The general objective of the present project is to focus on fermented beverages (FB) as a case study of the food sector and on non-conventional yeasts (NCY) as microbial bioresources key to innovation. NCY belong to different genera, are present in many FB and their potential is still undervalued. The present research project aims to: i) unravel the distribution of NCY biodiversity in FB microbiomes and ii) generate high quality genome sequence data for selected NCY as a robust basis for their characterization. NCY selected will include the genus Mrakia (phylum Basidiomycota), which exhibits intriguing fermentation abilities that could be exploited to produce innovative FB. Data generated for the selected strains will provide substantial contributions on the methodologies applicable to characterize NCY to be added intentionally in the food chain, generating new biological knowledge useful for strain industrialization.

The candidate will be involved in all the bioinformatics analysis applied to the selected NCYs (genome assembly, gene prediction, comparative genomics, genome scale metabolic modelling).

Qualifications
We invite applications from highly motivated and outstanding students with a master’s degree or PhD in one of the following disciplines: Biology, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics or Computational Biology. Students from related disciplines, such as Statistics, Engineering, Physics or Mathematics are also welcomed to apply if motivated to biological applications.
The candidate should demonstrate excellent organizational skill, ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment, motivation to improve her/his competences, excellent communication and presentation skills.
Preferred qualifications:
- Knowledge of bash and Unix OS.
- Programming skills (R/Python).
- Experience in omics data analysis (genomics and transcriptomics).
Available position:
Depending on the candidate, two different positions may be available:
- PhD position in Biotechnology, University of Verona (starting in January 2024)
- Postdoctoral position (1 year renewable for other 1 year), available from December 2023.

For more information, please send an email to nicola.vitulo@univr.it