterized by stimulation of world leading research, in an environment where people develop and create new knowledge.
Information about the research group
The Industrial biotechnology group is a young, dynamic and international group, which was established in 2008 and counts now 24 members. The common denominator of the research activities in the group is to optimize the use of renewable raw materials for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals also within the main concept of biorefinery. The research performed within the group spans from fundamental research, technology development and lab-scale application: this ensures deep knowledge of the studied systems, leading to rational development and optimization of the respective applications.The research fields include production of biofuels and chemicals via fermentation and enzymatic refining of biomass, bioelectrochemical systems and algal biotechnology.  A sub group focus on plant cell wall enzymology, including work on enzyme discovery, enzyme production and application of plant cell wall acting enzymes to fractionate wood polymers, enzymatically hydrolyse wood polymers and to upgrade plant cell wall components.

The project will be part of the activities in Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC). In WWSC the next generation of novel wood-based materials and associated processes are developed. The main focus is on understanding of mechanisms and principles that can facilitate the development of novel wood-based materials. The center is multidisciplinary and located both at Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. About 60 persons (of which about 20 are professors) are working in the center.
 
Major responsibilities
The major task for the PhD-student will be to develop enzymes and enzyme technology that aid in wood polymer disassembly. The target will be to break the lignin carbohydrate network and to address how chemical and structural features of the lignocellulose material change as response to enzyme action. The PhD student will work in the Industrial Biotechnology group in close collaboration with other researchers in WWSC.

Your major responsibility as PhD student is to perform your own research in our research group. The position may also include supervision of master's and teaching obligations. You will be enrolled in the graduate school BioScience and will follow the curriculim given there.

Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications
To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's level degree corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in Biochemical Engineering or in Biotechnology. University courses or equivalent in wood chemistry, enzymology, plant cell wall biotechnology, enzyme discovery and bioinformatics are qualifying merits.

You are expected to demonstrate good potential within research and education. Important qualities are enthusiasm, to be able to drive and conclude projects independently, take own initiative and discuss/develop own ideas, write well-formulated reports, be creative and have a problem-solving ability, and to be a mature person also realising your own limitations. The project is part of a interdiscioplinary collaboration with several other research groups and thus good cooperation and social abilities are highly important.

The position requires fluent verbal and written communication skills in English. If Swedish is not your native language Chalmers offers Swedish courses.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20140065 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically via Chalmers webpage.

Application deadline: March 18, 2014

For questions, please contact:
Professor Lisbeth Olsson, Chemical and Biological Engineering, lisbeth.olsson@chalmers.se, +46(0)31 772 3805




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