We are soon starting an exciting new collaboration with our neighbours at the department of Cell Biology! Together with Dr. Jeroen de Keijzer, tenure track assistant professor and head of the 'intercellular communication' group, I designed a project for which we are now recruiting a PhD candidate.
In short, this project aims to understand how intracellular signals between organelles (specifically between plastids and nucleus) affect intercellular communication and decision making. Chloroplast-to-nucleus retrograde signals often affect whole-plant development, also in tissues where much less chloroplasts are present inside the cells. We believe that signals within the cell are communicated over long distances between tissues because they can affect intercellular communication via plasmodesmata.
Most of the work in this project will be done in the moss model species Physcomytrium patens, because of its simple design, which makes the study to intercellular effects much easier. However, findings will be transferred to the angiosperm model Arabidopsis thaliana as well, to test if similar signalling events take place between different organs.
We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD candidate to work on this interdisciplinary and fundamental project for the coming 4 years. The selected candidate will become a member of both involved departments, so strong communication skills are a big plus. As is a proven affinity with cell biology and molecular biology.
Interested? The vacancy is open up and until 7 November 2021. More information and applying via this link.
(note: we do not consider applications send in by e-mail or the message box on this website).