PhD-student position in Biology with specialization in Systematics

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label Burse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:00 history_edu Cristian Ion
The overall objective of the PhD project is to improve quality in identification of traded plant wildlife using molecular barcoding. The project aims to develop tools and reference libraries for accurate species identification of traded plant material such as roots, powders and mixtures, using both standard and experimental DNA barcoding markers; and to use next generation sequencing for the identification of individual ingredients in processed products such as powders and mixtures. The project will look specifically at the regional and international trade of wild harvested medicinal plants and orchids in/and from Tanzania.

In addition to the objectives above the project aims to conduct quantitative investigations of wild-harvested traditional herbal medicines to identify diversity and volumes of medicinal plants traded in Tanzania. Surveys to monitor the chain of commercialization will give insights into the processing, collection, identification and availability of plant species traded.



The project includes fieldwork in Tanzania, studying herbarium collections in Leiden and St. Louis, and molecular lab work in Uppsala and Leiden, as well as phylogenetic analyses and taxonomical studies. The student is expected to follow appropriate courses in systematics theory and practice, including molecular barcoding, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, bioinformatics, statistics, taxonomy, ethnobotany, participate in the research school in biosystematics (ForBio), and have no moral objections to carry out experiments with zebrafish embryo’s.

The PhD student will be supervised by a team of researchers on a collaborative TASENE funded project: Hugo de Boer, Uppsala University, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, NHM-Oslo; Sandra Baldauf, Uppsala University; Barbara Gravendeel, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, University of Applied Sciences Leiden; Tinde van Andel, Naturalis Biodiversity Center; and Joseph Otieno, ITM-MUHAS Dar es Salaam.