Postdoctoral scholarship on Evaluation and Establishment of New Methodology for Visualizing the Rhizosphere

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to develop a method to visualize microbial growth around plant roots in soil in order to study factors that influence the development of the rhizosphere. A successful candidate is experienced in confocal microscopy, mycology or plant physiology. Experience in microscopy method development is desirable. The 2-year scholarship is available in the group of Sandra Jämtgård at the Department of Forest Ecology and Sustainable Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umeå and is co-supervised by group leader Peter Marhavý at the Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU, UPSC.

 Plant roots release compounds that stimulate the growth of fungi and bacteria, which, among other things, affects the amount of plant-available nitrogen. Future forest growth is therefore dependent on us understanding how the interaction between tree roots and microbes works to optimize the trees’ access to nitrogen and growth. The quantitative and spatial effects of the stimulated fungi and bacteria are central to this interaction but are difficult to study. The purpose of this postdoc project is therefore to develop a method to visualize microbial growth around plant roots in soil in order to study factors that influence the development of the rhizosphere.