Post-doctoral Fellow - Virology (Roodeplaat) at Agricultural Research Council

Description

• Generate banana mutants using vector-based CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to target virus susceptibility genes, and explore ribonucleoprotein-based approaches.
• Guide RNA design, in vitro Cas9 cleavage assays, T-DNA vector construction.
• Embryogenic cell suspension culture and Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation.
• Molecular analysis of target genes using PCR, Sanger and high-through put sequencing.
• Conduct reporter gene assays and transient expression studies.
• Screen banana mutants for virus resistance.
• Support MSc and PhD students.
• Publish in reputable journals and present at scientific congresses.

Requirements

• PhD in Plant Biotechnology/Plant pathology or related field.
• Experience with tissue culture (somatic embryogenesis), Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in plants is mandatory.
• Experience in plant virology is desirable.
• Proven record of publications of scientific papers.