PHD POSITION FOR UP TO 4 YEARS TO DECIPHER MYCOPLASMA VIRULENCE TRAITS USING SYNTHETIC GENOMICS

 

We are looking for a flexible, enthusiastic and highly motivated PhD student to work within a young international team on the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) -funded project: "Deciphering mycoplasma-host interactions using synthetic genomics". Earliest starting date is August 2021.

Our lab works on host-pathogen interaction of pathogenic mycoplasmas, which are minimalistic, cell wall-deficient bacteria. A better understanding of host-pathogen interactions driving pathogenicity is the aim of the project. We focus our activities on Mycoplasma mycoides, a deadly goat pathogen.
Within this project we will characterize interactions of cells of the immune system with mycoplasmas using Luminex assays, bulk RNA sequencing as well as single cell RNA sequencing. The generation of a set of defined mutants using cutting edge synthetic genomics techniques to pin point mycoplasma virulence traits and getting mechanistic insight is an essential part of the project.

Tasks

• Mutagenesis of Mycoplasma mycoides using synthetic genomics tools
• Testing of mutants in ex vivo and in vitro assays using cells of the immune system including read out of cell responses using Luminex bead-based assays, bulk RNA sequencing and single-cell RNA sequencing

Requirements

• A MSc degree in the field of veterinary medicine, medicine, microbiology, biochemistry or immunology
• Excellent communication skills and curiosity

We offer

The remuneration is in accordance with the Swiss SNF regulations. PhD students have to enroll in the Graduate School of Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (https://www.gcb.unibe.ch) at the University of Bern.
Our institute is situated just a few minutes away from the center of the UNESCO world heritage old city of Bern.

Are you interested in this position? Please send us your electronic application as a single PDF file (Letter of intent, curriculum vitae, diplomas, and contact information of at least one reference) to the following e-mail: barbara.gautschi@vetsuisse.unibe.ch UNTIL 1ST MAY 2021.
Jörg Jores (joerg.jores@vetsuisse.unibe.ch) will inform about the project specifics, if needed.

Apply now