Project title: Exploring the evolution and ecology of non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria
Project description: The dogma that all Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic has recently been challenged by the discovery of non-photosynthetic lineages. This project should expand our rudimentary understanding of non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria by obtaining representative genome sequences using metagenomics and culturing. Predicted surface structures will be visualised using immuno-DNA labelling and electron microscopy. The proposed research should provide insights into the function and evolution of non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria and their viruses, and pure or enriched cultures to enable future studies.
Candidates should possess Honours in Microbiology, Biochemistry or related disciplines. *This project is available until June 2019 unless a suitable candidate is found prior.
This exciting PhD opportunity (stipend included) is available at the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (https://ecogenomic.org/), University of Queensland, Brisbane, starting in July 2019. The successful applicant will work on non-photosynthetic Cyanobacteria using metagenomics, culturing and cryo-EM with Dr. Rochelle Soo and Prof. Phil Hugenholtz. For more details contact Dr Rochelle Soo – r.soo@uq.edu.au. Please include a copy of your CV and academic transcript. For more details about the scholarship please visit: https://graduate-school.uq.edu.au/project-scholarships
