Postdoc in experimental evolution of beta-lactam resistance in structured environments

Your job

The chair group Laboratory of Genetics at Wageningen University is offering a fully funded postdoctoral research position (three years when full-time employed) to work on the evolution of antibiotic resistance in spatially structured environments. The position is part of a collaborative project involving experimental and theoretical biologists, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections pose a growing global health problem. To understand and possibly predict evolutionary trajectories towards antibiotic resistance, we need to know which resistant mutants are successful in clinically relevant environments. Currently, most knowledge of bacterial fitness effects of resistance mutations comes from mixed liquid cultures, whereas in reality bacteria live in spatially structured environments, such as biofilms. The fitness of resistant strains then depends on local conditions, which vary, among others, due to changes in local drug concentrations caused by nearby bacteria that degrade or export the drug.

Your task will be to construct strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli with common resistance mechanisms against cefotaxime, a third-generation cephalosporin, and to measure fitness parameters and perform evolution experiments with these strains in unstructured (i.e. in mixed liquid culture) and structured environments (i.e. on the surface of agar medium). For this, protocols will need to be developed to determine the spatial geometry of competitive dynamics (full project proposal available upon request). You will work in close collaboration with a PhD student who will develop spatially explicit mathematical and computational models of bacterial growth, competition and evolution under cefotaxime pressure. The PhD student will parameterize these models based on your experiments and will generate tailor-made predictions that can be tested in the lab.

Your duties and responsibilities will include:

• construct bacterial strains with common resistance mechanisms;
• perform experiments with these strains to measure fitness and estimate relevant parameters (e.g. kill rate, antibiotic degradation rate);
• perform and analyse evolution experiments with constructed strains;
• engage in frequent model-experiment feedback;
• communicate your results by delivering talks at (inter)national conferences and prepare scientific publications;
• participate in supervising BSc and MSc thesis students.

You will work here
Your research will be embedded within the Laboratory of Genetics and will be supervised by Prof. Arjan de Visser and Dr. Hilje Doekes. You will join the graduate school for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation, which offers diverse courses, including in specific skills and career development, and other activities.

Your qualities

You are/ You have:

• a highly motivated individual with a PhD in molecular evolutionary biology, microbial genetics, or a related field;
• solid experience in microbiological and molecular genetics and expertise in genome analyses;
• experience with evolutionary theory and quantitative models;
• good communication skills to operate in a multidisciplinary team and for close interaction with the theoretical PhD student is key to the project.

In our international working environment communication will happen mostly in English. For this position it is about language level C1. If you do not yet have this level, we will of course help you and you can go to our language center Wageningen in'to Language .

We offer you

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more,  per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.226 ,- and € 5.090,- gross for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). Additionally, a contract for 0.8 FTE can be discussed. Initially, we offer you a one-year contract, which will then be extended to the full period if there is mutual enthusiasm.

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example helping your partner to find a job, housing, or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.

Do you want more information?

For more information about this position, please contact Arjan de Visser, professor, by e-mail arjan.devisser@wur.nl.

For more information about the procedure, please contact Noorien Abbas , corporate recruiter vacaturemeldingen.psg@wur.nl.

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.

This vacancy will be listed up to and including 27 May 2024. We hope to schedule the first job interviews in the week of 3-7 June 2024.

Procedure
As part of our selection process, an assessment may be incorporated within the procedure.

Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment.

We are

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!


We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.