30-60 credits Flexible starting date 2023/2024
Project 1: Mycorrhizal fungi nutrient mining
Background & aims: Mycorrhizal fungi exchange soil nutrients for plant carbohydrates; however, we know little about the methods these fungi employ to extract nutrients from complex molecules. Your task is to uncover these mechanisms.
Training includes: fungal microbiology, enzymology, stable isotope tracing, infrared spectroscopy, statistics, and data visualization.
Project 2: Cannibalism among soil fungi
Background & aims: Recent studies have shown that some fungi exhibit cannibalistic behavior. Your task is to explore the role of various fungal traits (chemotaxis, degradation potential) in cannibalism among soil fungi, which includes recording them doing this live under the microscope.
Training includes: fungal microbiology, fungal ecology, microscopy, microfluidic chips, fungal metabarcoding, statistics, and data visualization.
Contacts
Dimitrios Floudas at dimitrios.floudas@biol.lu.se (project 1)
Edith Hammer at edith.hammer@biol.lu.se (project 2)
François Maillard at francois.maillard@biol.lu.se (projects 1 & 2)