Hunting the Microbial Dark Matter: Prokaryotic microorganisms are the oldest, most abundant, and particularly most diverse forms of life on earth and dominate many functions of the biosphere, including the global cycles of carbon. They also harbor an enormous potential for novel natural product discovery, bioremediation and bioenergy production. However, it is estimated that over 99% of all microbial species from environmental microcosms remain uncultured, attempts to grow them under laboratory conditions fail or they grow too slowly to obtain sufficient biomass for analysis. Genome sequencing for the vast majority of Prokaryotes has therefore been inaccessible, obscuring the knowledge of microbial diversity, metabolic potentials and evolutionary histories. We are a young dynamic group using culture-independent approaches like Single Cell Genomics and Metagenomics in combination with Bioinformatics to hunt for unknown microorganisms in various interesting habitats. Ph.D. position: We seek highly motivated and creative persons with a Masters degree in Biology/Bioinformatics/Chemistry or related fields, interests and knowledge in microbiology, bioinformatics, molecular genetics, evolution and ecology. Knowledge in command-line programming (e.g. perl, python, R) and data processing/analysis as well as in next-generation sequencing techniques and molecular biology methods is a plus but not necessary. Postdoc position: We seek highly motivated and creative persons with a Ph.D. in Biology/Bioinformatics/Chemistry or related fields, interests and knowledge in bioinformatics (command-line programming) and preferably teaching experience. For more info and applications please email Prof. Anne Kaster (kaster@kit.edu).

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