Vacancy: Research Technician at Phytoform Labs

The Company

At Phytoform Labs Ltd we believe in sustainable agriculture and nutrition for all. We see a lack of innovation in the agricultural space around the crops themselves, so we are building a multidisciplinary team to help rectify the situation. We have exciting growth plans over the next year and we are looking for a dedicated research technician to support our wet lab team. We are based at the world leading plant science institute Rothamsted Research just outside of London, United Kingdom.

The Role

If you are looking for a new challenge and like working with a multidisciplinary team then this job is for you. You will be responsible for maintenance of non-sterile and sterile plant material, DNA preparations (mini & midipreps) and media & consumable preparation for the wet lab. If you have previously been part of an academic or industry team, but now would like to work in a fast-paced start-up environment then you would be a great fit.

You will:

• Track and maintain sterile growth and tissue culture of Arabidopsis, Potato & Tomato plants

• Track and maintain soil grown plants (collaborating with Rothamsted Research Greenhouse team)

• Prepare DNA for downstream applications (transformations, DNA minipreps & midipreps)

• Prepare custom media for plant tissue culture and general molecular biology

• Maintain wet lab consumable stocks

Requirements

• BSc Biology or a related subject

• Strong record of laboratory experience (3+ years)

• Plant tissue culture skill set

More information

Vacancy: Plant Genome Engineer at Phytoform Labs

The Company

At Phytoform Labs Ltd we believe in sustainable agriculture and nutrition for all. We see a lack of innovation in the agricultural space around the crops themselves, so we are building a multidisciplinary team to help rectify the situation. We have exciting growth plans over the next year and we are looking for a talented plant scientist to support our R&D pipeline and genome engineering projects. We are based at the world leading plant science institute Rothamsted Research just outside of London, United Kingdom.

The Role

If you are looking for a new challenge and like working with a multidisciplinary team then this job is for you. We are looking for a motivated core team member to work on Phytoform Labs crop development pipeline. You will quantify and analyse multiple aspects of crop genetics as well as breed new crops with footprint-free genome editing. If you have previously been part of an academic or industry team, but now would like to work in a fast-paced start-up environment and develop a project from the ground up then you would be a great fit.

You will:

• Design and validate in vitro and in vivo CRISPR-experiments

• Develop new crop varieties with CRISPR based footprint-free genome editing

• Work with plant tissue culture including protoplast regeneration

• Validate new traits in crops

Requirements

• PhD level plant molecular biology skills, with main focus on plant CRISPR-genome editing

• Ability to develop new plant tissue culture protocols

• Have worked with ‘non-model’ crop species

• Able to work both independently and part of a team

• Able to communicate ideas clearly to a multidisciplinary team

More information

Virtual Meetup: Join our Monthly Biomaker Catch-Ups

New monthly virtual meet up for anyone interested in the intersection of biology engineering and computer science.

The SynBio IRC, along with the OpenPlant Biomaker Challenge, are pleased to announce a new series of informal monthly catch-ups to promote discussion of synthetic biology and bioengineering.

The monthly sessions will be held on Zoom, and will be an opportunity for Biomaker teams (and others interested in the intersection of biology, engineering and computing) to drop-in, ‘show-and-tell’, share their progress on bioelectronics projects, discuss ideas and ask questions.

Anyone is welcome to to present their ideas and bio-electronics projects, or just to listen in an hear more about this year's Biomaker teams and their progress.

The meetings will be held at 15:00 (GMT) on the final Tuesday of each month:

• 23rd February 2021

• 30th March 2021

• 27th April 2021

• 25th May 2021

• 29th June 2021

• 27th July 2021

For more information see the Cambridge Synthetic Biology Meetup Group, or contact the SynBio IRC coordinator Steph Norwood at coordinator@synbio.cam.ac.uk.

Job opportunity: Senior Fermentation Scientist at Colorifix

Senior Fermentation Scientist at Colorifix:

£41,000 - £45,000 a year - Full-time, Permanent

“As part of the Dye house production team, the Senior Fermentation Scientist will play an integral role in the day-to-day operations of Colorifix’s demonstration plant in Cambridge, UK. The demonstration plant seamlessly integrates Colorifix’s entire process from dye production via fermentation through to industrial dyeing and finally to fabric finishing. The Senior Fermentation Scientist will be responsible for the operation of pilot scale and demonstration fermentation systems whose products will be used by the dye team for small scale dyeing runs. The senior scientist will also be the dye house’s interface with the company’s R&D teams and be expected to lead and assist with the technology transfer of new strains and process improvements from the laboratory to pilot scale. Longer term the role may include having oversight of bench-scale fermentations systems for process development work at the Cambridge site. The role will also include the day-to-day management of junior fermentation scientists and/or technicians.”

