Description:
The Southern Ocean (SO) is a crucial marine ecosystem globally and is responsible for the uptake of substantial amounts of anthropogenic carbon. There is now some understanding of phytoplankton biology and the influence of oceanographic variables, which is leading to improved models incorporating the biological carbon pump. The degree of uncertainty in these models remains high and there is increasing recognition that other biological components (e.g. chemoautotrophic microorganisms) may be the source of these discrepancies. However, very little is known regarding the functional status of microbial guilds in the SO, which may be crucial in consolidating the carbon deficit. Here, we propose a series of subprojects, using state-of-the-art technologies, aimed at elucidating the role of chemoautotrophic guilds in the SO. Taken together, these projects directly address a fundamental biodiversity topic as identified through the South African Marine and Antarctic Strategy Plan and Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research framework documents.
Your Profile:
We expect that the applicant has the following qualifications/skills:
- PhD degree within the field of microbiology, statistics, machine learning, bioinformatics, computer science or similar
- Experience in supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques
- Ability to use bioinformatics and statistics
- Use of bioinformatic tools and software such as mothur and qiime2
- Proficiency in Python and/or R
- Published first-authored papers in leading journals in the field of microbial ecology or environmental microbiology
- Motivation for independent scientific work
- Ability to lead research cruises
Contact: Thulani P. Makhalanyane (Associate Professor: Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology)
Email: Thulani.makhalanyane@up.ac.za
Phone +2712-420-6976