PhD Student Position in Environmental Microbiology

The Department of Environmental Microbiology at the Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management (ISWA) at the University of Stuttgart is delighted to announce an open position for a PhD student who will work on: “Arsenic mobilization by anaerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria in groundwater systems in Hanoi/Vietnam”

Geogenic arsenic (As) contamination is a ubiquitous issue in many aquifers in southeast Asia, posing a significant threat to the health of millions of people. Understanding mechanisms controlling As mobilization into groundwater is crucial but oftentimes limited.

We are seeking an environmental microbiologist to identify the key players and active pathways that influence the fate of As in groundwater systems in the Red River Delta, Hanoi (Vietnam). This PhD project will specifically investigate cultures of anaerobic Fe(III)-reducing methane-oxidizing microorganisms and field samples from Vietnam. We will carry out a field sampling (drilling) campaign followed by molecular biological and bioinformatic analyses to characterize the microbial community composition, metagenomics potential and gene expression patterns in field samples and in established cultures using techniques such as 16S rRNA (gene) amplicon sequencing, metagenomics (including metagenome-assembled genomes; MAGs), metatranscritpomics, and statistical analysis. This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

We are offering a PhD student position in an interdisciplinary, international, and dynamic team of environmental microbiologists and microbial ecologists. The position provides the opportunity for the candidate to be creative and innovative, and to work on a challenging topic that combines various fields within environmental sciences. Ideal candidates should have a solid background in environmental microbiology and molecular ecology. Experience with anaerobis cultivation and molecular biological techniques is an asset. Applicants must have the ability to work independently and in a team, have excellent management and communication skills and should be highly motivated and committed to pursuing interdisciplinary research. Very good computer and language skills (English) are necessary. This PhD student will work closely together with a second PhD student from this joint project with Prof. Andreas Kappler’s group at the University of Tübingen (see open position in Tübingen here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachbereiche/geowissenschaften/arbeitsgruppen/geo-und-umweltnaturwissenschaften/geo-und-umweltnaturwissenschaften/geomikrobiologie/arbeitsgruppe/job-offers/).

The starting date is February 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. Employment (TV-L E 13, 75%, 3 years) will be arranged by the administration of the University of Stuttgart. People with disabilities will be given preferential consideration if they are equally qualified. The University of Stuttgart strives to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and therefore strongly encourages qualified women to apply.

Applications including CV, motivation letter, an overview about the methods used in the past, and contact information of academic references should be submitted before November 30th, 2024.