Project for Master’s Thesis

A number of different research projects is available in the Research Group Experimental Ecology and Evolution. Depending on the applicant’s interest, one or more of the following topics can be combined for a master’s thesis.

Potential topics are:

·    Coevolutionary dynamics of mutualistic bacterial consortia

·    Stability and productivity of cross-feeding microbial communities

·    Inter-cellular flux rates of essential metabolites within microbial communities
(i.e. production and uptake of amino acids and incorporation into the proteome of E. coli)

Methods:

·      Coevolution and coculture experiments
(bacterial consortia with different ecological interactions: mutualism <=> parasitism)

·      Flow cytometry

·      Methods of analytical chemistry (i.e. LC/MS/MS, IR-GC/MS)

·      Labelling experiments with radioactive isotopes

·      Whole genome re-sequencing

Start:  now (30.07.2012) – position is open until filled

Who: Highly motivated and interested students, preferentially with a background in microbiology, ecology, evolution, biotechnology, or analytical chemistry.

Contact:

Dr. Christian Kost

Research Group Experimental Ecology and Evolution

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Phone: 03641 – 57 12 12

ckost [at] ice.mpg.de