Two international trainings on the in vitro culture of AM fungi are offered by the CESAMM/GINCO teams.

For more information, visit: International trainings website

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PhD positions open (2008-11-20)

VALORAM aims at exploring and valorizing Andean soil microbial diversity for the development of alternative, efficient technologies and crop management practices to improve the sustainability and productivity of Andean cropping systems benefiting rural farming households. The project will focus on potato because of its global importance for small-scale farmers in the central Andean highlands. The participants will use gelastnameic, metagelastnameic, proteomic and metabolomic analysis to identify novel traits of microorganisms and to characterize beneficial soil microbial communities, to achieve the objective. The project specific aims are to (1) explore the agro-ecosystem functions of soil microbes in potato-based cropping systems and preserve the components of this microflora in international culture collections, (2) elucidate the role of rhizosphere microbial communities in promoting plant growth, suppressing soil borne diseases and priming plant biotic defenses, developing eco-efficient technologies/products for sustainable crop production systems, (3) develop applied technologies and knowledge-based systems to improve the sustainability and resilience of potato based cropping systems for the benefit of the indigenous farmers and (4) promote the exchange of scientific knowledge and technologies among partners and the LA scientific community to impulse research in this area and support the continuous development of crop production technologies. The strategy for VALORAM implementation is to engage LA and EU partners in developing and further stengthening collaborative research activities in order to sustainably improve potato-based systems. This is supported by a multidisciplinary team of experts with highly complementary skills and based on a robust management structure with an efficient workshop and communication programme. The results will directly benefit the local partners and may also contribute to improve organic potato production in the EU.

Two three-years PhD positions are available at the Université catholique de Louvain within this project:

PhD 1: Identification and phylogeny of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi isolated from Andean agro-ecosystems. Identification will use classical tools (e.g. optical and electronic microscopy) and molecular tools (e.g. AFLP ?)

PhD 2: Development of methods for long-term conservation (e.g. cryopeservation, vitrification) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Molecular tools (e.g. fingerprinting) will be used to evaluate the stability of organisms following storage.

The PhD studentships will be available from February 2009 for a period of three years.

Criteria for recruitment of young fellows will be
? High grade academic curriculum vitae in most appropriate discipline
? interest and motivation in conducting the research activity and accomplishment of PhD
? Knowledge in microbiology, microscopy and molecular biology techniques
? Interest in mobility
? Curiosity, creativity and scientific rigor
? Flexibility
? Capacity to write reports and to present data
? agreeable personality and integration capacity within teams

The young fellows should send their Curriculum vitae and letter of motivation (by e-mail) to Prof. S. Declerck (address below).

Deadline: 19/12/2008
Start date: 01/02/2009
Duration: 36 months
Yearly living allowance : 35 000 ?


Contact: Prof. S. Declerck
University catholique de Louvain
Stephan.declerck@uclouvain.be
www.mbla.ucl.ac.be/cesamm

E-mail: stephan.declerck@uclouvain.be



S. Declerck

S. Declerck