Research Internship / Master’s Thesis Opportunity – Bioinformatics, Microbial Genomics & Symbiosis

We are looking for a motivated student or recent graduate to join our research group at the Department of Biology, University of Pisa, for a project on the microbial symbionts associated with ciliates of the genus Stentor.

The project is primarily bioinformatics-based and will include:

- analysis of sequencing data generated by our group;
- mining of publicly available genomic and metagenomic datasets;
- taxonomic and phylogenetic characterization of candidate symbionts;
- comparative analysis of genome organization, metabolic potential, and possible adaptations to symbiotic life.

Depending on the candidate’s interests and the development of the project, training may also include sampling, ciliate cultivation, and basic molecular biology techniques. The project is particularly suitable for students interested in bioinformatics, microbial genomics, microbiology, protistology, evolution, and symbiosis.

Previous experience with Linux/command-line environments, sequence analysis, R/Python, or basic programming is useful but not essential.



Motivation to learn bioinformatic workflows and work with genomic/metagenomic data is more important.

This opportunity is primarily suitable for:

- Master’s thesis students;
- recent Bachelor’s graduates seeking a 6–8 month research traineeship;
- motivated Bachelor’s students for a more limited project.

Funding: thesis projects are academic/curricular activities and do not include a salary or stipend. For research traineeships, no salary or stipend is currently available from our group; candidates should therefore have, or be eligible to obtain, external funding, for example through an Erasmus+ traineeship or a similar mobility/fellowship scheme.

Supervision

Prof. Giulio Petroni and PhD student Elena Polyakova

Department of Biology, University of Pisa

Day-to-day supervision by Elena Polyakova will be in English.

For further information

Giulio Petroni — [email protected]

Elena Polyakova — [email protected]

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📌 Research Internship / Master’s Thesis – Bioinformatics & Microbial Genomics (Pisa)
🏢 Universita Di Pisa
📍 Pisa