PlantLink is preparing for a relaxing time, but first comes the last newsletter of 2019. There is a lot going on with new positions, courses and other plant-related possibilities, which we hope you will enjoy to read about!
- PlantLink is looking for a coordinator!
- ELLS fund a total of €24000 to PlantLink-assisted subject areas!
- Congratulations to all plant grants!
- Regional plant network initiatives
- SPPS Early Career PI (ECPI) network
- Nova Course
- 5th Call for Transnational Access to the European Plant Phenotyping
- Network 2020
- PhD course “Accelerating climate resilient plant breeding
- Postdoc on late blight resistence and susceptibility in potato
- Postdoc in Molecular plant biology, LU
- PhD in Forest and health, UGhent and KULeuven
- Succesful NordPlant annual meeting in Lund!
- Guest research visit at PGRIP
- UN’s International Year of plant health
- PlantLink at CropBooster-P’s meeting
- We wish you a relaxing end of 2020!
1. PlantLink is looking for a coordinator!
We are looking for a coordinator to strengthen and develop PlantLink’s activities. These include communicating with students, researchers and stakeholders, arranging workshops and seminars, contacts with industry including managing the PlantLink industrial mentor program, applying for research network grants, manage outreach activities and planning to develop PlantLink as a research network. The position is 50% for 2-years. Interested? Read more and apply here.
2. ELLS fund a total of €24000 to PlantLink-assisted subject areas!
The two subject areas initiated within PlantLink received a record amount from Euroleague of Life Science (ELLS): €7000 for the Summer School on Digital Breeding 3-7 August 2020 and €10000 for a Digital Learning Initiative in plant breeding as well as €7000 for a summer school in Plant Health to meet the sustainable development goals 3-14 August 2020. In all €24000 towards MSc education in plant science!
3. Congratulations to all the plant grants!
It is grant founding season and we congratulate the following plant researchers and plant-related researchers in the region for their successful applications!
| Johan | Ekroos | Lösningar för att neu- tralisera negativa effekter av jordbruksintensitet under strategier med segregerad natur- vård |
| Zheng | Duan | Integration av fjärr- analys och gröd- modellering för att för-bättra uppskattningarav hur klimatförän- dringar påverkar framtida svenska skördar |
| Anna Sofie | Persson | Räddade av staden? Hur pollinerande in- sekters samhällen på- verkas av stadens form och fördelning av livsmiljöer |
| Cecilia | Gustafsson | Utredning av den genetiska bakgrunden för ökad oljehalt och re- ducerad mängd anti- nutritionella substan- ser i fältkrassing (Lepidium campestre)–en ny oljegröda för biodiesel och djur- foder i Norrland |
| Rodomiro Octavio | Ortiz Rios | Genomisk prediktion i kombination med högkapacitetsfenotypning för att öka potatisens knölskörd i ett föränderligt klimat |
| Erik | Alexandersson | Växtresistensinducerare – utmaningar för ett framtida hållbart jordbruk |
| Marit | Lenman | Stress resilient plants by genome editing of potato pathogen sen- sitivity genes |
| Laura | Grenville-Briggs Didymus | Uttryck och evolution av effektorer hos Phytophthora infestans i potatisfält och im- plikationer för sjuk- domskontroll |
| Ramesh | Vetukuri | Innovationer inom växtskydd: Sprut- inducerad gensläck- ningsteknik för hållbar kontroll av bladmögel |
| Abreha | Kibrom | Anthracnose resistance genes in the climate-resilient crop sorghum, Sorghum bicolor |
| Vetukuri | Ramesh | Återupplivad taroproduktion i västra Afrika: storskalig fenotypning och omics-metoder för att kontrollera tarosjukdomar |
| Biasazin | Tibebe Dejene | Översätta olfaktoriska svar (olfaktomer) till applicering i Tephritidae fruktflugstyrning. |
| Karlsson Green | Kristina | Gemensam ansats att utveckla biologiska kontrollmetoder mot det invasiva skadedjuret, Spodoptera frugiperda (L.), i Afrika |
| Ignell | Rickard | Nyttjande av blommande växter för malaria- bekämpning |
| Andreasson | Erik | Intregrated use of genetic resistance in Swedish food potato production |
| Andreasson | Erik | Gene edited potatoes for reduced pesticide usage |
| Friberg | Magne | Evolutionär differen- tiering av komplexa blomkaraktärer |
4. Regional plant network activities
There are more initiatives and large research projects around plant science than ever before in the region. This is great! PlantLink have therefore initiate an internal discussion on how we can collaborate better and define our roles during the fall. This coming spring we will invite to a meeting with different plant network, projects and institutions in the region. In invitation will soon go out to the network and project leaders for a meeting afternoon on the 13 March.
5. SPPS Early Career PI (ECPI) network
The Early Career PI (ECPI) network, supported by the Scandinavian Society for Plant Physiology (SPPS), will get together again 16-18th March 2020, this time in Lund (Sweden). The network serves as a platform for the promotion of plant science in the Nordic countries and we invite starting and consolidating group leaders (e.g. Assistant/Associate Professors), as well as senior post-docs aspiring to start independent groups. The meeting will help to foster new collaborations among researchers focussing on all aspects of photosynthetic organisms.
The number of participants is limited to 40 people, so please register as soon as possible! Deadline 16th of January, 2020!
The registration is free, and food/drinks will be kindly supported by SPPS. To register, please send an informal registration request to Olivier van Aken (olivier.van_aken@biol.lu.se). Please also contact Olivier Van Aken for the registration form that needs to be sent in.