Application deadline: 14/02/2021

For more information visit: https://uk.indeed.com/viewjob?cmp=Colorifix-Ltd&t=Senior+Fermentation+Scientist&jk=1f9b3fda711f8f36&q=fermentation&vjs=3

Job opportunity: Fermentation Specialist at Colorifix

Fermentation Specialist at Colorifix:

£42,000 - £50,000 a year - Full-time, Permanent

“We seek to hire a highly motivated and experienced Fermentation Specialist to be part of our Implementation Team, which will play a key role in client onboarding. Specifically, we are working with a number of mills and dye houses (the clients) across Europe that provide services to the international fashion and textile industries. In order to integrate our technology into their existing processes, they need to purchase and set up fermentation equipment at their facilities, or alternatively contract CMOs locally to provide an outsourced fermentation service to them. Given that this is a previously unused technology in this context, the Fermentation Specialist will take the lead in advising management teams of client dye houses and will work in tandem with other specialists from our Implementation Team, whose expertise will be in GM regulation and safety.”

Application deadline: 14/02/2021

For more more information visit: https://uk.indeed.com/viewjob?cmp=Colorifix-Ltd&t=Fermentation+Specialist&jk=0ea87314348f50ae&q=fermentation&vjs=3

Group Leader Vacancies at the John Innes Centre

Group leader positions currently available at the John Innes Centre:

John Innes Centre is looking for creative early-career or established researchers who wish to develop exciting long-term independent programs in plant and microbial science and be part of a highly collaborative culture.

Applications close Friday 22 January 2021.

For more more information visit: https://www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/group-leaders-2/

Mock Orange - Poems by Anne Osbourn

Please join us in congratulating OpenPlant PI Prof Anne Osbourn on the publication of her book of poetry entitled Mock Orange:

MOCK ORANGE by ANNE OSBOURN  | SPM Publications, Poetry

Third Prize Winner, Sentinel Poetry Book Competition 2018

“Mock Orange is a collection of poems in which Anne Osbourn attempts to order her life and her origins and to try to understand how and why she became a scientist, specifically a plant biologist. From early childhood she has tried to make sense of the world through plants. In mid-eighteenth century Sweden Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, spent his life trying to understand his Maker through the classification of plants. Osbourn’s poetry encompasses Linnaeus’s adventures and experiences and his fascination with living things. Mock Orange is therefore about journeys from origins, both personal and global, in which negotiations between scientific and non-scientific languages and points of view form a central theme.”

Post Doctoral Research Assistant, University of Edinburgh

Post Doctoral Research Assistant  – Experiments of Topologically Active Polymers & DNA Origami
From June 2021 or soon after to June 2024 (3 years) & potentially extendible
Salary high-end UE07 ~ £41k/year

We are looking for an experienced and motivated PDRA with background in experimental soft matter, polymer physics and/or molecular biology. The ideal candidate should have direct expertise on DNA biophysics and/or rheology of complex fluids. 

The project involves developing and performing experiments on polymers that can change topology in time and that are based on DNA. It also involves experiments with DNA origami and super-resolution microscopy. The aim of the project is to understand the rheological properties of polymeric materials and complex fluids made of “topologically active” polymers and DNA origami. 

This position is for a senior PDRA, who is expected to be semi-independent, have supervision responsibilities on a day-to-day basis and to propose and lead side-projects.

More info: https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=052998

Contact: Davide Michieletto, davide.michieletto@ed.ac.uk
Group website: www2.ph.ed.ac.uk/~dmichiel/eutopia.unitn.eu

Research Assistant/ Lab Manager position in Chemical Biotechnology, University of Edinburgh

3.5-year Research Assistant / Lab Manager position in Chemical Biotechnology (Wallace Lab - IQB3)

We are looking for a highly-motivated MSc/PhD-level Research Assistant to join our lab in IQB3 from Dec/Jan. The role will be primarily research based and will continue our work on the combined use of chemical and biological tools in microbes for the sustainable production of industrial small molecules. This will include the assembly and optimisation of biosynthetic pathways in bacteria, the screening of new biocompatible catalysts, and the analysis of novel metabolites using a variety of analytical techniques. The post will also include a significant supervisory role, including the management of day-to-day research activities in the group, organisation of lab strains, coordination of group meetings and seminars.

Applicants can contact Stephen directly (stephen.wallace@ed.ac.uk) including a CV and cover letter, or apply directly using the link below.

Closing Date: 12th October 2020

Link here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBP647/research-assistant

Website: http://wallacelab.bio.ed.ac.uk 

Twitter: @Dr_StephenW and @Wallace_Lab

Research Associate in Protein Design and Synthetic Biology, University of Bristol

Research Associate in Protein Design and Synthetic Biology

With Dr Fabio Parmeggiani, University of Bristol  

The group of Dr Fabio Parmeggiani is seeking a talented and enthusiastic postdoc interested in protein design and synthetic biology. The project will be focused on designing custom modular protein architectures as robust and reliable scaffolds for the development of novel functional protein-based nanomaterials and multivalent ligands to modulate cell response.

