PhD & Postdoctoral Positions in Soil Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Austria (2015)

A Postdoc and 2 PhD-student positions are available within the ERC StG-project DormantMicrobes: “Revealing the function of dormant soil microorganisms and the cues for their awakening”

Project description:
Soils are considered the last scientific frontiers that harbor one of the most diverse microbial communities on Earth. It is hypothesized that this diversity allows for redundancy in microbial key processes, thereby ensuring ecosystem stability. Much of this functional redundancy is embodied in non-active, dormant microorganisms that represent the ‘microbial seed bank’. It is hypothesized that dormant microorganisms can be recruited to participate in a given function upon resuscitation with environmental cues. In this project we will test this hypothesis on a level that matters for ecosystem processes – the functional level – by combining stable isotope probing (SIP) and sequencing with process-level and single-cell activity analysis (the latter through NanoSIMS measurements).

Research Fields
Biological sciences - Biology

Further details:
http://ec.europa.eu