Doctoral researcher or postdoctoral position in carnivorous plant biology
The research group of Kenji Fukushima at the University of Würzburg is seeking 1 Doctoral
researcher (i.e., PhD student) or 1 Postdoctoral researcher. The successful applicant will
participate in the research project “Conferring carnivorous plant-like traits by single genetransfers” funded by HFSP (granted to KF, and co-PIs, Tanya Renner at the Penn State Universityand Ulrike Bauer at the University of Bristol) in which multiple aspects of carnivorous plantbiology will be studied by combining genomics, plant molecular biology, and biomechanics. Incollaboration with the co-PIs, we will analyze how carnivory-related traits are regulated and test
what happens when the traits are transferred to other plants. The successful applicant of thisposition is expected to analyze functional surface and/or digestive physiology of the Australianpitcher plant Cephalotus follicularis (photo) or other carnivorous plants.
The position is available from October 2021, but the start date can be flexibly decided between 1 Oct 2021 and 1 Apr 2022.
The salary and benefits will be based on the "Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder" (Collective Agreement for
the Public Service of German Federal States, TV-L). The exact amount of salary will vary according to the pay step ("Stufe") andthe pay grade ("Entgeltgruppe"). To which pay grade and step the successful applicant will be assigned will depend on theirprofessional background. If all requirements are met, the applicant will be assigned to pay grade E13. The Doctoral researcher
position is part-time (0.65 FTE), and the postdoc position is full-time (1 FTE). A fixed term until the end of the HFSP project will
be applied (i.e., from the start date to September 30, 2024). A salary calculator can be found here.
Minimum qualifications: Master’s degree (Doctoral researcher) or PhD degree (postdoc) in Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, Evolutionary Biology,Genomics, Bioinformatics, or a related discipline Strong interest in plant biology
 Sound knowledge and skills in molecular biology
 Ability to work independently and in a team environment
Preferred qualifications: Sound knowledge and skills in plant physiology
 Sound knowledge and skills in statistics and bioinformatics
 A good record of publications in peer-reviewed journals
Application: Applications and inquiries should be emailed to Kenji Fukushima ( kenji.fukushima@uni-wuerzburg.de ). The
closing date for applications is 30 September 2021. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until thepositions have been filled. The University of Würzburg aims to increase the number of women in those areas where they areunderrepresented. Therefore, we explicitly encourage applications from woman. Severely handicapped applicants will be given
preferential consideration when equally qualified. All applications should be submitted as a single pdf file containing: A cover letter including the statement of interest A CV including a list of publications
 Names and contact details of at least two professional references
Research: For details, please see our website or our previous publications:
1. Hedrich and Fukushima, 2021. On the origin of carnivory: Molecular physiology and evolution of plants on an animal diet.
Annual Review of Plant Biology 72: 133–153
2. Fukushima et al., 2021. A discordance of seasonally covarying cues uncovers misregulated phenotypes in theheterophyllous pitcher plant Cephalotus follicularis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288: 20202568
3. Fukushima and Pollock, 2020. Amalgamated cross-species transcriptomes reveal organ-specific propensity in geneexpression evolution. Nature Communications 11: 4459
4. Fukushima et al., 2017. Genome of the pitcher plant Cephalotus reveals genetic changes associated with carnivory. Nature
Ecology & Evolution 1: 59
5. Fukushima et al., 2015. Oriented cell division shapes carnivorous pitcher leaves of Sarracenia purpurea. NatureCommunications 6: 6450
6. Fukushima and Hasebe, 2014. Adaxial-abaxial polarity: The developmental basis of leaf shape diversity. Genesis 52(1): 118