Domain: Thermophilic bioprocess development; physiology and metabolism of prokaryotes; proteomics; process optimisation

Keywords: strain characterisation; genome-scale metabolic models; strain engineering; cell factory

Promotor: Julian Quehenberger

Starting date: 1st of September 2024, for a period of 3 + 1 years

Location: NovoArc GmbH; Vienna, Austria

Funding: HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN project PROHITS

In this Ph.D. project, you will cultivate and characterize promising thermophilic prokaryotes for use as microbial cell factories. In an interdisciplinary approach, the obtained information will be combined with genome scale metabolic models (GEMs) to obtain a deeper understanding of host physiology and metabolism under different cultivation conditions. Equipped with this knowledge you will 1) optimize industrially relevant cultivation processes to obtain higher product quality and quantity and 2) expand the existing product portfolio of a microbial cell factory by redirecting cellular resources and augmenting biosynthetic pathways via genetic engineering.

You will be based at the SME NovoArc GmbH in Vienna, a company that develops and manufactures unique lipids derived from the extremophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius for applications in drug encapsulation and delivery.

This will be a hands-on and very applied position in close scientific cooperation with experts of Biochemical Network Analysis at the University of Vienna (UniVie) working on the construction of a temperature-dependent, enzyme-constraint GEM for S. acidocaldarius.

Besides the work in Vienna, you will spend a 4 month secondment at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB, Brussels) early in the project to work with experts on the cultivation of a variety of thermophiles.

The project is part of a computational/experimental EU MSCA-DN project with a total of 10 Ph.D. students, and is highly interdisciplinary. Experience in microbial cultivation is essential, and hands on experience with bioreactor systems highly desirable. Skills in the field of -omics as well as background knowledge on archaeal biology is a bonus. Candidates must be motivated to learn about all disciplines relevant to the project.

Candidates must be fluent in English.

Applications must be submitted online in English following the instructions and respecting the conditions at https://bit.ly/prohits. The deadline for applications is 15/03/2024 at 23:59 (CET)

Further general information about the PROHITS project: http://prohits.eu