We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated postdoctoral scientist to join our international team at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (DTU Biosustain), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and become part of the New Bioactive Compounds section. Within the Novo Nordisk Foundation funded Challenge Grant project “Integration of Informatics and Metabolic Engineering for the discovery of Novel Antibiotics (IIMENA)” you will actively contribute to develop and implement technologies in the field of metabolic engineering to identify and produce novel secondary metabolites as potential future antibiotics. IIMENA is an international excellence project involving partner institutions from Spain and South Korea.
Job Title : Postdoc
Project Title : “Secondary metabolite gene cluster identification and characterization”
Responsibilities and tasks
Within the IIMENA project, we will identify a huge number of actinomycetes producing bioactive compounds against our panel of clinical test organisms. Many of these strains will be sequenced and subjected to Genome Mining for the biosynthetic gene clusters encoding the production of the bioactive compounds. The aim of this postdoctoral position is to develop and implement experimental/computational tools to rapidly identify and characterize biosynthetic pathways for secondary metabolites and their bioactivities.
Tasks of this project include:
- Coordinating genome-sequencing of interesting actinomycete producer strains
- Genome mining for secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters
- Engineering of actinomycete producer strains (for example using CRISPR / CRISPRi) including the development of automatized high-throughput protocols
- Molecular characterization of the gene clusters
The postdoctoral researcher will work in close collaboration with the other project scientists at DTU and with the external project partners in Spain and South Korea.
Qualifications : Candidates should have a PhD degree in microbiology, biotechnology or equivalent field.
Further qualifications
Requirements:
- Excellent laboratory skills, practical experience of state-of-the-art molecular microbiology methods and tools, and good knowledge of relevant bioinformatics approaches.
- Knowledge and experimental experiences in microbial natural products, actinomycete biology or genetic / metabolic engineering are highly advantageous.
- Knowledge of handling and processing larger scale next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, experience of using scripting languages (preferably Python) and relational databases to analyse such data are advantageous.
- Ambition, strong work ethics and attention to detail
- Excellent methodical, communication and team-playing skills, but also the ability to work independently towards applied research goals in a multi-disciplinary international team of scientists.
- Excellent English skills for working in a highly international research group
We offer
We offer an interesting and challenging job in an international environment focusing on education, research, scientific advice and innovation, which contribute to enhancing the economy and improving social welfare. We strive for academic excellence, collegial respect and freedom tempered by responsibility. The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is a leading technical university in northern Europe and benchmarks with the best universities in the world.
Salary and terms of employment
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Confederation of Professional Associations. The allowance will be agreed with the relevant union.
Workplace and period of employment:
Workplace is The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at DTU main campus in Kgs. Lyngby.
The period of employment is 3 years
Further information
Further information may be obtained from Dr. Tilmann Weber (IIMENA coordinator) by email [email protected].
You can read more about DTU Biosustain on www.biosustain.dtu.dk.
Application procedure
Please submit your online application no later than 20th August 2017.
Applications must be submitted as one PDF file containing all materials to be given consideration. To apply, please open the link “Apply online,” fill in the online application form, and attach all your materials in English in one PDF file. The file must include:
- Application (cover letter)
- CV
- Diploma (MSc/PhD)
- List of publications
Applications and enclosures received after the deadline will not be considered.
All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.
