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4-D in vivo imaging of development in Medaka and Xenopus by x-ray computed to-mography

4-D in vivo imaging of development in Medaka and Xenopus by x-ray computed to-mography
chair: links:
job posting number:

CODEVITA_Bio

institute:

PhD Thesis in Biology

starting date:

1. Mar 2017

closing date:

31. Jan 2017

Kontaktperson:

Venera Weinhardt
Mail:
venera.weinhardt@kit.edu

Title:
4-D in vivo imaging of development in Medaka and Xenopus by x-ray computed to-mography

Summary:
The Centre for Organismal studies and the Institute for Photon Science based on the unique network of facilities and techniques in the fields of biology, and nano- and micro-characterization, established joint project “Coherent, dose efficient and in vivo time resolved imaging of model organisms down to cellular resolution”. The project aims to develop x-ray imaging techniques for dose efficient 2D, 3D and 4D imaging of model organisms. To demonstrate the potential of 4D x-ray imaging techniques, development of two model organ-isms will be studied in vivo, i.e. medaka and Xenopus. The project forms the interdisciplinary consortium, bringing together physicists (developing X-ray imaging techniques), specialists in IT (image processing), and essentially biologists with strong interest in systematic use of the methodical ensemble, in particular for 4D imaging of medaka and Xenopus development.

Methods that will be used:
Within this project, the PhD research work will focus on dose efficiency study of imaging methods for these two model organisms. Development, adaptation and optimization of sam-ple preparation techniques (such as embedding, narcosis, for ex vivo studies staining and fixation) is within the scope of this work. Segmentation and anatomical annotation of different developmental stages in Xenopus and medaka is an essential part of the work. Imaging ex-periments will be planned, performed and evaluated together with group of physicists.

Cooperation partners:
The employment will be at the Department of Molecular Biology and Physiology, Centre for Organismal studies, Heidelberg. The place of work will be at ITG, KIT as permanent guest within project group. The dissertation will be defended at the University of Heidelberg.
Most of the experiments will take place at the synchrotron source, such as ANKA (Karlsruhe, Germany), PETRA III (Hamburg, Germany), ESRF (Grenoble, France) and APS (Chicago, USA).

Personal qualifications:
The ideal candidate is open-minded, highly motivated and has a solid background in developmental biology. Candidates should have a master/diploma in life sciences and ideally some basic knowledge of imaging techniques, such as light, fluorescence microscopy and histotechnology (tissue trimming, fixation, processing embedding sectioning and staining). Working experience in a scientific laboratory is of great advantage. In addition, candidates should be fluent in English.