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The Opportunity

• Do you have a PhD in plant molecular biology, bioinformatics, or molecular plant microbe interactions?
• Benefit from working in a world leading team
• Join the Pest and Diseases Group within CSIRO Agriculture and Food for this 3-year postdoctoral fellowship

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.

The CERC Postdoctoral Fellow will work in the Pest and Diseases Group at CSIRO Agriculture and Food and will be supervised by Dr Rohit Mago.  The group has a strong focus on rust disease resistance research with the overall goal to prevent losses in wheat production due to the impact of rust diseases through improved resistance breeding and engineered resistance approaches. The team has long history of cloning and characterisation of multi pathogen disease resistance genes and has recently cloned one of the most effective broad-spectrum resistance genes in wheat, Sr2. The CERC Fellow’s research will focus on experiments to define functional characteristics of Sr2 resistance and explore the potential of Sr2 as a novel genetic resource to provide durable and sustainable disease resistance in other cereals and crops like soybean and canola. The fundamental knowledge of how Sr2 confers resistance will support rational deployment of Sr2 and its homologs in other species and optimisation of resistance engineering applications. 
 

The CERC Fellow will be part of a large multidisciplinary team at CSIRO Agriculture & Food also involving the Synthetic Traits Group and SynBio Future Science Platform and external collaborators collectively conducting leading edge research and with a strong record of high impact publications in the field of plant immunity. The Postdoctoral Fellow will benefit from working in a world leading team and through exposure to a broad scientific context spanning the spectrum from basic biology to applied delivery of science research to achieve industry outcomes.

Your duties will include:

• Performing experiments to define functional characteristics of Sr2 resistance including through transient expression assays, plant expression profiling, ion transport analysis and cellular localization studies to define the site and mode of action.
• Performing experiments to investigate the potential for Sr2 and its homologs to confer resistance in other cereals and broad-leaf crops. This will include identifying homologous genes in other species and assessing their function and association with resistance phenotypes and generating transgenic lines expressing Sr2 to test disease phenotypes.
• Undertaking regular reviews of relevant literature and patents.
• Communicating results internally through regular team meetings and group level presentations.
   

Location: Black Mountain, Canberra

Salary: AU$96k - AU$101k plus up to 15.4% superannuation

Tenure: Specified term of 3 years

Reference: 90604

To be considered you will need:

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as plant molecular biology, bioinformatics, or molecular plant microbe interactions. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (or full-time equivalent) of postdoctoral research experience.
• Detailed knowledge and research experience in molecular plant-pathogen interactions. 
• Experience in applying structural and/or molecular biology approaches to investigate protein function in the context of their contribution to overall biological processes.
• Experience/knowledge in designing/ making vectors for plant transformation and utilising plant growth facilities.
• Experience in accessing high-performance computing clusters and handling large datasets.

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or you must either hold, or be able to obtain, a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

31 January 2023, 11:00pm AEDT