PhD vacancy: environmental adaptation of fish holobionts

Wageningen, Netherlands Full Time

Job Details

The Aquaculture and Fisheries group (AFI) at Wageningen University is looking for a PhD with a background on (aquaculture) molecular biology, microbiology, animal ecology/physiology or a related field.

Current environmental challenges such as increasing water temperature and other, affect the physiological responses of fish and can thereby influence disease and stress susceptibility. Early-life can offer a window of opportunity to prime fish in order to enhance resistance to disease and stressors, mitigating potential harm by environmental challenges to fish in aquaculture. At the same time, host-associated microbial communities are known to influence host physiology, including immune and stress responses, while within the context of the holobiont, they can contribute to the host adaptation. Key questions remain on the functional role of microbial communities of fish in relation to environmental challenges, how host-microbe relationships can be modulated by early-life priming, and the effects on overall fish fitness and environmental adaptation.

The aim of the PhD project will be to understand the effects of environmental changes, such as temperature, on fish-microbe interactions, and the implications of early life priming on overall fish fitness and adaptation. Your work will be focused on performing mainly molecular, bioinformatic and microbial community analyses to study environment-host-microbe interactions, including metagenomic and transcriptomic profiling, as well as in vitro microbial tests.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Aquaculture and Fisheries, which is led by Prof. Geert Wiegertjes. You will be supervised by Dr Fotini Kokou and prof.dr.ir. Geert Wiegertjes.

Requirements

As the ideal candidate you:

  • have a successfully completed an MSc degree in (aquaculture) molecular biology, microbiology, animal ecology/physiology, or a related field;
  • have a strong interest in fish health/physiology and host-microbe interactions;
  • have proven experience with molecular tools (i.e. PCR, DNA/RNA extraction) and/or microbiological techniques;
  • have good knowledge of advanced statistical analysis (using R preferably);
  • have strong interest in fundamental and applied research;
  • have good organisational and (written and spoken) communication skills in English, as well as ability to collaborate with others.
For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level. Sometimes it is necessary to submit an internationally recognised Certificate of Proficiency in the English Language. More information can be found here

Contact Information

Wageningen University



https://www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/phd-vacancy-environmental-adaptation-of-fish-holobionts.htm?_gl=1*1lmfbbu*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgyMzQyMDA1OC4xNzQ0MDUwMjc0*_ga_
For more information about the position, please contact Fotini Kokou, Assistant professor, e-mail fotini.kokou@wur.nl .

Questions about the procedure? Contact Noorien Abbas, Recruiter, noorien.abbas@wur.nl
Post Date: 4/7/2025 11:28:45 AM
Closing Date: 4/28/2025 12:00:00 AM