About us:

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at LMU Munich invites applications for one PhD position in Geomicrobiology/ Environmental Microbiology to experimentally investigate the diversity and activity of marine microbial communities in the context of climate change.

Together with warming and acidification, ocean deoxygenation is considered one of the three major impacts of climate change in global oceans according to IPCC, and a main research scientific topic for organizations such as UNESCO or IUCN. In the DFG Emmy-Noether Research Group in Biogeochemistry and Climate Change, we investigate the effects of warming and deoxygenation on dissolved organic matter (DOM) sequestration, due to interactions with microbial communities and the marine carbon and sulfur cycles. By combining field work experiments with state-of-art laboratory techniques from different disciplines, we aim to decipher new links between microbes and DOM, in the context of a changing ocean.

We are looking for you:

PhD student in Geomicrobiology / Environmental Microbiology (m/f/x)

in Munich

Your tasks and responsibilities:

• Work in a geomicrobiology laboratory doing DNA/RNA extractions, PCR, qPCR, sequencing and bioinformatics.
• Learn and implement the microbial diversity and functional genes analyses.
• Conduct laboratory analyses involving microbes and DOM from natural samples.
• Present achievements in international conferences and write scientific articles in English.

Your qualifications:

• M.Sc. in Microbiology, Environmental Sciences, Microbial Oceanography or a related subject.
• Very good English skills that allow to communicate in an international working environment, and to read and write scientific publications in English.
• A high degree of scientific curiosity and willingness to explore new methods and ideas.
• Willingness to participate in research stays and expeditions to coastal and marine regions onboard research vessels for several weeks.
• Team player attitude and communication skills to work in a multidisciplinary network of cooperation partners from several institutes in Europe.

Additional recommended skills and knowledge:

• Prior experience in laboratory analyses using molecular biology techniques such as DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, qPCR, high throughput sequencing.
• Experience with bioinformatics (e.g. processing of 16SrRNA, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics)
• Practice on analyzing large datasets with multivariate statistics (e.g. R, Matlab or Phyton).

Benefits:

Our interdisciplinary team welcomes new members and we offer you a dynamic, international and academically stimulating environment. LMU Munich is an equal opportunity employer and committed to enhancing the diversity of its faculty. We encourage female candidates to apply.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Gonzalo V. Gomez-Saez and is funded by DFG (65%, TV-L-E13) for a maximum time period of three years with a probation period of six months. The PhD candidate must start on November 1st 2025.

People with disabilities who are equally as qualified as other applicants will receive preferential treatment.

Contact:

Applicants are asked to submit by e-mail a complete set of application documents including a motivation letter (max two pages), CV, copies of B.Sc. and M.Sc. certificates, copy in pdf of the M.Sc. thesis and contact (name and e-mail) of two referees to g.gomez@lmu.de.

Deadline to apply is 31. August 2025. The interview of selected candidates will happen during mid-September and final decision will also be made during September. Please do not expect e-mails confirmation until the selection process is over.

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