We have three one unfilled PhD positions in our lab in the Institute of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at Massey University, Auckland. These are available as part of our recent Marsden Fund grant, The Stuff Memories Are Made Of: How Bacteria Remember and Learn from Environmental Signals.
This research will address a wide range of questions quantifying the sensitivity, speed, and strength of transcriptional and physiological responses to changing environmental conditions (e.g. carbon sources, antibiotic stressors). We will also study how previous exposure to specific environmental conditions affect future responses. Lastly, the research will also examine epigenetic changes that occur, including covalent DNA modifications (e.g. methylation). All of this work will attempt to understand how each of these phenotypes has changed during the evolution of E. coli.
You will have a chance to learn a wide range of techniques, as the work will involve:
- time-lapse microscopy and image analysis
- microfluidics
- long-read DNA sequencing (Oxford Nanopore)
- flow cytometry
- high throughput growth assays (i.e. using a robotic microplate stacker)
- bioinformatics
Contact me if you are interested, official ad. Application deadline Feb 10 2018.
Silander Lab 