PhD position in systems biology / metabolism

We have recently obtained initial evidence that yeast metabolism oscillates and that the oscillating metabolism could provide dynamic triggers for cell cycle progression. Here, by making use of RNA-based sensors for so-called flux-signaling metabolites, we would like to unravel the mechanistic basis of the connection between metabolism and cell cycle. For this work, we will use a number of different techniques, such as microscopy, microfluidics, 13C flux analysis, metabolomics, molecular biology, genetics, and many more.

Huberts DHEW, Lee SS, Gonzalez J, Janssens GE, Avalos Vizcarra I, Heinemann M (2013) Construction and use of a microfluidic dissection platform for long-term imaging of cellular processes in budding yeast. Nature Protocols. 8, 1019–1027. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23640166

Lee SS, Avalos Vizcarra I, Huberts DHEW, Lee LP, Heinemann M (2012) Whole lifespan microscopic observation of budding yeast aging through a microfluidic dissection platform. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 109: 4916–4920. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22421136

This PhD position is part of a European research-training network, in which young researcher will do their PhD, and thereby will be excellently prepared for the future academic or industrial job market.

PhD students in the network will do exciting science at the interface between RNA biology and metabolism. We will develop RNA-based molecular sensors, with which we can probe cellular metabolism at the single cell level. Such capability will allow us to address important problems in diseases and biotechnology, where increasing evidence suggests that metabolic cell-to-cell heterogeneity is a key problem.