3 PhD and 2 Postdoc Positions in Plant Biology/Mechanobiology (2024)

3 PhD Funded Positions and 2 Postdoc Positions in Plant Biology/Mechanobiology Within the GreenTE Gravitation Program in The Netherlands: Plant Mechanobiology is an field that explores how mechanical forces and physical properties influence the growth, development, and behavior of plants. At its heart, plant mechanobiology investigates how plants perceive, respond, and adapt to mechanical stimuli, which can include forces like wind, gravity, touch, or even the pressure exerted by their own growth. This field bridges physics, biology, and engineering to understand these interactions.

Mechanobiology plays a crucial role in plant morphogenesis. The mechanical properties of cell walls, influenced by the arrangement of cellulose microfibrils, determine how cells expand and divide, shaping plant organs. This includes how plants bend or how leaves fold, as seen in the rapid movements of the Mimosa pudica when touched, which involves specialized motor organs called pulvini. Understanding plant mechanobiology can lead to advancements in agriculture, like developing crops that are more resilient to wind or mechanical stress, or optimizing plant architecture for better light capture and yield.

Plant mechanobiology, therefore, not only enriches our understanding of plant life but also opens avenues for innovation in biotechnology, agriculture, and even materials science, where plant-inspired designs could lead to new technologies. This field continues to evolve, with each discovery peeling back another layer of the complex life of plants, revealing them as dynamic, responsive organisms far beyond passive greenery.

About GreenTE: Green Mechanobiology is positioned at the interface of classical disciplines: biology, mechanics, physics and chemistry. A central aim in mechanobiology is not to view the physical and mechanical aspects of plant life as separate from the complex biological reality, but as an intrinsic and deeply intertwined part of the whole. The field of Green Mechanobiology aims to integrate concepts from physics and mechanics into a biological viewpoint on the processes of life for a systems level understanding.

A foundational basis of our GreenTE project is our shared conviction that to understand how mechanics couples to biological programs in the life of plant cells and tissues, and to learn how such knowledge can be leveraged to gain engineering control over plant development or resilience, we need to bring together a broad range of expertise. We not only believe that an inherently multidisciplinary problem requires a truly interdisciplinary team, but are also convinced that it is essential to train a new generation of young researchers to integrate concepts from these disparate fields in their intuitive scientific thinking, which can only be effectively achieved by embedding their training in a collaborative community that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. Thus, the GreenTE consortium strives to advance the field of plant mechanobiology both by pushing the frontiers of our scientific knowledge and by fostering a new generation of researchers that is equipped to better approach complex problems using a multidisciplinary approach.

The GreenTE community will build strong links to adjacent international fields of plant biomechanics and (animal and microbial) mechanobiology. We will link our efforts to those of other international initiatives, in part through our Scientific Advisory Board members, by organizing international conferences, by enabling exchange in the form of scientific visits by GreenTE researchers to other institutes (such as the NSF Center for Engineering MechanoBiology (CEMB)) and by offering support to international scientists to visit and work in GreenTE labs. We will provide a rich playing field for translational science through the inclusion of an Industrial Stakeholders Committee, comprising both small to medium and large enterprises, that will support and help identify novel applications of our fundamental research.

We have 3 PhD Positions and 2 Postdoctoral Positions available:

PhD position: Modeling the mechanical regulation of plant development and regeneration:

The opening is for a PhD research position within the field of mathematical or theoretical biology, computational physics, applied mathematics or computational science. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and interpret novel two-dimensional multiscale mathematical models of mechanical regulation of plant development and regeneration in close collaboration with members of the GreenTE consortium, in particular the group of experimental plant biologist Prof. dr. Dolf Weijers at Wageningen University.
• Further develop the plant modeling package VirtualLeaf to reflect mechanical manipulation as performed in the experimental lab.
• Incorporate detailed insights into the model of the mechanical properties of cell walls based on experiments and small-scale simulations developed elsewhere in the GreenTE consortium.
• Correct and improve your mathematical models in close collaboration with experimental biologists, particularly PhD students at Wageningen University who will perform mechanical interventions (e.g., stretching, squeezing or poking) of embryo development and root regeneration of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
• At a later stage: extend the models to three dimensions in close collaboration with a postdoc in computational science in our team.

Enquiries about the position can be made to Prof.dr. Roeland Merks, merksrmh@math.leidenuniv.nl

To apply for this vacancy, please ensure that you join to your application the following additional documents:

• A letter of motivation
• An updated CV
• Letters of recommendation or contact details of 1 or 2 former supervisors
• The transcripts of your MSc studies
• Examples of previously written code

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Application deadline September 9^th 2024.

• PhD position: Mechanical signaling during seed germination

Within the GreenTE Gravitation program, we are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to explore mechanisms of mechanical signaling during seed germination. In this PhD project, we aim for mapping the mechanical responses during seed germination. We will use a multi-point indentation technique to characterize the seeds’ mechanical properties, such as stiffness and rupture force, with a spatial resolution of a few micrometers. Further, we will use the plant-specific molecular mechanoprobes to generate high-resolution maps of the mechanical properties and turgor pressure inside the seed, using multiphoton confocal microscopy. We will link the gained knowledge to transcriptome, translatome and phosphoproteome data that will be generated by other researchers in the project team to finally create an integrated model of seed germination. The constructed models will be functionally characterized using Arabidopsis mutants.

The candidate will be embedded in the Wageningen Seed Science Centre (Leónie Bentsink group) which is part of the Laboratory of Plant physiology, Wageningen University, and within the larger GreenTE program. The latter includes physicists, chemists, theoreticians and plant biologists. We are looking for an MSc graduate (or soon to graduate MSc candidate) with a strong affinity with curiosity-driven plant science and experience in (plant) molecular biology approaches (including confocal microscopy). The (full-time) position is funded for 4 years and available from October 2024 onwards.