The aim of the project is to develop a robust, fast and high throughput design platform to rapidly build new proteins and complexes. The researcher will be responsible for developing the experimental part of the pipeline (involving DNA assembly, protein expression and purification, validation of designs through biophysical and structural characterization) and spearhead applications in nanomaterials and cell biology. The position would be best suited to a researcher with a keen interest in applying de novo protein design in synthetic biology.  Essential skills for this role would include: design, construction and expression of synthetic genes in E. coli; biochemical and biophysical characterisation of proteins; strong structural biology expertise, in particular with cryo-electron microscopy and x-ray crystallography.

Closing date: 14 October 2020 

More information can be found here.

Plant Scientist position at Phytoform Labs

The Company

At Phytoform Labs Ltd we believe in sustainable agriculture and nutrition for all. We see a lack of innovation in the agricultural space around the crops themselves, so we are building a multidisciplinary team to help rectify the situation. We have exciting growth plans over the next year and are looking for a talented plant scientist to support our R&D pipeline and genome engineering projects. We are based at the world leading plant science institute Rothamsted Research just outside of London, United Kingdom.

The Role

If you are looking for a new challenge and like working with a multidisciplinary team then this job is for you. We are looking for a motivated core team member to work on Phytoform Labs R&D and genome editing efforts. You will quantify and analyse multiple aspects of crop genetics as well as breed new crops with footprint-free genome editing. If you have previously been part of an academic or industry team, but now would like to work in a fast-paced start-up environment and develop a project from the ground up then you would be a great fit.

More information

A novel international research initiative born out of Biomaker

Rarely does the opportunity arise to translate academic research to positively influence policy and capacity in a developing country. To this end, we developed the UK-Kenya Phytoplasma Research Initiative with the aim of building local capacity in East-Central Africa to mitigate the risks imposed by emerging and re-emerging phytoplasma-associated crop diseases.

Through a successful OpenPlant-Biomaker Challenge bid, we conceived the initiative and built the partnerships required to impact local Kenyan communities while contributing to international research.

[left] Partners of the UK-Kenya Phytoplasma Research Initiative. From left: James Canham (Postgraduate student, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK), Florence Munguti (Officer-in-charge, KEPHIS, Nairobi, Kenya), Dr Isaac Macharia (Managing Director, KEPHIS, Nairobi, Kenya), Dr Rose Kigathi (Research Scientist, Pwani
University, Kilifi, Kenya). [Top/bottom right] KEPHIS station in Muguga, Kenya.

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) is a government parastatal under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation (MoAFI) and the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Kenya. During a BBSRC PIPs placement at Pwani University, Kenya, I met with officials from KEPHIS as a part of a nationwide exploration of plant health-related research.

During these meetings, KEPHIS staff described several threats they were monitoring, one of
which appeared to be phytoplasma-related. Given that several colleagues in my lab at the John Innes Centre (Hogenhout lab; https://www.jic.ac.uk/people/saskia-hogenhout/) work on phytoplasma, I was aware of associated diseases and our capacity to study this plant pathogen and hence the Phytoplasma Research Initiative was born.

“Our aim is to establish rapid diagnostic and surveillance tools, expertise and capacity and influence agricultural policy based on our findings. We are optimistic that the initiative will enable us to achieve our aim and help address the challenges of emerging pests”.

- Dr Isaac Macharia, Managing Director, KEPHIS

Along with the Pwani University Bioscience laboratory (PUBReC) staff, we identified the OpenPlant-Biomaker Challenge as an excellent platform to help kick-start the initiative and attract more expertise. We recruited researchers at EBI, Cambridge and Cambridge University as well as an entomologist based at the Museum of Wales and research staff at CIRAD, France. With this team, we believe we are very well placed to build the technical capacity required to help local researchers and stakeholders.

KEPHIS staff surveying agricultural and pastoral land in Kenya to assess the occurrence of plant pathogenic phytoplasma.

What has been achieved so far?

Once the partnership was in place, we moved ahead designing and testing workflows. The PUBReC staff and KEPHIS team started to survey crops with disease symptoms along the breadth of the Kenyan coastline. Samples were transported to PUBReC where Prof. Santie de Villiers and her staff would process them.

In order to build long term capacity and impact, Pwani University used the initiative to develop an MSc. project and two undergraduate studentship projects. To support these students, we provided the Kenya-based staff with reagents to perform gold-standard, PCR-based characterisation of isolates as well as share our experience of sample collection, storage and processing. Additionally, we recently won an internal JIC grant that will fully fund a Kenyan PhD student for 9 months to visit the JIC labs to study the molecular basis of phytoplasma-host plant interactions.

