The mechanical dimension of plant immunity, which has remained mostly unexplored to date, is the fascinating topic of this GreenTE PhD position. The textbook model postulates that plant receptors recognise pathogen-derived molecules and activate host immunity. However, there are indications that mechanical forces associated with pathogen invasion also contribute to immune activation. The big question is how plant cells detect these forces and translate them into an integrated immune response.

Your job
The goal of this PhD project is to get insights into the molecular processes underlying mechanosensing of pathogens by plant cells. In this project, you will design and perform experiments that will provide a better understanding of how plants respond to mechanical force during infection. This requires a strong scientific basis in combination with your creativity and perseverance. The envisioned approaches aim to identify early signaling proteins and genes, to functionally analyse candidate genes by studying mutants and perturbed proteins, and to study infection phenotypes at the macroscopic, microscopic and biophysical level.

You will join the Translational Plant Biology (TPB) group at Utrecht University. The project fits well into the ongoing research of our group on plant immunity and signaling. Alternative ways of protecting plants against infectious diseases are desperately needed, and novel fundamental insights are crucial for this. Therefore, it is important to understand mechanosensing during infection and how this can be used to contribute to improving disease resistance.

This PhD project is part of the Gravitation programme GreenTE (Green Tissue Engineering), a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities. Together, GreenTE will unravel how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. These fundamental insights will be the basis to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed longevity and defenses against disease. You will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

This project may be the right fit for you, if you are proactive, curiosity-driven, and bring a hands-on mentality. Next to that you have:

• a (nearly) completed MSc degree in Biology or Molecular Life Sciences;
• a strong background in at least two of the following areas: Plant Pathology/Immunity, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, or Genetics;
• interest in interdisciplinary research, connecting to modelling and biophysics and affinity with genetic approaches;
• demonstrable presentation and writing skills;
• communication skills that enable you to collaborate pleasantly and effectively in the team and consortium;
• working proficiency in English;

We offer

• a position for four years;
• a gross monthly salary between €2,770 and €3,539 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

Universiteit Utrecht

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You will join the Translational Plant Biology (TPB) group. The TPB group includes four principal investigators with expertise in different aspects of plant-microbe interactions, plant development, and epigenetics. We exchange expertise to understand the principles of plant biology better and translate this knowledge into technologies that improve the sustainability of agriculture. To ensure that the researchers benefit from each other’s expertise in real-time the team and TPB have regular work-together sessions such as hackathons for data analysis, writing retreats, and thematic meetings. As your PhD project is part of the Gravitation programme GreenTE (GreenTissue Engineering), you will also be part of this multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities.