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Interested candidates please contact Oliver Ebenhöh
PhD "Mathematical Modelling of Microbial Communities"
The advertised project is integrated into CRC 1535 MibiNet “Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities” and the associated graduate research training group “MibiNeⓍt”. The CRC 1535 includes five cooperation partners, including the Research Center Jülich (FZJ), the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH), the University of Bielefeld, the University of Cologne and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne.
Phototrophic microorganisms such as green algae interact synergistically with heterotrophic bacteria and fungi in their environment. These organisms assemble into stable communities in the regions neigh-bouring unicellular algae, known as the phycosphere, and play roles in global carbon and energy cycles. However, the fundamental principles that govern phycosphere community assembly and dynamics are relatively poorly understood, particularly in terrestrial ecosystems. We aim to use the eukaryotic, photo-synthetic model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to build computationally designed, stable and ro-bust synthetic consortia to establish a solid quantitative theory to explain fundamental principles govern-ing microbial ecosystem establishment, dynamics and resilience.
Job description: The successful candidate will develop mathematical models to theoretically investigate of the dynamics of microbial communities. A major goal is to obtain a quantitative understanding how environmental factors determine the stability, resilience and diversity of a community. This requires to also understand the interaction mechanisms between species and how these lead to community properties, such as stability and resilience. For this, differential equations-based models will be developed. The initial approach will be based on extended MacArthur consumer-resource models, which describe ecosystem dynamics based on resource availability, metabolic competition and cross-feeding. During the course of the project, the models will evolve from abstract to highly quantitative and calibrated with experimental data. The models will be developed in direct collaboration with the experimental partners Ruben Garrido-Oter (MPIPZ) and Bart Thomma (UoC), who provide high-quality, time-resolved data on dynamic communities, and perform dedicated experiments to determine the metabolic functions of the community members. Model predictions will guide experimental design to challenge the model and optimise information gain.
Your profile:
- A completed scientific university education (M.Sc./Diploma) in a a natural science discipline (physics, chemistry, biochemistry, etc.)
strong mathematical background
experience with differential equations
some programming skills
a keen interest in the biological questions addressed in this project
A spoken and written command of the English language is desirable
Affinity to teamwork
Good communication skills and enthusiasm for interdisciplinary exchanges are appreciated
Applications from disabled persons are welcome. Disabled persons with equal qualifications will be given priority. Applications from women are expressly welcome. Women with comparable qualifications will receive particular consideration, unless another applicant displays compelling reasons to prefer this person.
Please send letter of application, CV, publication list, transcripts, and letters of recommendation electronically as one PDF document to Dr. Oliver Ebenhöh (oliver.ebenhoeh@hhu.de) who may also be contacted for further information.
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