Postdoctoral fellowship

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is a world-class international university in the life and environmental sciences, ranked in international surveys among the foremost universities in the world in its field. SLU is a research-intensive university that also offers a broad range of unique education programmes in fields such as veterinary medicine, forestry, environmental economics and landscape architecture.

SLU has just over 3,000 employees and 4,000 students, a turnover of just over SEK 3 billion, and operations throughout Sweden, with campuses at Alnarp, Skara, Umeå, Uppsala and elsewhere. The university has invested heavily in modern, attractive campus environments for research and education.


För fullständig annons se: www.slu.se/lediga-jobb


Arbetsuppgifter: We are looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher to investigate the biosynthesis of steroidal glycoalkaloids in the potato. Steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGA) are neurotoxic defence substances that are present in some members of the Solanaceae family, including important crop species such as potato, tomato, and eggplant. While the importance of a low SGA level is recognized within quality assessment of potato tubers, the SGA metabolism as such is poorly understood.

The project will include studies of stress responses in potato plants, using a broad set of techniques such as transcriptional profiling, analysis of secondary metabolites, and functional gene analysis in bacteria and transgenic plants. Results will be of significant value within potato breeding and post-harvest handling of potato tubers, as well as for understanding the evolution of metabolic pathways in plants.