A PhD studentship is available at the Laboratory of Bioengineering (http://www.uclouvain.be/gebi) of the Earth & Life Institute, University of Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium for a highly motivated doctoral candidate. The research project seeks to identify the factors driving the response of microbial communities in river systems under anthropogenic pressure.

Description

A PhD studentship is available at the Laboratory of Bioengineering (http://www.uclouvain.be/gebi) of the Earth & Life Institute, University of Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium for a highly motivated doctoral candidate. The research project seeks to identify the factors driving the response of microbial communities in river systems under anthropogenic pressure. Synthetic microbial consortia will form the basis for testing the effect of microbial community structure (richness, evenness, trophic lifestyle diversity, etc.) on community performance. The response of environmental stressors and/or stimuli on these model microbial communities will be studied, including (a) an input of organic carbon, (b) an input of chemical micropollutants (bisphenol A, triclosan, diclofenac), (c) an input of wastewater bacteria (invaders) and (d) an input of real wastewater combining these three factors. Robustness (resistance, resilience) of the ecosystem and emergence of new microbial attributes will be examined in relation to such changes. Using biodegradation kinetics and community-level omics datasets gained from high-throughput molecular biology tools, community diversity metrics as well as robustness indices will be quantified in the presence of the above types of disturbance. The combination of next generation sequencing technologies and perturbation studies in continuous-flow (mini-chemostat) culture will enable to capture the role of individual community members and their influence on the whole biosystem. Community-level biomarkers relevant to functional robustness will be correlated mathematically to biotransformation activities in the presence of environmental stressors. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Ecology of Aquatic Systems Unit at the University of Brussels (Professors Pierre Servais and Isabelle George).
Candidate profile: Microbiologist, biologist, (bio)chemist, bio-engineer or environmental scientist, with experience in molecular biology and statistical analysis/bioinformatics methods. Must be academically competitive, self-motivated, rigorous, with good English oral and writing skills and an ability to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team. Desirable: Knowledge of bioreactor operations, knowledge of pure and mixed culture incubations, ability to rigorously design experiments and to perform experiments under well-controlled conditions, experience with microbial ecology and molecular microbial techniques.
Language: English. Some knowledge of French would be beneficial to facilitate the academic process. 
Other requirements: Complete CV, letter of motivation and two letters of recommendation. Deadline for submission of application (preferably by e-mail): 13 January 2015. 

HOW TO APPLY: Send complete CV, Letter of motivation, transcripts of academic performance and names of two (2) references to spiros.agathos@uclouvain.be or benoit.stenuit@uclouvain.be

Nr of positions available : 1

Research Fields

Biological sciences - Biodiversity
Environmental science - Ecology

Career Stage

Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate) 

Research Profiles

First Stage Researcher (R1) 

Benefits

Language: English. Some knowledge of French would be beneficial to facilitate the academic process and to take advantage of the surrounding culture but it is not required. The Laboratory of Bioengineering at the Earth & Life Institute of the Catholic University of Louvain is a dynamic research Unit with a strong international outlook.

Comment/web site for additional job details

www.uclouvain.be/gebi

Requirements

Envisaged Job Starting Date

03/02/2014

13/01/2015