Two Postdoc positions in “Perturbations of Permafrost Microbiomes and the Climate Feedback” under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Rattei and Prof. Andreas Richter at University of Vienna, Austria
Overview:
The recently established “Cluster of Excellence: Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health” is looking for two postdoctoral research associates in permafrost at University of Vienna, Austria. They are looking for excellent, curious, and open-minded scientists to develop their potential in one of their work packages, spanning environmental (green), human (red) and methodological (blue) topics.
The concept of the Cluster of Excellence is to strategically link green, red, and blue projects to explore and understand fundamental principles of microbiomes across systems to strengthen planetary health.
For that, mechanisms of microbial interaction, perturbation and interventions will be explored in diverse ecosystems such as permafrost, plant-soil interfaces, human gut or wastewater using the full spectrum of state-of-the art methodologies applied in microbiome research, including field work and cultivation, work with model organisms/systems, or massive sequencing and bioinformatics.
Successful candidates will have full access to 10 staffed cutting-edge method facilities and will benefit from a unique and comprehensive mentoring and training program, including training in microbiome methods, transferable skills and entrepreneurship, as well as active career planning.
Applications are projected to open in mid July. Review of applications begins immediately after 15 August 2023 and continues until positions are filled.
Two PostDoc permafrost projects are part of “Project 4 – Microbiome Responses to Climate and Land Use Change” section “WP 4.2 – Perturbations of Permafrost Microbiomes and the Climate Feedback”:
1. Genomics of ancient and modern microbiomes in thawing permafrost
Duration of contract: 3.2 years
Planned starting date: ASAP
Place of work: University of Vienna, Austria
Main supervisor: Thomas Rattei (CV | Lab Homepage)
Supervision team: Alexander Loy, Stephan Krämer, Andreas Richter
Project description:
The PostDoc position is embedded in a multi-disciplinary team and will use mainly computational methods to study permafrost microbiomes. They will focus on reconstructing ancient DNA preservation in permafrost soils across gradients from the Southern boundary of permafrost in the boreal forest, to the continuous permafrost region in the Arctic tundra, to distinguish ancient and current microbial communities and elucidating their genomic potential by advanced bioinformatic approaches. The PostDoc position will not only analyze and model microbiome data from permafrost samples, but also improve the repertoire of computational tools and resources for modern and ancient soil microbiomes.
Together with the second Postdoc in this WP, they will be involved in the molecular analysis (18O-quantitative stable isotope probing and metagenomics) of the thawing experiments.
2. Control of microbial activity and growth in thawing permafrost soil
Duration of contract: 3.2 years
Planned starting date: First half of 2024
Place of work: University of Vienna, Austria
Main supervisor: Andreas Richter (CV | Lab Homepage)
Supervision team: Matthias Horn, Christina Kaiser, Christine Moissl-Eichinger
Project description:
In-situ deep soil warming and permafrost thawing experiments are exceptionally rare. The Postdoc in this work package will have the crucial responsibility of establishing a permafrost thawing experiment in the North American Arctic, in collaboration with partners in the US. This in-situ experiment aims to investigate the composition and function of microbial communities across all three domains of life, and viruses. It forms part of a larger endeavor to comprehend the fate of soil organic matter upon thawing in a future climate.
The PostDoc’s specific focus will be on unraveling the top-down and bottom-up controls governing microbial activity, growth, and turnover during thawing and warming. They will employ innovative isotope methods utilizing 18O and 2H and stable isotope probing. Additionally, the Postdoc will measure time series of community processes in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycling using multiomics approaches and pool dilution experiments (13C, 15N, 33P, and 35S).
