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

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

Plants are the basis of food security and energy / CO2 capture on planet Earth. The major challenges of climate change and population growth mean that we need to grow 60% more food by 2050 in a period where both cold and warm temperature shocks and extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency. Therefore, novel insights into harnessing plant growth based on fundamental discoveries are required. One area of unexplored potential is how the individual functional components within the cell (known as organelles) are organised and controlled.

Organelles within plants show rapid and coordinated movement which is critical for normal growth and development as well as enabling the plant to respond to environmental conditions. Organelles are known to change shape and alter their movement during certain stresses, including heat and cold stress. However, we do not know precisely how this movement occurs although we know it is driven by the actin cytoskeleton and special motor proteins.

The actin cytoskeleton is an intricate filamentous network in the cortex of plant cells which, if disrupted, stops organelle movement. My research utilises using specialised microscopy to study how the actin cytoskeleton interacts with organelles, driving movement within the cell.

• 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.