Opening for PhD in "Fungal Biotechnology" @ Aalborg University,Denmark

At the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Section of Sustainable Biotechnology a PhD stipend is available within the general study programme Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering. The stipend is open for appointment from September 1, 2012.

Job description :

The position is based at the Section for Sustainable Biotechnology at Aalborg University, Copenhagen. Part of the work will be done at Washington State University in Richland so it is essential that the potential candidate be mobile.

The position will be part of a large project “MYCO-fuels and MYCO-chemicals: Consolidated bioprocessing of biomass into advanced fuels and high value compounds in fungal cell factories” lead by Section for Sustainable Biotechnology at Aalborg University Copenhagen (AAU-Cph) funded by the Danish Council for Strategic Research. The project includes a strong collaboration among Danish Technical University, Washington State University, Novozymes A/S and Solum A/S. The aim of the project is to develop consolidated fungal cell factories that integrate hydrolysis of a complex biomass with the production of bio-fuels or bio-chemicals. As the production of biofuels and biochemicals will be almost CO2 neutral, the project will work towards replacing fuels and chemicals produced from fossil sources with a sustainable production.

Research Area :

Development of new efficient fungal cell factories for advanced biofuel production.

The work will focus on

  • pathway engineering in filamentous fungi,
  • increase production of hydrocarbons in selected fungal strains, and
  • optimize growth conditions and hydrocarbon production.

The work will be done in a close collaboration with other researchers within the Project and will further take advantages of the Projects close link to Washington State University and the world-class analytical facilities found in the BSEL building (http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/cbb/).