Four PhD fellowships in AI-driven plant biology - University of Copenhagen

Doctorat / PhD Type de contrat : ["FULL_TIME","TEMPORARY"] Date limite de candidature : 2027-02-11T23:59:00.000Z

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN), Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen Location: Copenhagen, Denmark · Start: 2027 · Deadline: 31 January 2027 Most plant genes have no known function, and the regulatory networks that let plants survive stress are poorly resolved. The Mutwil group at PLEN builds the tools to change that: large language models that turn the entire plant literature into knowledge graphs, cross-species expression atlases, and network methods that connect the two to predictions that experimental collaborators can test. We are recruiting four PhD students to start in 2027, funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and by the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network Stripes&Stars. 1. AI-driven knowledge graphs and network models of plant stress responses (Novo Nordisk Foundation). Fine-tune open LLMs to build a provenance-aware knowledge graph from >200,000 plant papers, and use graph reasoning and network models to predict gene function. Computational. Apply: https://jobnet.dk/find-job/fd1d5201-d0c2-4918-b3dd-950f78aaa27c 2. Single-cell gene regulatory networks of heat and drought responses in crops (Novo Nordisk Foundation). Design and run stress experiments in rapeseed, potato, wheat and barley, then analyse the resulting single-cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq data. For an experimentalist; data-science training provided. Apply: https://jobnet.dk/find-job/f1a9412e-8643-42e1-a572-9ff21d459465 3 and 4. Two MSCA fellowships in AI-driven discovery of plant metabolic pathways (Stripes&Stars Doctoral Network). One project builds the first comprehensive knowledge graph of pigment and specialised-metabolite biosynthesis from the literature; the other infers multi-omics regulatory networks to find the genes behind flower and fruit colour, with neurosymbolic reasoning over the knowledge graph. Computational; MSCA mobility rules apply. Apply: https://jobnet.dk/find-job/138bbf66-fd95-43aa-b7c6-24b17e59e578 Also open at PLEN in the same network: a PhD fellowship in Plant Biochemistry with Tomas Laursen (Stripes&Stars). Apply: https://jobnet.dk/find-job/e2d96719-a9f7-4ffb-acf4-584ca461a1a9 What we look for. Coding experience is welcome but not required at entry – we teach it. We select for scientific judgment: questioning data, noticing anomalies, running investigations in parallel, connecting evidence to a biological question, and changing your mind when the evidence changes. Candidates from biology who want to learn computation and candidates from computer science, physics or engineering who want to learn biology are equally welcome. Terms. Three-year full-time, salaried PhD fellowships. The group is international, located on the Frederiksberg Campus, with access to national and European high-performance computing and GPU infrastructure. How to apply. Each advertisement gives the full project description, eligibility and the application link. Applications must be submitted through the University of Copenhagen system; applications sent by e-mail cannot be considered. Questions: Associate Professor Marek Mutwil, [email]. The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply.