Christen Lab: New openings for Master students

This semester project is part of our ongoing research efforts to investigate cellular core networks using hyper-saturated transposon mutagenesis coupled to high-throughput sequencing (TnSeq). Following this approach, we decoded the essential genome of the model organism Caulobacter crescentus with base pair resolution (Christen et al. MSB, 2011). Our study revealed that a set of 480 genes, corresponding to 12.4 % of the Caulobacter genome, is sufficient to sustain bacteria life while the remaining 87.6 % of the genetic instructions seem to be dispensable during growth in rich media. What is the function of these dispensable genes? One hypothesis is that these genes encode for alternative pathways and signaling traits essential to sustain bacterial life in their natural environment.

Project: The goal of this Master project is to experimentally define the entire set of genetic instructions modulated by the second messenger signaling molecules (p)ppGpp to sustain bacterial life during limited nutrient availability. You will engineer a reporter strain with elevated levels of (p)ppGpp. Using this strain you will generate a transposon mutant library and perform growth selection experiments in presence and absence of (p)ppGpp induction. Then you will use high-throughput DNA sequencing to map global transposon insertion sites and perform comparative bioinformatics analysis of the sequencing data to uncover the entire set of genetic instructions modulated by ppGpp. This Master project offers the unique opportunity to combine experimental work with bioinformatics and to acquire a sound knowledge on cutting-edge experimental systems biology approaches.

Skills: interested in experimental systems-genetics, high-throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics.

Start: position is immediately available

Duration: 6 months - open to extension