Uppsala University hereby declares the following position to be open
for application:
PhD student position in Physiological Botany
at the Evolutionary Biology Centre, the Department of Physiological
Botany (http://www.ebc.uu.se) announces a PhD student position in the
project “The role of the Arabidopsis HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 in plant
development”.
In plants as well as in animals the control of chromatin structure in
response to endogenous and exogenous cues determines gene expression
patterns that regulate cell differentiation and development. The
available project focuses on an Arabidopsis mutant, terminal flower2
(tfl2). The gene encodes the plant HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 (HP1), a
homologue to the Drosophila HP1 genes that are involved in basic
processes as DNA replication, recombination and repair but also in
epigenetics and gene activation/repression during differentiation. The
single copy gene in Arabidopsis encodes a protein most similar to HP1
proteins that regulate gene activation/ repression in other organisms
and it has been shown to localize to euchromatic regions of the
chromosomes. Mutations in tfl2 have a pleiotropic effect indicating a
global role, possibly regulating different developmental processes in
response to light. Our data points to the importance of TFL2 in two
phase-transitions during the plant life cycle: embryo – postembryonic
development as well as vegetative – reproductive development. Recent
results show that TFL2 physically interact with proteins in hormone
signal transduction pathways as well as chromatin of both hormone
biosynthesis and response genes. The successful candidate will
collaborate with another PhD student in this area of hormone
regulation of plant development.
The successful candidate should have a university degree in biology,
favourably with the combination of plant biology and molecular
biology. The application should include personal background including
a description of undergraduate training, a complete CV, copies of
university degree and degree thesis as well as the names and e-mail
addresses to two referees.
The PhD position is full time employment position for a tenure of four
years. However, the possibility for the tenure to be extendable to a
maximum of five years exists to allow the inclusion of university
level biology teaching and/or laboratory supervision into the PhD
education.
For more information please contact Dr Annika Sundås-Larsson, that
will function as the supervisor, by e-mail
annika.sundas-larsson from ebc.uu.se or by phone +46-18-4712819. Union
representatives are Anders Grundström, SACO-rådet, tel: +46 18-471
5380, Carin Söderhäll, TCO/ST, tel: +46 18-471 1996 and Stefan
Djurström, SEKO, tel: +46 18-471 3315.
The application should be sent , preferrably by e-mail to:
registrator from uu.se, or by fax + 46 18 471 2000, or by mail to:
Registrar´s Office, Uppsala University, Box 256, SE-751 05 UPPSALA,
Sweden. In any correspondence, please use the reference number UFV-PA
2009/2423. Application no later than 16 November, 2009
