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Open Positions

The Zhang laboratory at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St. Louis, Missouri) employs cutting-edge technologies in green algae and land plants to study how photosynthetic organisms respond to environment, especially high temperatures, with a focus on photosynthesis.

We are actively recruiting (rotation) PhD graduate students from one of these graduate programs below at nearby universities where PI Zhang has adjunct faculty positions. If you are interested in graduate student positions in the Zhang Lab, please apply for graduate schools at the website of one of these graduate programs below:
- (1) Plant and Microbial Biosciences (PMB) Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS), Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis (WUSTL), 10 min drive from Danforth;
- (2) Division of Plant Science and Technology at the University of Missouri, Columbia (UM or Mizzou), 2-h drive from Danforth; Mizzou graduate students at Danforth can take most classes remotely.
- (3) Department of Biology, University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL), 15 min drive from Danforth.

Requirements for PhD graduate students: a BS in biology, plant biology or related field; highly motivated,

passionate for plant science, eager to learn new things, strong troubleshooting skills, some lab experience are preferred.

We welcome undergraduate researchers from universities near Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and national-wide summer undergraduate interns through the Danforth REU program. Requirements for local undergraduate researchers: highly motivated, passionate for plant science, eager to learn new things, curious, complete some basic biology or plant biology courses; some lab experience can be a plus but not required.

We welcome postdoctoral researchers. Requirements for postdoc candidates: a PhD in plant physiology, molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, bioinformatics, or related field, highly motivated, independent, and creative, excellent organization and communication (both written and oral) skills, and outstanding problem-solving and collaborative abilities.

We have open positions for these projects below.
1. Investigate Thylakoid Structures and PSI Supercomplexes by Multiscale Cryo-Volume Electron Microscopy (vEM) and Cellular Cryo-Electron Tomography (cryo-ET) in the Model Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Open positions for: graduate students, undergraduate researchers, or postdocs with fellowships

Skills involved in the project or skills that can be learned from the project: photosynthetic measurements,

cryogenic freezing of algal cells, analyzing 3D vEM, cryo-ET data, algal physiology, genetics and biology, algal

cultivation in photobioreactors.

2. Epigenetic Regulation of Heat Stress Memory in Photosynthetic Cells

Open positions for: postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate researchers (funded by NSF)

Skills involved in the project or skills that can be learned from the project: plant physiology, genetics, and

(epi)genomics, photosynthesis and high-throughput phenotyping in model algal and land-plant species,

computational biology.

See more information about this project here.

3. Dissecting the Regulatory Mechanisms of C4 Photosynthesis and Carbon Partitioning in Sorghum

Open positions for: postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate researchers (funded by DOE)

Skills involved in the project or skills that can be learned from the project: sorghum photosynthesis, physiology, genetics, (epi)genomics, transformation, advance microscopic imaging, 3D vEM, field research, and

computational biology.

If you are interested in the positions available in the Zhang lab, please contact Ru Zhang (rzhang@danforthcenter.org), with a CV, 1-2 page research statement (research experience and career goals), and contact information of three referees. Please indicate the position of interest in the email subject line, e.g., "Postdoctoral Researcher - Zhang Lab".