荷兰瓦赫宁根大学博士后职位—海洋天然产物的整合基因组/代谢组挖掘

荷兰瓦赫宁根大学博士后职位—海洋天然产物的整合基因组/代谢组挖掘

Postdoc Position On Integrative Genome/Metabolome Mining For Marine Natural Products

Wageningen University

Job description

Marine microbiomes are an untapped resource of microorganisms and natural bioactive compounds that constitute a source of candidates for the development of pharmaceuticals and crop protection agents. Computational integration of different types of omics data, such as genomics and metabolomics profiles, constitutes a promising avenue to uncover this potential. In this project, based on foundational work by our group, you will implement innovative computational approaches to chart the biosynthetic diversity found in metagenome sequences from marine microbiomes, connect the predicted biosynthetic gene clusters to metabolites, and use a combination of genomic and metabolomic data to help elucidate chemical (sub)structures. You will construct a database of natural product-acting enzymes from experimentally verified biosynthetic pathways and use this as a basis to computationally predict chemical transformations encoded by newly identified biosynthetic gene clusters, in order to match these to their chemical products observed in the metabolome. Computational integration of genomic, mass-spectrometric and NMR data will be used to facilitate structure approximation of biosynthetic products, which can be used for dereplication, prioritization, and finally structural elucidation.

You will work closely with PhD students and postdocs appointed within the same consortium around Europe, which will make it possible to elucidate the structures of the chemical products and confirm the ecological roles of the pathways you identify. In the end, the research is projected to lead to fundamental new insights into microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions, and may provide leads for the development of novel pharmaceuticals and crop/aquaculture protection solutions.

Requirements

We are looking for an ambitious, enthusiastic team player and result-driven scientist with:

  an excellent academic record (PhD) in bioinformatics or computational biology;

  affinity with (microbial) metabolism and omics analyses;

  demonstrable expertise in working with genomic and/or metabolomic data;

  proven proficiency in programming (in, e.g., Python);

  at least basic to intermediate statistical and mathematical skills;

  excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

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Conditions of employment

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

  sabbatical leave, study leave, and paid parental leave;

  working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;

  the option to accrue additional holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;

  there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;

  a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;

  excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive salary of between €3270,- and €4207.- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with theCollective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO- NU)(scale 10). The position is full-time (38 hours/week), for a period of two years.

Additional information

For more information about this position, please contact dr. Marnix Medema (marnix.medema@wur.nl) or Justin van der Hooft (justin.vanderhooft@wur.nl).For more information about the procedure, please contact vacaturemeldingen.psg@wur.nl.