Postdoc in Soil Molecular Biology and Microbial Diversity

About the role

The College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher in soil molecular biology and microbial diversity. The successful candidate will study the diversity, physiology and ecological functions of soil photosynthetic microorganisms, especially microalgae and cyanobacteria, and their interactions with other soil organisms and plants. The work combines culture-based approaches, molecular characterization and controlled experiments to assess their contribution to soil fertility, nutrient cycling, soil aggregation and sustainable agriculture.

Key responsibilities

• Design and run soil sampling campaigns for photosynthetic microorganisms across environments and agricultural systems.
• Develop and optimise isolation protocols using enrichment cultures, serial dilution, plating and micromanipulation.
• Establish unialgal or unicyanobacterial cultures, check purity and obtain axenic cultures; optimise media and growth conditions.
• Maintain a documented collection of well-characterised strains, including preservation procedures.
• Identify isolates by microscopy and molecular markers, and characterise growth, photosynthesis, pigments and stress responses.
• Investigate interactions with soil bacteria, fungi and plants, and test functions such as exopolysaccharide production, soil aggregation, plant growth promotion and nitrogen fixation.
• Use DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, qPCR and sequencing to study microbial diversity and function, and integrate these with soil properties and plant responses.
• Publish results, contribute to funding proposals and supervise students and train laboratory personnel.

Required profile

• PhD in microbiology, phycology, soil biology, molecular biology, microbial ecology, biotechnology or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in isolating and cultivating photosynthetic microorganisms from soil, with strong hands-on experience in purification, contamination control and strain maintenance.
• Proficiency in microscopy and molecular identification of microalgae and/or cyanobacteria.
• Practical experience in nucleic acid extraction, PCR and qPCR, and in experimental design, statistics and data interpretation.
• A publication record on microbial cultivation, photosynthetic microorganisms or soil microbial ecology.

Desirable qualifications

• Experience with biological soil crusts and stress-tolerant photosynthetic microorganisms.
• Chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic assays or pigment analysis.
• Amplicon sequencing, metagenomics and bioinformatics.
• Greenhouse and field trials of microbial inoculants, or scaling-up in photobioreactors.

To apply, candidates submit a cover letter highlighting hands-on isolation and cultivation experience, a detailed CV with publications and the contact details of three referees.