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DEPARTMENT OF PLANT SCIENCES
Job description and selection criteria
Job title
Postdoctoral Research Assistant - Activation of chloroplast
development in rice bundle sheath cells
Division
Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division (MPLS)
Department
Plant Sciences
Location
South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB
Grade and salary
Grade 7, £31,076 - £38,183 per annum
Hours
Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Contract type
Fixed term contract for five years
Reporting to
Professor Jane Langdale
Vacancy reference
126645
Additional
information
Funded by BBSRC
Introduction
The University
The University of Oxford is a complex and stimulating organisation, which enjoys an international
reputation as a world-class centre of excellence in research and teaching. It employs nearly 12,000
staff and has a student population of over 22,000.
Our annual income in 2014/15 was £1,429.3m. Oxford is one of Europe's most innovative and
entrepreneurial universities: income from external research contracts in 2014/15 exceeded
£522.9m p.a., and more than 80 spin-off companies have been created to date.
Oxford is a collegiate university, consisting of the central University and colleges. The central
University is composed of academic departments and research centres, administrative
departments, libraries and museums. There is a highly devolved operational structure, which is
split across four academic divisions, Academic Services and University Collections and University
Administrative Services. For further information, please see:
www.ox.ac.uk/staff/about_the_university/new_to_the_university/structure_of_university.
For more information please visit www.ox.ac.uk/about.
Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division (MPLS)
Mathematical, physical and life sciences research at Oxford is the best in the country according to
the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment exercise carried out by HEFCE. Our
research tackles major societal challenges – whether developing new energy solutions or improved
cancer treatments, understanding climate change processes, or helping to preserve biodiversity.
More
can
be
seen
on
the
University's
research
impact
web
pages:
www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-impact.
The MPLS division's ten departments and three interdisciplinary units span the full spectrum of the
mathematical, computational, physical, engineering and life sciences, and undertake both
fundamental research and cutting-edge applied work. We have over 6,000 students and research
staff, and generate over half of our funding from external research grants. Our research addresses
major societal and technological challenges and is increasingly interdisciplinary in nature. We
collaborate closely with colleagues in Oxford across the medical sciences, social sciences and
humanities, as well as with researchers from around the world.
For more information please visit: http://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/.
The Department of Plant Sciences
The Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford is devoted to teaching and research
in plant science. The research interests range from systematics, forestry and ecology to cell,
molecular biology and biochemistry (see www.plants.ox.ac.uk). It has 26 University lecturers and
senior fellows, c.45 postdoctoral research workers and c.35 graduate research students, and is
responsible jointly with the Department of Zoology for teaching some 300 undergraduate students
reading the Honour School of Biological Sciences.
For more information please visit: http://dps.plants.ox.ac.uk/plants/.
The University of Oxford is a member of the Athena SWAN Charter and holds an institutional
Bronze Athena SWAN award. The Department of Plant Sciences holds a departmental silver
Athena award in recognition of its efforts to introduce organisational and cultural practices that
promote gender equality and create a better working environment for both men and women.
The Research Group
The research group is headed by Professor Jane Langdale, and is based in the Department of
Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford. The lab hosts on average four postdoctoral researchers
and two PhD students, all of whom are provided with generous technical support. Research in the
group is broadly themed upon the genetics and evolution of plant development. Diverse taxa
including mosses, liverworts, ferns and seed plants are used to investigate how developmental
mechanisms were modified during land plant evolution. A major focus is on understanding how
leaves develop, and in particular how the leaves of C4 photosynthesizing plants such as maize
evolved their characteristic Kranz anatomy. Our work on Kranz development and chloroplast
differentiation is closely aligned with the C4 Rice Project that aims to introduce C4 photosynthetic
traits into the C3 crop rice.
For more information please visit: www.langdalelab.com & www.c4rice.com.
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Job description
Research topic
Activation of chloroplast development in rice bundle sheath cells
Principal Investigator
/ supervisor
Professor Jane Langdale
Funding partner
BBSRC
Relevant
publications
Technical skills
Wang, P., Vlad, D. & Langdale, J.A. (2016) Curr Opin Plant Biol
31, 44-50.
Wang, P., Kelly, S., Fouracre, J. & Langdale, J.A. (2013) Plant J.
