Interactions of Roots with Shoots and Microbes to impact crop resource use efficiency

The Leakey group at the University of Illinois (http://lab.igb.illinois.edu/leakey/) seeks creative and energetic applicants for a postdoctoral associate position studying how the root system interacts with shoots and microbes to influence water use efficiency and nitrogen cycling in model C4 species.

The post-doc will be involved in collaborative projects as part of the CABBI DOE Bioenergy Center (http://sustainability.illinois.edu/doe-funds-major-bioenergy-research-center-at-illinois/), which involve a multidisciplinary team of soil biogeochemists, agronomists, geneticists, computer scientists and molecular biologists.  

Our goals are to understand the genetic and physiological controls of root growth, water uptake and biological nitrification inhibition through a combination of molecular genetics, quantitative genetics, and physiology.

The project will benefit substantially from significant advances in high-throughput phenotyping and germplasm development made by our team and collaborators in recent years, as well as a new large-scale field facility for imposing drought treatments.

The positions will offer excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary training and a creative work environment at the Institute for Genomic Biology.