PhD student in Oat gene editing and genetic transformation

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Agroecology programme. The position is available from 01 January 2027 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title
PhD student in Oat gene editing and genetic transformation

Research area and project description
Oat is a rising star in Danish agriculture and the green transition with a key position among cereals, due to its health promoting nutritional qualities and its appreciation among farmers for its agronomic qualities. Scandinavia is among the biggest producers of oats worldwide and opportunities for expanding the production are excellent, however developments are held back by key challenges. Two of these are that oat is susceptible to infection by species of the fungal pathogen Fusarium, which is expected to be exacerbated by climate change, and that we lack genomic tools to support speedy improvements by breeding to prepare oat for the challenges of the future. The biggest problem caused by Fusarium infections in cereals is accumulation of harmful mycotoxins in the grain. We have discovered a new enzymatic pathway in oat that can inactivate and degrade the most devastating of these mycotoxins.

In the project, the PhD student will establish genetic transformation of oat and use “New Genomic Techniques” (NGT), including CRISPR-Cas to develop knockout (KO) and over-expression (OE) lines. The work will include identification of candidate genes and characterization of transgenic plants. The student will gain diverse competences within plant biotechnology, including genetic transformation, NGT and advanced techniques for mutant molecular characterization of transgenic lines such as capillary electrophoresis and digital PCR. The project will proceed in close collaboration with Copenhagen University.

Qualifications and specific competences
Applicants must have a relevant master’s degree (120 ECTS) in disciplines such as Agricultural Sciences, Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Science or similar.

Experience working with cereal crops, genome editing technologies, and plant transformation systems will be considered a strong advantage.

We expect that you:

• Have good communication skills in English, written and oral.
• Are motivated for both experimental work and scientific writing.
• Are capable of working both independently and collaboratively
• Thrive in an informal collaborative workspace

Place of employment and place of work
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Agroecology, Research Center Flakkebjerg, Aarhus University, Forsøgsvej 1, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:

• Professor Henrik Brinch-Pedersen, e-mail: [email protected] (main supervisor)
• Dr. Christina Rønn Ingvardsen, e-mail: [email protected] (co-supervisor)

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:

• [email protected]

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 10 October 2026 23:59.
Preferred starting date is 01 January 2027.

For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above, and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.