75, 656-670.
Waters, M.T. & Langdale, J.A. (2009) EMBO J. 28, 2861 – 2873.
monocot plant transformation, molecular biology, in situ
hybridization, advanced microscopy
The project
The project is part of a larger collaborative programme that aims to understand how
photosynthesis is repressed in some cell types of the leaf but not in others, and then to use this
knowledge to re-engineer photosynthetic development in the model and key crop rice. The
program team comprises researchers from the University of Cambridge (Professor Julian Hibberd,
Lead PI), University of Oxford (Professor Jane Langdale & Dr Steven Kelly) and Royal Holloway
London (Dr Enrique Lopez). The postdoctoral researcher will carry out research to test the extent
to which known activators and repressors of photosynthesis in mesophyll cells can be modified in
the bundle sheath (induced or repressed, respectively), to bring about chloroplast development
and photosynthetic function.
Responsibilities/duties




Collaboration with bioinformaticians to identity target genes for manipulation
Generation of transformation constructs using synthetic (Golden Gate) cloning methods
Generation and genotyping of transgenic rice lines
Phenotyping of transgenic lines in relation to chloroplast form and function.
Selection criteria
Essential









Have, or be expected to obtain, a PhD or equivalent and publication record in a relevant area
Experience working with plants
Experience of interrogating large molecular datasets
Knowledge of phylogenetic construction methods
Documented experience of molecular cloning
Experience of monocot transformation
Basic histology skills
Proven ability to work collaboratively towards shared research goals
Excellent communication skills.
Desirable
•
•
•
Ability to program in R (or equivalent statistical package)
Experience of in situ hybridization methods
Experience of confocal microscopy.
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The University’s policy on retirement
The University operates an employer justified retirement age for all academic and academicrelated posts (any grade above grade 5), for which the retirement date is the 30 September
immediately preceding the 68th birthday.
The justification for this is explained at:
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revaim/.
For existing employees any employment beyond the retirement age is subject to approval through
the procedures outlined at:
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revproc/.
Pre-employment screening
Please note that the appointment of the successful candidate will be subject to standard preemployment screening, as applicable to the post. This will include right-to-work, proof of identity
and references. All applicants must read the candidate notes on the University’s pre-employment
screening procedures, found at:
www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/preemploymentscreening/.
Working at the University of Oxford
For further information about working at Oxford, please see:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/research/.
How to apply
If you consider that you meet the selection criteria, click on the Apply Now button on the ‘Job
Details’ page and follow the on-screen instructions to register as a user. You will then be required
to complete a number of screens with your application details, relating to your skills and
experience. When prompted, please provide details of two referees and indicate whether we can
contact them at this stage. You will also be required to upload a curriculum vitae and supporting
statement. The supporting statement should describe what you have been doing over at least the
last 10 years. This may have been employment, education, or you may have taken time away
from these activities in order to raise a family, care for a dependant, or travel for example. The
supporting statement should also explain your motivation for the project and why you have the right
attitude and expertise to fulfil the tasks of the project. Your application will be judged solely on the
basis of how you demonstrate that that you meet the selection criteria outlined above and we are
happy to consider evidence of transferable skills or experience which you may have gained outside
the context of paid employment or education. Informal enquiries should be directed to Professor
Jane Langdale at [email protected].
Please upload all documents as PDF files with your name and the document type in the filename.
All applications must be received by midday on the closing date stated in the online
advertisement.
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Information for priority candidates
A priority candidate is a University employee who is seeking redeployment owing to the fact that he
or she has been advised that they are at risk of redundancy, or on grounds of ill-health/disability.
Priority candidates are issued with a redeployment letter by their employing departments.
If you are a priority candidate, please ensure that you:
- attach your redeployment letter to your application (or e-mail it to the contact address on the
advert if the application form used for the vacancy does not allow attachments)
- explain in your supporting statement how you meet the selection criteria for the post.
Should you experience any difficulties using the online application system, please email
[email protected].
Further help and support is available from www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/support/.
To return to the online application at any stage, please click on the following link
www.recruit.ox.ac.uk.
Please note that you will be notified of the progress of your application by automatic e-mails from
our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk mail regularly to ensure that you receive
all e-mails.
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