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Ph.D. position in RNA plant bioinformatics

The last 20 years have seen a revolution in our understanding of the impact and versatility of non-coding and cis-regulatory RNAs in biology. Among the most profound discoveries are small RNAs, CRISPR/Cas, and riboswitches, but many other RNA findings have propelled research in related systems or processes, and in a variety of organisms. In plants, structured RNAs (strucRNAs) conserve a biologically important structure and impact gene regulation using a variety of mechanisms, including control of alternative splicing (AS). We propose to combine our expertise in RNA bioinformatics and plant RNA biology in order to discover novel strucRNAs in plants, and to study their biology and mechanisms. We have already identified two promising strucRNAs for which preliminary experiments suggest a role in gene regulation via AS. We will experimentally analyze these strucRNAs, and develop strategies to find novel strucRNAs in plants that may exhibit a variety of possible functions. We anticipate that these studies will reveal fundamental insights into functions and mechanisms of strucRNAs, as well as information on the pathways and biological processes impacted by these RNAs.

This position is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is a joint project with the group of Prof. Andreas Wachter  (https://mps-imp.biologie.uni-mainz.de/).

Your role will be to design and program new computational methods, analyze the resulting predictions from a bioinformatic and biological perspective and coordinate with the Wachter lab.

The job ad is here: Ph.D. position in plant RNA  bioinformatics

How to apply

Electronic applications should be e-mailed to Zasha Weinberg (zasha@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de) and should include the following in PDF format:

A short summary of research interests (half a page),

Your Master’s thesis (if complete/nearly complete) or an abstract of it (if still pending),

A copy of your transcript of records for university education (should list courses and grades, but does not have to be official or certified),

Curriculum vitae (CV) and

Names and contact information for one or, if possible, two references.

Applications will be evaluated as they are received.

Additional information

Please contact Zasha Weinberg (zasha@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de) for additional information.