Newly recruited students, John and Hesbon working on projects within the initiative at Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya.

We have discovered that current diagnostic tools may lead to misidentification of the pathogens and are in the process of re-tooling and optimizing protocols to ensure more accurate characterisation going forward.   

What is next for the project?

All partners are now working toward generating whole-genome sequence data which will allow us to further understand how distinct phytoplasma isolates colonise their plant and insect hosts.

Whilst mitigating actions, resulting from our positive identifications may require a hammer, we hope that with a greater understanding of the pathogen, in future, a chisel will suffice.

We have big plans for the initiative, including several grant applications that will allow us to move the project forward. We are deeply grateful to the OpenPlant-Biomaker Challenge for the platform that allowed us to form effective partnerships and promote our project to a broad, interdisciplinary audience.

Watch this space! 

James Canham (PhD student, John innes Centre)

Prof Anne Osbourn has been awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to plant science

We are excited to announce that Professor Anne Osbourn, one of our OpenPlant directors, has been awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to plant science. Earlier this year, Professor Osbourn was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the 30th FRS in the history of the John Innes Centre.

Please join us in congratulating her!

Read more about this topic here.

IoHeat: a nice oasis in the cold room

The problem

Temperature is a crucial, yet often overlooked condition that affects the growth efficiency of mammalian and bacterial cell cultures. To achieve maximal growth rate, the temperature of the culture media needs to be maintained at the optimal level throughout the experiment.

While during a culture the media are maintained at the optimal for the organism level, their composition often dictates that they are stored at a lower (~2-8 °C) temperature. A typical culture medium for mammalian cells is composed of a complement of amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, glucose, and serum as a source of growth factors, hormones, and attachment factors; in addition to nutrients, the medium also helps maintain pH and osmolality. Many of these components are not stable for extended periods of time at elevated temperatures.

Sustaining mammalian cell cultures requires regular changes of the medium and/or subcultures (passages) into fresh culture medium. In many cases, the survival of the cells during these processes depends on the thorough pre-conditioning of the media at the desired temperature. Oftentimes, this means pre-incubating the media in a water bath for more than an hour, before they are ready to use.

This can impose time restrictions when experiments need to run at different time-points or need to be carried out early in the day or during out-of-hours, as access can be limited at these periods. Time optimization is needed. 

The Idea

Our project was focusing on developing a remotely-controlled heated compartment, which can be kept in a cold environment.

Schematic of a remotely-controlled heated compartment prototype

The device can be used in laboratories to control specific working temperature (37 °C) of cell culture medium or reagents, shortly before use.

Specifically, the heating device finds application in the laboratories where microbiological or cell culture work are carried out.

The function of incubator is to maintain optimal temperature, humidity and other conditions such as the CO (CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside. Incubators are essential for a lot of experimental work in cell biology, microbiology and molecular biology and are used to culture both bacterial as well as eukaryotic cells.

With our mini-incubator we aimed to achieve the proper functionality of an incubator, but with the time optimization improvement due to the remote controls of temperature.

In May 2019, we had the great opportunity to take part in the OpenPlant Biomaker Challenge to develop our first prototype. For the first challenge we built an insulator polyester box mimicking the incubator and remotely controllable by the Telegram interface. This represented our proof of concept.

We then developed a set of scripts to locally control the electronic components, designing each command to work with a file-lock system that avoids collision when multiple users operate the device. The scripts allow to start the heating cycle, to report the current status of the device (temperature, humidity, heating status). To allow remote control of the device, a Telegram bot has been developed. The bot has a simple authentication system to allow only white-listed users to operate the device, a queue system allows to schedule multiple heating cycles, and the queue can be queried, and new tasks can be added, through the bot.

Following a series of successful tests our next task was to down-scale the device. We developed a customized 3D printed structure that allows us to efficiently organize the electrical components. In addition, 3D designed incubators can be customized to accommodate a range of different vessels and types of samples.

We also decided to organize a workshop for scientists at the Norwich Research Park. The main aim was to let the participants familiarizing with the programming in RasbperryPi, stressing that behind any problem there is a solution that can be achieved with a multidisciplinary approach.

What’s next?

We think that Biomaker Challenge was a great experience and a big opportunity for develop our idea. Now that we are able to obtain a proof of concept, we are aiming to further optimize our device and hopefully make it available as lab equipment to be used by researchers.

Blog written by IoHeat Team.

PhD studentship available in Prof. Cathie Martin's lab

To divide or not divide? The importance of division to hair formation in plants.

The project aims to compare regulation of multicellular hair development in tomato with single-celled hair development in Arabidopsis and to establish how the induction of DNA replication without cell division (endoreduplication) came to be the key regulatory step in hair development in Brassica species like Arabidopsis.

Application deadline: 25th November 2019.

Project start date: 1st October 2020.

Read more about this position here.