PhD in Molecular Microbiology

Institute of Biology at Leiden University is recruiting a PhD candidate in Molecular Microbiology to work on engineering synthetic bacterial partnerships for renewable bioproduction. The project aims to develop stable synthetic consortia between cyanobacteria and actinomycetes for sustainable production of bioactive compounds, investigating biology, evolution, and biochemistry of engineered cyanobacteria–actinomycete symbioses. The project integrates microbiology, synthetic biology, and evolutionary approaches, and includes designing and maintaining synthetic consortia, metabolic cross-feeding, genetic interdependencies, and guided laboratory evolution. Location: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.