Based at @voltcenter.bsky.social you will pioneer research into VOC production & consumption by microorganisms living on ice. You will combine field and incubation experiments, advanced mass spectrometry, and molecular sequencing.

employment.ku.dk/phd?show=165...
Deadline 15 November 2025.

6/6
🔗 Check out the full paper here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
This research was part of the DEEP PURPLE project (deeppurple-ercsyg.eu), and funded by @erc.europa.eu. @au.dk
Photo credit: Shunan Feng

5/6
These results shed light on the ecological function of these BGCs for microbial adaptation, competition, and ecosystem functioning, while the novelty of the gene clusters points toward untapped biotechnological potential from this threatened microbial habitat.

4/6
🔍 Key findings:
• Novel BGCs are expressed on the melting Greenland Ice Sheet
• Expression differs between habitats: eukaryotic BGCs dominate glacier ice; prokaryotic BGCs dominate cryoconite
• Likely producers include key ecosystem engineers like glacier ice algae and cyanobacteria

3/6
Using metatranscriptomics, we show for the first time that many of the encoded BGCs are expressed in situ during the melt season. Many are completely novel, and highly expressed clusters include those for carotenoids, beta-lactones, terpenes, and modified peptides.

2/6
These natural products may help microbes cope with UV radiation, nutrient scarcity, and microbial competition, but in situ expression data is often lacking. The question remains; do microbes use their BGCs in their daily life, on the ice surface and in cryoconite holes?

I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue working on environmental microbiology in the context of climate change, and thrilled to be heading back to the Arctic this summer!

Do you know www.phylopic.org?