MSCA - IF - Postdoc Position: The Plant Microbiome interaction as a tool to improve plant fitness and food quality with Microbial Elicitors.

JOB SUMMARY

Universidad San Pablo CEU (USP-CEU) is a young university founded in Madrid in 1993.  CEU is committed to academic and professional excellence, aiming for the best quality in education, research and internationalization. USP-CEU is a specialized University and structures its studies on three main fields of knowledge: “Social sciences and humanities”, “Health and life sciences” and “Architecture and Engineering”.

CEU facilities include 8 Research Centers, 43 Research Groups and 11 Core Research Facilities which sum an area of 3,400 m² devoted to research. Over the past 5 years, University:

• Has been granted 60 competitive research projects.
• Achieves collaborations with Industry meaning 54% of R&D funding.
• Obtained almost € 1M from European Commission 7^th Framework Programme. We participate in 4 H2020 projects, including two MSCA-IF grants and a MSCA-COFUND program, and 5 Erasmus + actions.

USP-CEU is looking for a highly motivated candidate to apply for MSCA-IF-2018 calls, to apply for MSCA-IF-2018 calls. Together with the selected candidate a proposal will be written and submitted. The involvement of the selected candidate in the proposal writing process will provide ample opportunity to tailor the proposal to her / his research interests. The position may start during the second quarter of 2019 until September 2020, and it will have a duration of 2 years. The candidate will be hired only if the MSCA-IF is granted. Successful candidates will be hired at USP-CEU during the fellowship.

RESEARCH GROUP

The Plant-Microbe Interaction Biotechnology Group (former Biotechnology of the Rhizosphere, www.biotecnologia-rizosfera-ceu.com ) works within the framework of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidad San Pablo CEU in Madrid. The group is built on the expertise of the plant-microbe interaction, combining plant physiology and microbial ecology as basic and applied disciplines. Our mission is to improve human health by producing high quality plant foods within a sustainable environment. Our group holds a collection of beneficial microorganisms with a demonstrated beneficial effect on plant growth.

Head of the group is Professor F. Javier Gutiérrez Mañero, together with him, a team of three Senior researchers: Dra. Beatriz Ramos Solano, Dr. José Antonio Lucas García, and Dra. Ana García-Villaraco Velasco, have published 40 indexed scientific papers and 8 book chapters from 2008-17. They are also inventors of 6 patents.

The Group has broad experience in research and teaching, with funding by national and international competitive calls and projects in collaboration with industry.

CONTACT PERSON

Dr. BEATRIZ RAMOS SOLANO

Departamento CIENCIAS FARMACEUTICAS Y DE LA SALUD

Facultad de FARMACIA

Universidad CEU San Pablo

bramsol@ceu.es

RESEARCH PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This Research Project focuses on unraveling the basic mechanisms of the plant-bacteria interaction to achieve a biotechnological improvement of plant production.

The main area of application focuses on Agriculture, paying attention to a sustainable increase in crop yields within regular management practices. In order to achieve these purposes, plant physiology is studied in depth paying specific attention to the photosynthetic process, and to secondary metabolism for its involvement in plant defense, as well as secondary metabolites for being the main source of active molecules to improve human health. At this point, it is especially significant to study crop plants that are directly included in the diet, promoting good health of society. Therefore, an outline of the research carried out is identification of effective bacteria- delivery to plant species (field or controlled conditions)-evaluation of effects- biochemical and genomic-transcriptomic analysis of plants after bacterial challenge-effects of plant extracts on animals. The main objective of the group is to understand the key elements in plant – microorganism interaction, from control of metabolic and signaling pathways to metabolism and epigenetic gene regulation. For these purposes, the use of massive approaches (-omics) is crucial as well as studying processes in model plants (tomato) and other plants of interest like berries.

The Marie Curie Fellow will join a young, dynamic laboratory with PhD and postdoctoral students in a highly motivating environment; teaching experience is available. The candidate will use the latest techniques in plant molecular biology to unravel the mechanisms by which beneficial bacteria or derived elicitors trigger plant metabolism, including from field work to basic analysis and production and analysis of transgenic plants, techniques for gene edition and bioinformatics for gene expression analysis.

The research has biotechnological implications, involves dealing with private companies and results will be published in the highest-rated journals of the area.

APPLICATIONS

An expression of interest shall be sent to Beatriz Ramos Solano (bramsol@ceu.es), before 30^th of June 2018. Your file should contain the following elements:

• A short CV: Only CVs with considerable scientific achievements will be considered. Candidates should have an excellent track record of research; they should demonstrate the ability to grow into scientific/technological leadership roles.

• A short research proposal (2 page Max).

• A short statement explaining why USP-CEU is your choice for the proposal.

• Two letters of reference.