Kirsten ten Tusscher
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Job opportunities

Around Summer 2025 there will be two new PhD or postdoc (depending on suitability and availability candidates) vacancies related to the CropXR research consortium.

Translator workpackage

In one of the projects we are going to translate models generated for the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to drought and temperature stress to species specific models for relevant crop species. The ultimate aim is to understand crop plant responses to combined stresses and reveal potential routes to improve crop plant resilience.
To obtain these insights, modeling plant responses from the molecular physiological and anatomical perspective is of key importance. The final models the project aims to develop are of a hybrid nature, with parts being mechanistic (differential equations describing molecular, physiological and growth processes) and other parts being machine learning based. The philosophy behind this approach is to find a compromise between the explanatory power of mechanistic models yet their limited suitability for incorporating high numbers of variables with the power of machine learning to make use of the large amounts of omics data generated in modern biology yet often generating limited mechanistic insights. Since the strengths of one approach are the weaknesses of the other, we aim through combining these modeling approaches to achieve the best of both worlds.
We are seeking a motivated, skilled candidate for this, focussing on the mechanistic modeling part of the work. Close collaboration will take place with other scientists that are part of this project working on machine learning, modeling plant anatomy, comparative bioinformatics to compare species genetically, and the experimentalists delivering the essential species specific data.

Root stress workpackage

In another project we are going to delve deep into the responses of plant root systems to abiotic stress, with a focus on drought and salinity stress. Again, in this workpackage the role of the candidate we are looking for will be to develop mechanistic models. These models will range from the hormonal-genetic networks controlling plant root development to the stress signalling networks that impact development in response to stress to the effects of water transport and turgor pressur on root development. These models will be developed in close collaboration with experimentalists as well as team members focusing on more coarse grained models for root architecture formation and the feedback effects this has on overall plant performance.

Contact

While the positions are not open yet you are welcome to make inquiries regarding the precise nature of the projects and/or your potential suitability for the position. You can send an email to: k.h.w.j.tentusscher@uu.nl. Please note we are looking for computational biologists, not experimentalists for these particular positions.