Role of Selective Sulfur Nutrients across Human and Environmental Microbiomes and for Precision Microbiome Editing
Duration of contract: 4 years
Planned starting date: ASAP
Place of work: University of Vienna
Main supervisor: Alexander Loy (CV | Lab Homepage)
Supervision team: Wolfgang Wanek, Clarissa Campbell
This position has been filled.
Project description:
Metabolic activities and interactions in human gut, soil, and plant rhizosphere microbiomes will be analyzed upon incubation with sulfur compounds, such as sulfo(no)lipids and sulfoquinovose, in in-vitro microcosms using a multi-omics approach and stable isotope tracing, including sulfur-related fluxomics and stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS) combined with fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH). Newly isolated sulfo(no)lipid/sulfoquinovose-utilizing strains or cultures from public collections will represent candidate probiotics for each ecosystem. Precision editing of complex microbiomes will initially be tested in in-vitro microcosms. In-vivo precision editing of microbiota will be evaluated in gnotobiotic mice colonized with defined human strain consortia, and in greenhouse experiments for soil microbiomes.
The postdoc will perform and lead in-vitro microcosm experiments and work with humanized gnotobiotic mice, metagenomics-transcriptomics analysis, isolation of sulfoquinovose degraders from gut and soil, SRS-FISH, and overall bioinformatics analyses & data integration. This will be done in close collaboration with a PhD contributing sulfometabolomics and soil microbiome analysis.