The successful candidate will work as Post-Doc in the Abu Dhabi International Virtual Research Institute for Food Security in the Drylands. This institute features a comprehensive and highly interdisciplinary R&D program and provides an international collaboration platform for researchers and stakeholders of the public and private food and agricultural sector. The virtual research institute strives to generate knowledge and technological innovation in support of food security in the UAE and other arid environments of the world.
As part of one of its research themes, the institute is aiming to investigate the interaction between crops and plant growth promoting endophytes native to arid environments. The candidate will be involved in this research by establishing in vitro collection of cultivable endophytic microorganisms from roots of natural plant communities in the UAE. He/she will screen the isolates for their ability to confer tolerance to heat, salinity or drought in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition, microbial isolates will be screened for their ability to solubilize rockphosphate. The most promising strains will be further evaluated for their impact on performance of selected greenhouse crop species cultivated in organic growth substrates identified by other teams from the VRI project. The candidate will monitor genome-wide changes in plant gene transcription and deploy reverse genetic tests on plant mutants to unravel some physiological processes and signal transduction pathways underlying microbially induced heat or drought tolerance in plants.
The position is for nine months with the option of extension on an annual basis.

Minimum Qualification
PhD in Plant Science, Plant Molecular Biology, Genomics and Biosciences. Biotechnology or a related scientific discipline.

Preferred Qualification
Highly motivated candidates with a strong academic track record, and relevant experience in plant Genomics and molecular biology and microbiology are especially encouraged to apply. The selected candidate will be expected to conduct laboratory work related to Genomics, Transcriptomics, Functional Genomics of candidate genes related to abiotic stress tolerance, prepare manuscripts for publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, assist in supervising/monitoring undergraduate and graduate students.