6. NOVA PhD course “Secondary Metabolites in Plant Resistance and Pathogen Virulence”, 11-15 May, 2020, in Mikkeli, Finland
Read more and apply here! https://www.nmbu.no/en/students/nova/students/phd-courses/phd-courses-2020/node/38862
Application deadline: 8th of January 2020
7. 5th Call for Transnational Access to the European Plant Phenotyping Network 2020
The EPPN2020 provides researchers from academia and industry with access to 31 phenotyping facilities in Europe. The facilities can be used for experiments with either scientific or technological objectives. EPPN2020 has launched the fifth call for access, open to European groups and (to a limited extent) to groups from emerging countries or international research centers. Application instructions, eligibility criteria, contact information: https://eppn2020.plant-phenotyping.eu/Access_Call
8. PhD course Accelerating climate resilient plant breeding
PhD course “Accelerating climate resilient plant breeding by applying –omics and artificial intelligence”, 20-24 April 2020 at SLU Alnarp
This course (3 ECTS) will provide theoretical and practical aspects to generate and use ‘-omics’ data as well as remote sensing for plant breeding – from sampling to interpreting the results and finding biologically relevant conclusions.
Lecturers: Kristina Gruden (NIB Slovenia), Dan Jacobson (ORNL), Antoine Harfouche (UNITUS), Ian Dodd (Lancaster University), Aakash Chawade (SLU), Rodomiro Ortiz (SLU), Annabel Large (ORNL/SLU), Svante Resjö (SLU), Therese Bengtsson (SLU) and Erik Alexandersson (SLU, course leader)
This course is a joint PhD-student course by the SLU Platform Plant Breeding and the Industry Research School of Forest Genetics and Biotechnology.
Read more and register here: https://www.plantlink.se/phd-course-accelerating-climate-resilient-plant-breeding-by-applying-omics-and-artificial-intelligence-20-24-april-2020-at-slu-alnarp/
9. Postdoc on late blight resistence and susceptibility in potato
Post doc position in molecular biology and applied bioinformatics for analysis of new resistance and susceptibility sources against potato early blight (caused by Alternaria). It is a 2-year position which in fact will be extended with at least 6 months for the successful candidate. It will also involves data handling of molecular data from virus yellows disease in sugar beet. More information on the position here
10. Postdoc in molecular Plant biology
Plant membrane resistance to fungal antibiotics
A two-year postdoc fellow is available at the Department of Biology, Lund University
We are looking for a highly motivated young researcher for a two-year postdoc fellowship (300,000 SEK/year) in Molecular Plant Biology. The activity will be hosted in the Unit of Molecular Cell Biology, mainly carried out in the lab of Allan Rasmusson (https://www.biology.lu.se/allan-rasmusson) and to a smaller extent by another partner, and will start in spring 2020. Read more here.
The deadline of the application is at 13th January 2020.
11. PhD in Forest and health, UGhent and KULeuven
PhD position within the scope of the Dr Forest-project – Diversity of FORESTs affecting human health and well-being.
The successful candidate will gather and analyse data on the relationship between forest diversity and selected ecosystem (dis)services with a direct link to human health (e.g. microclimatic buffering, pollen allergy and nonwood forest products) and will synthesise the effects of forest diversity on multiple human health risks and benefits using Bayesian Belief Networks. Fieldwork will take place in multiple regions across Europe.
Please contact kris.verheyen@ugent.be for more information. Applications are due by 10 January 2020.
12. Succesful NordPlant annual meeting in Lund
“Tech talks for plant phenotyping in the Nordic countries – 1st NordPlant annual meeting”, was successful with over 80 participants representing 32 academic and private institutions! Read more about the panel debate “Future needs of plant phenotyping in the Nordic countries” here! Next year’s meeting will be held the first week of November in Tromsö, Norway
13. Guest research visit at PGRIP
The Plant Genetic Resources International Platform (PGRIP) hereby invites young researchers to apply for financial support to join a dynamic research team at the Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden, for a shorter guest research visit as a PGRIP Fellow.
The Department of Plant Breeding at the SLU campus in Alnarp, Sweden, is a highly dynamic environment with very strong expertise in molecular breeding technologies applied in a variety of plants. A research team focusing specifically on PGR policies and regulations is under development, and the PGRIP Fellows will be working within this team.
At least four scholarships á 3 000 euros are available, covering travel expenses and accommodation for shorter research visits (1-3 months). Young researchers (PhD students and up to 8 years after dissertation) are eligible. Students pursuing or holding an MSc degree may also be eligible depending on availability of funds.
Deadline to apply is 10 January 2020.
Further information as well as instructions on how to apply is available here: PGRIP Fellows_Announcement 2nd round
For questions, please contact Dr. Dennis Eriksson at dennis.eriksson@slu.se
14. UN’s International Year of plant health
We are gearing up for the UN’s international year of Plant Health (IYPH) which was kicked off 2 December. If you have any suggestions or ideas on how PlantLink should highlight this, let us know. We will help and contribute to this yearlong event. We will probably have a special theme around the topic for the next PlantLink annual day which will be Wednesday 14 of October in Lund. More in the year here and from SLU’s plant protection platform.
15. PlantLink at CropBooster-P’s meeting
We thank Siri Caspersen (SLU) who represented PlantLink at CropBooster-P’s second meeting including stakeholders 2nd of December. Read more about CropBooster-P here
16. PlantLink wishes you a relaxing end of the year!
Take care, and we will see you again in 2020!