Join XuLab!

We welcome all highly motivated students/postdocs who would like to make significant contributions to the understanding of plant adaptation. We have a good track-record in training students in their different career stages. For example, bachelor students could publish their work in leading scientific journals as the first author. Our selection criteria is your creativity and motivation.

If you are interested in joining the group, please send an e-mail to shuqing.xu@uni-muenster.de to explain 1) why you want to study plant adaptation; 2) what would you like to learn/do in the group; 3) an example of your previous or current work and your creative input on it.

• Master thesis project 2021

  The candidate may start as soon as possible.

  In the project, you will work together with the Plant Adaptation-in-Action group to study plant-herbivore-microbe interactions.
  Specifically, you will study competition effects of the great duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza, and micro-algae (Chlamydomonas ssp) under herbivory (e. g. the great pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis). Based on our former field observations, you will perform indoor experiments to disentangle the interaction pattern of the involved species. The project can be extended to include duckweed-associated microbes. We will further use a computational modelling approach to describe species interactions in nature.

  During the course of the project, you will get experience in project planning, work with different model organisms and get insights into statistical methods.

  Requirements: We are looking for a highly motivated student with a high degree of independence. Experience with plant cultivation, plant ecology and statistics are a plus.
  Our group consists of people of various nationalities and teamwork is essential for all projects in the group. Therefore, excellent communication skills, as well as proficiency in spoken and written English are expected. Good knowledge in German is a plus.

  
  Applications must be in English and include:
  (1) a motivation letter stating your research interests
  (2) a CV including academic and extracurricular achievements
  (3) abstract of BSc thesis
  Applicants should send their documents in one single PDF file to Laura Böttner (boettner@uni-muenster.de)