Job ID: PhD in Molecular Plant Pathology
Location
John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK
About
This PhD project will be undertaken as part of a new €31.5 million Research Ireland funded Co-Centre which aims to transform food systems in Ireland and the UK. The Co-Centre brings together world-leading researchers from institutions across both countries, working closely with government and industry to deliver innovative solutions to drive societal and political change in the transition to more a sustainable food system, and changing consumer demand for healthier and more diverse foods. The Co-Centre will focus on research expertise in specific areas that are core to food system transformation including food safety, production, nutrition, plant and animal science, behavioural change, data science, food system governance, and the political process of food system transformation..
The Applicant
This PhD in molecular plant pathology will focus on strategies to address economically important fungal diseases of cereal crops grown in the UK and Ireland; Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Septoria tritici botch (STB). We will apply gene editing CRISPR/Cas technology to enhance resistance to these challenging fungal diseases of cereals. Gene candidates have been identified as potential FHB and STB susceptibility genes in wheat and barley. These susceptibility candidate genes will be disrupted using CRISPR/Cas technology in wheat or barley. The impact of gene editing on disease resistance will be determined at glasshouse level, and in the UK in the field.
Applicants should have a 2:1 in Crop Science, Plant Science, Microbiology, Botany, or a related subject.
Funding
This 4 year funded PhD will be based at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK and students will be registered at University College Dublin, Ireland. The PhD Studentship is €25,000 and will cover RUK fees.
Start Date
May/June
APPLY
Please submit an electronic copy of Curriculum Vitae and a letter of interest to all the email addresses below by Friday 23rd May at 5 pm:
Dr Angela Feechan: angela.feechan@ucd.ie
Prof Paul Nicholson: paul.nicholson@jic.ac.uk
Prof Fiona Doohan: fiona.doohan@ucd.ie
