Job description: The Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology (Ghent University) and Comparative Network Biology group (VIB) invite applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship for 4 years to study life cycle dynamics in coastal diatom populations. Diatoms are major primary producers in freshwater and marine ecosystems but little remains known about the role of endogenous and external factors triggering life cycle transitions, and in particular how global change affects the growth and life cycling of diatom populations. Recent pioneering work in our lab has revealed the genes involved in life cycle transitions (sexual reproduction, resting spore formation, dormancy,…), suggesting a high degree of conservation in several of them. This makes it possible to monitor the expression of these genes to track the growth and life cycle dynamics of multiple species simultaneously. This PhD will take a (meta)transcriptomics approach to track life cycle events of dominant diatoms species in benthic and planktonic coastal ecosystems along the East-Atlantic coasts and link these to the dynamics of population-level cell size structure and local environmental conditions. In parallel, laboratory bulk- and single cell RNA-seq experiments will be set-up to identify and validate environmental factors triggering life cycle events. The successful candidate will participate in field work, laboratory essays, the analysis of metatranscriptome data and the design and testing of molecular probes to track life cycle events in natural conditions. For more information, please visit: [ https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/phd-student-38 | https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/phd-student-38 ] Michiel Van Bel - Senior bioinformatician Applied Bioinformatics And Biostatistics VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology Ghent University Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71 - 9052 Ghent - Belgium Tel. +32(0)9 331 36 95 [ http://www.psb.ugent.be/ | www.psb.ugent.be ] Genome editing, cutting-edge technology for a sustainable agriculture