How does the plant microbiome influence whether pathogens can successfully invade? The NWO Vici project ResistoBiome is looking for a PhD candidate to investigate how soil and plant-associated microbial communities affect potato responses to Phytophthora infestans and Ralstonia solanacearum.

You will combine large-scale plant experiments, automated high-throughput phenotyping, microbiome sequencing and predictive modelling to identify microbial factors associated with disease resilience. Promising candidate microbes will subsequently be isolated and experimentally validated to uncover how they protect plants against disease.

The position is based in the Plant-Microbe Interactions group at Utrecht University, led by Dr. Roeland Berendsen, and involves close collaboration across microbiology, plant pathology, bioinformatics and data science.

Do you wish to apply? Click this link: https://www.uu.nl/en/organisat...