The role of lipids in mediating the spatiotemporal coordination of cell division.

PhD position in plant membrane biology

09.02.2023, Wissenschaftliches Personal

Your research and responsibilities: In plants, patterning by cell division relies on division plane establishment, on the biogenesis of a membrane compartment called the cell plate, and on cell plate insertion at the division site. The processes of cell plate guidance and insertion are poorly understood. Lipids are increasingly recognized as important membrane landmarks, but whether specific lipids mark the division site has yet to be investigated. Your activities will address the following questions: i) how are lipids sorted at the expanding cell plate or division site? ii) does lipid sorting require a Rab Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factor? iii) conversely, do lipid landmarks regulate Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factor function? Your results will considerably further our understanding of the establishment, recognition and function of membrane micro-domains. This is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project. In cutting-edge facilities, the project spans a broad range techniques: lipid biosensors, lipid click-chemistry, inducible depletion of lipids by optogenetics, super-resolution microscopy, targeted immuno-isolation of membrane complexes, proteomics and lipidomics.

Your qualifications:
You have a Master’s degree in biology, biochemistry, biotechnology or biophysics, are able to work in an international collaborative team and are interested in independently investigating scientific questions. Knowledge of German is not essential.

Our offer:
• You will benefit from the impressive cumulative expertise of three principle investigators: Farhah Assaad (TUM), Marie-Cécile Caillaud (ENS Lyon) and Yohann Boutté (CNRS Bordeaux). These three groups are coming together in a joint DFG-ANR project, ensuring cross-fertilization and considerable exposure to different labs and techniques.
• TUM is the top-ranked university in the EU and is located in and around Munich, a vibrant technology center in Europe.
• TUM Ph.D students are integrated in the TUM graduate school, which offers inspiring and challenging Ph.D programs that complement the research training with outstanding opportunities for career development, continued education and lifelong learning. Students also benefit from extensive networking opportunities, also with the UTUM/TUM Venture lab/TUM entrepreneurship center, TUM spin offs and industrial partners.

We offer a competitive salary based on the Collective Agreement for the Civil Service of the Länder (TV-L; starting at 50% E13). The position will initially be limited to three years, and will be prolonged pending renewed funding. TUM strives to raise the proportion of women in its workforce and explicitly encourages applications from qualified women. Applications from disabled persons with essentially the same qualifications will be given preference.

Your application:
Please send your application as a single PDF to farhah.assaad@tum.de including (i) a motivation letter (ii) a strong CV (iii) contact information for two references (iv) your transcripts and certificates.

The deadline for applications is April 15 2023. The project starts at the latest on Sept. 1 2023.

As part of your application, you provide personal data to the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Please view our privacy policy on collecting and processing personal data in the course of the application process pursuant to Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) at https://portal.mytum.de/kompass/datenschutz/Bewerbung/. By submitting your application you confirm to have read and understood the data protection information provided by TUM.

For more information, please contact
Prof. Dr. Farhah Assaad-Gerbert
School of Life Sciences TUM
Farhah.assaad@tum.de
+49-8161-71-2695.
https://www.botanik.wzw.tum.de/forschung/assaad-lab/

Kontakt: farhah.assaad@tum.de