The project is centered on genomics of unicellular green algae, rapidly developing topic. Despite thousands of described species (6878 catalogued in Al- gaeBase) from 13 different lineages, only 89 green algae nuclear genomes are avail- able in GenBank and more than 80% are restricted to three groups of organisms, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlorella and Nannochloris, none opf which are really representative of the groups dominating in the natural environment. In collaboration with the Joint Genome Institute in the US, we proposed to fill this gap by sequencing genomes from under-represented unicellular green lineages, especially those impor- tant in marine and fresh waters (New Green Genes CSP project). The key objective of this project is to improve our understanding of the evolution of genome architectures, gene sequences, and metabolic capacities across the Chlorophyta. The project will be developed in tight collaboration with the University of Laval in Canada, the University of Illinois in the US, and the Arago laboratory in Banyuls sur Mer and the Roscoff Culture Collection, both in France.

This is a 4 years Ph.D position that includes a stipend for living expenses, aca-demic fees, tuition and health insurance

What do you need to apply?

1. The minimum requirement for admission is a Bachelor’s degree with 2nd Class Honors Upper.

2. You can submit your GRE test scores (which must be within 5 years or less from the date of application) if you have or alternatively you can perform our ASE-NTU Technical Proficiency Test (TPT).

3. International applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to submit their TOEFL or similar test scores as well (test date must be within 2 years or less from the date of your application) or alternatively perform the NTU English profiency test.

4. Deadline for application is 31st July 2021

5. Starting date January 2022.

6. Inquiries can be send to Asst Prof Adriana Lopes (adriana.lopes@ntu.edu.sg)

Where?

The Geek team is located in the ASE, an interdisciplinary school that integrates earth and environmental life science, ecology, engineering and the social sciences to address global environmental change. We share a love for the ”tiny giants” mem- bers of our domain of life, the microbial eukaryotes. The Geek team doesn’t tolerate any form of discrimination, racist or sexist inclinations or arrogance towards any member of our community in public or in private. We all strongly believe that a productive environment start by making the others feeling welcome, that our mental and physical health are our priorities...not papers...not grants and that science is the coolest ever tool we invented to understand our world and ourselves!