A one year or 6 months Master’s research project position in the regulation of the protein turnover by the proteasome.
The incumbent needs to be enrolled in a Masters degree in plant biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or equivalent in a European university. Knowledge in molecular biology techniques is a merit and both teaching and writing skills in English are a requirement. The project can be part of the UPSC Masters in plant biotechnology program or be tailored to the needs of an external Masters degree. For more information and to apply please send a cover letter and a short CV This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The student will investigate how the different components of the 26S proteasome are coordinated to provide a carrefully orchestrated regulation at the protein level. Work will include genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and physiological assays.

Supervisor: Olivier Keech, Dept of Plant Physiology, UmU

Tel. 786 53 88. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A one year or 6 months Master’s research project position in regulation of plant energy metabolism.
The incumbent needs to be enrolled in a Masters degree in plant biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or equivalent in a European university. Knowledge in molecular biology techniques is a merit and both teaching and writing skills in English are a requirement. The project can be part of the UPSC Masters in plant biotechnology program or be tailored to the needs of an external Masters degree. For more information and to apply please send a cover letter and a short CV.

The student will investigate how the mitochondrial metabolism contributes to pacing the nitrogen remobilization during leaf senescence in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. This work will include genetics, use of knockouts and overexpressors lines, and metabolic studies on these lines.

Supervisor: Olivier Keech, Dept of Plant Physiology, UmU

Tel. 786 53 88. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This project will involve student to conduct

1. Fielding measurement of growth, wood quality traits and tissue sampling for DNA and RNA extraction in Norway spruce and Scots pine
2. DNA and RNA extraction and processing for genotyping and sequencing
3. Genetic analyses for genome-wide association and genomic selection.

Supervisor: Harry Wu, Dept of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU.
Tel. 786 82 17. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Despite decades of functional genetics studies approximately 30% of the genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana remain uncharacterised. In order to identify previously uncharacterized essential cell processes we investigate meristem expressed, evolutionarily-conserved single copy Arabidopsis genes of unknown function. One such gene we recently identified is OPENER (OPNR). OPNR is required for cell proliferation and localizes to both nuclear envelope and mitochondria, but the function of OPNR is still unclear. In this project, you would join the study of the OPNR and associated proteins. The project involves genetic and phenotypic analysis of mutants, quantification of gene expression and subcellular localization of proteins. You would also become familiar with the latest technologies in Crispr/Cas9-based gene editing and gene localization, 3D structure analysis of mitochondria using focused ion beam scanning electron microscope, and FLIM-FRET based protein-protein interaction. 

Supervisor: Totte Niittylä, Dept of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU.
Tel. 786 84 34. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Plants respond to infection by changed metabolism. The attaching bacteria is counteracting these changes by affecting plant gene expression. You will be investigating this by investigating both the levels of key metabolites and expression of plant genes involved in metabolism.

Supervisor: Johannes Hanson, Dept of Plant Physiology, UmU

Tel. 786 67 44. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We have investigated how TOR affect translation on a global level. The work at hand is related to testing individual genes using specific methodology in our cell culture system. Both biochemical purification of actively translating ribosome and mRNA quantification methods will be used.

Supervisor: Johannes Hanson, Dept of Plant Physiology, UmU

Tel. 786 67 44. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Supervisor: Ove Nilsson, Dept of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU.
Tel. 786 84 87. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For converting a society dependent on fossil fuels and nuclear energy into a sustainable, bio-based society all production processes and products must be optimized for low material and energy use. Microalgae have been shown to be a highly suitable feedstock to produce biofuels, biofertilizers or even bioplastic. In our consortium MicroBioRefine we have collected and characterized Swedish photosynthetic microorganisms such as algae and cyanobacteria for their capacity to clean waste water in our cold Nordic climate. In this project you will use biochemical and molecular biological methods to answer the following questions:
How can we improve the algal biomass (e.g. the lipid production)? How efficient are our Nordic microalgal strains in uptake of pharmaceuticals and other toxins? Can we improve harvesting and cell breakage by knowing more about the algal cell wall?

Supervisor: Christiane Funk, Dept of Chemistry, UMU.
Tel. 786 76 33. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Supervisor: Totte Niittylä, Dept of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU.
Tel. 786 84 34. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A one year or 6 months Master¹s research project position in plant cell
wall biosynthesis.
The research project is part of an effort to understand mechanisms of
carbon incorporation to wood cell walls with the applied goal of
increasing the biomass of future biorefinery feedstocks. The work is
carried out with Arabidopsis and hybrid aspen as model systems.
You need to be enrolled in a Masters degree in plant
biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or equivalent in a European
university. Knowledge in molecular biology techniques is a merit and
good English is a requirement. The project can be part of the UPSC
Masters in plant biotechnology program or be tailored to the needs of an
external Masters degree. For more information and to apply please send a
cover letter and a short CV to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.