Job offer

Organisation/Company University of Warwick Research Field Biological sciences » Biology Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Leading Researcher (R4) First Stage Researcher (R1) Established Researcher (R3) Application Deadline 14 Apr 2026 - 22:00 (UTC) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Sep 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Plant cell nuclei undergo striking changes in size and shape under environmental stress, processes linked to the organisation of the actin cytoskeleton. This project will investigate how peri-nuclear actin regulates nuclear architecture and mediates responses to environmental stress, particularly heat stress.

• Objective 1: Characterize peri-nuclear actin organization under normal conditions using lattice-SIM and spinning disk confocal microscopy.
• Objective 2: Investigate real-time changes in peri-nuclear actin organization during rapid heat stress.
• Objective 3: Examine the relationship between peri-nuclear actin reorganization and the redistribution of nuclear lamina proteins (CRWN and KAKU) under heat stress, using dual-color 3D lattice-SIM imaging.

The project includes research secondments with Dr. Kasper van Gelderen (University of Heidelberg) and the commercial company Inteherence (Germany) to optimize the VaHeat microscopy-based heat shock system for plant cytoskeleton imaging.

This interdisciplinary project integrates advanced live-cell imaging, plant molecular biology, and biophysics to reveal how the actin cytoskeleton interacts with the plant nucleus under stress.

The AGILE Ph.D. project will be supervised by Dr. Joe Mc Kenna at the University of Warwick in UK. You will be part of the AGILE doctoral network with Ph.D. student peers and leading scientists in plant advanced microscopy and image analysis. You will benefit from an extensive training in advanced microscopy, image analysis (incl. Artificial Intelligence) and chromosome biology.

Funding category: Financement de l'Union européenne

MSCA doctoral network

PHD title: Understanding peri-nuclear actin organisation in response to environmental stresses and its effect on nuclear architecture.

PHD Country: Royaume-Uni

• Candidate must hold Master degree (or be currently in his/her Master2) or similar degree from a non-UK university at the Ph.D. start.
• Interest in plant genetics, cell biology, microscopy and image analysis.
• Only the candidates considered for interview will be contacted.