This PhD project is part of the Gravitation programme GreenTE (Green Tissue Engineering), a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities. Together, GreenTE will unravel how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli; these fundamental insights will be the basis to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed germination and defenses against disease. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

For more information about this position, please contact Prof dr Leónie Bentsink (leonie.bentsink@wur.nl) This vacancy is open up to and including September 2, 2024. If you are interested in joining our diverse team, please apply online through APPLY NOW by uploading a motivation letter and CV

• PhD Position in Mechanical signaling in plants

Within the GreenTE Gravitation program, we are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to explore mechanisms of mechanical signaling in plants. Our recent data identified rapid protein phosphorylation as a potentially profound mediator of responses to mechanical stress in Arabidopsis cells. In this project, the candidate will use a combination of microfluidics and phosphoproteomics to systematically explore rapid responses to mechanical signals, and investigate the role of newly identified candidate regulators and mediators in the perception of and response to mechanical signaling in development and/or immunity.

The candidate will be embedded in a multi-disciplinary team both at the host department (Dolf Weijers and Joris Sprakel groups; Wageningen University), and within the larger GreenTE program. The latter includes physicists, chemists, theoreticians and plant biologists.

We are looking for an MSc graduate (or soon to graduate MSc candidate) with a strong affinity with curiosity-driven plant science and experience in one or more of the following areas: (1) Proteomics, (2) Microfluidics, (3) Engineering. The (full-time) position is funded for 4 years and available from September 2024 onward.

This PhD/PD project is part of the Gravitation programme GreenTE (Green Tissue Engineering), a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities. Together, GreenTE will unravel how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli; these fundamental insights will be the basis to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed longevity and defenses against disease. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

To apply: Please contact Dolf Weijers (dolf.weijers@wur.nl) or Joris Sprakel (joris.sprakel@wur.nl) to inquire about the position or to apply. When applying, please provide a motivation letter, a detailed CV and names of 2-3 individuals from whom a letter of reference can be requested. This vacancy is open up to and including September 2, 2024.

1. Postdoc position: Three-dimensional simulation models of plant tissue mechanobiology

The opening is for a Postdoc research position within the field of computational science, mathematical or theoretical biology, computational physics, or applied mathematics. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop novel, three-dimensional simulation techniques suitable for modeling the mechanical regulation of plant development and regeneration in close collaboration with members of the GreenTE consortium.
• Integrate the new techniques into the plant modeling package VirtualLeaf .
• Design simulation experiments to reflect and interpret mechanical manipulation of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as performed elsewhere in the GreenTE consortium.
• Incorporate detailed insights into the model of the mechanical properties of cell walls based on experiments and simulations at the subcellular level as developed elsewhere in the GreenTE consortium.
• Collaborate with a PhD student working in our group, also within GreenTE, to extend two-dimensional models of mechanical regulation of plant development to three dimensions and to validate these against experimental data produced elsewhere in the consortium.
• Publication of the results in the scientific literature.

Enquiries about the position can be made to Prof.dr. Roeland Merks, merksrmh@math.leidenuniv.nl

To apply for this vacancy, please ensure that you join to your application the following additional documents:

• A letter of motivation
• An updated CV
• Letters of recommendation or contact details of 1 or 2 former supervisors
• The transcripts of your MSc studies
• Examples of previously written code

APPLY NOW

Application deadline September 9^th 2024.

• Postdoc position: Mechanosensing mechanisms of seed desiccation survival; Postdoc Seed Desiccation – GreenTE

As part of the GreenTE Gravitation program, we are looking for a talented, motivated, and proactive postdoctoralresearcherwho is interested in unravelling the mechanosensing mechanisms of seed desiccation survival.

Producing dry seeds is vital for plants since it enables them to survive in harsh environmental conditions and it ensures that their species can thrive over time. Extreme loss of water (or desiccation) during seed development or germination is an important factor that affects seed survival, resilience, and storability. However, little is still known about how drying is sensed and integrated into seed developmental programs.

As a postdoctoral researcher, you will investigate how mechanical and biochemical signals trigged by drying affect the transcriptome (RNA-seq) and phosphoproteome during seed maturation and germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. Besides designing and conducting experiments, analyzing the results and writing scientific manuscripts, you will have the opportunity to contribute with teaching and supervising MSc and BSc students.

Your qualities:

• You have a recently obtained a PhD degree in plant sciences, with a focus on molecular biology, developmental biology, biochemistry, or related fields,
• You have experience with detailed phenotyping and affinity with precision work in model species, such as molecular biology and microscopy techniques,
• You have interest or affinity with biophysical and/or biochemistry research in plants,
• Experience with seed physiology experiments, phosphoproteomics, transcriptomics, and/or bioinformatics approaches are an advantage,
• Have excellent organizational and writing skills, work independently and reliably, and are proactive and enthusiastic for the project.

You will work at the Seed Resilience Group, led by Dr. Mariana Silva Artur. Our group addresses fundamental questions related to seed survival in the dry state. We are also embedded in the Wageningen Seed Science Centre which is part of the Laboratory of Plant Physiology. This project is part of the GreenTE Gravitation program, a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities who aims at unravelling how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli and to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed longevity and defenses against disease. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.

For more information about this position, please contact Dr. Mariana Silva Artur (mariana.silvaartur@wur.nl). This vacancy is open up to and including September 2, 2024. If you are interested in joining our diverse and interdisciplinary team, please apply please apply online through: APPLY NOW by uploading a motivation letter and CV.

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