Recruitment of researchers (PhD) for ‘Development of an ecological risk assessment technology for river and lake water management in Korea based on indigenous species’ at Ghent University Global Campus
1. Job position:
Researchers participating in ‘Development of an ecological risk assessment technology for river and lake water management in Korea based on indigenous species’ (towards a PhD degree in Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University)
Description:
A vast number of emerging contaminants appeared in freshwater recently. The traditional physicochemical methods are already too difficult and time/cost-consuming to detect these pollutants and assess their toxic effect. It is essential to develop rapid, user-friendly, and cost-effective water quality assessment method(s). We are looking for a different type of solution. In-vitro bioassays and biomonitoring based on fluorescent sensors would be good alternative approaches for aquatic ecotoxicity assessment.
In fluorescence detection, the use of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorogen is now expanding rapidly due to its simple design strategy; the AIE methods have been applied in many areas including electroluminescence, mechanochromsism, chiral recognition, and ionic sensing, and so on (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2020,49, 1144-1172). AIE luminogens (AIEgens) are nonluminescent when molecularly dissolved in solution but become highly fluorescent when aggregated as triggered by the recognition of detection of species.
This opens up a chance of using the AIEgen for real-time biomonitoring of the accumulation and toxicity of these metal ions and their nanoparticles. In this study, the researcher(/phd candidate) will develop AIEgens for in vivo bioimaging; then study the feasibility of using these newly designed AIE-sensors to assess the toxicity of the ionic metals and nanoparticles in aquatic environments as well as investigate the toxicokinetics; and further integrate the AIE-based method with Duckweed bioassay (has been developed by the project team) into a new ecotoxicity test method. Overall, the findings of this study are expected to pave a new avenue for in vitro bioassay for the health of the water environment system.
2. Duties and Responsibilities:
- Main Task: Development of aquatic biological assessment techniques by using aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based sensor(s).
- Other project-related works: Field Investigation and research; Writing research papers and reports; Supports to Principal Investigator and co-Investigators for the project management.
3. Number of available positions: 1
4. Eligibility of Applicants:
- Education level: Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering/Technology, Applied Chemistry, Aquatic toxicology, and other relevant majors
- Age: No limit (preference < 35)
- Gender: Regardless of gender
- Language: Working fluency in English (Korean skill is not compulsory but an extra points)
- Note: If the candidate is coming from oversea to Korea, 3-years of working experiences is required for acquring the working visa; if the oversea candidate is graduated from Korean University, the requirement for working experimence could be waived.
5. Preference criterion: Persons with bright characteristics, intensive research experience in the relevant fields (specially for the Aggregation-Induced Emission technology, supramolecular chemistry and/or fluorescence experiments), and a goal to complete PhD degree
6. Working Conditions:
- Working type: Full-time researchers participating in the Technology Development Project (for 1 year contract with the earliest starting time from Mar 2023; and the contract is renewable annually upon the performance)
- Gross salary: 3 million Korean Won per month(tax included)
- Location: Ghent University Global Campus, 119-5, Songdomunhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Republic of Korea
7. Guidance for application period/ Procedure:
- Application period: From Feb. 05, 2023 To Mar. 05, 2023 until 18:00
- Required to submit documents: Cover letter, CV, Degree certificate, and transcript
- How to Apply: By E-mail reception, please send email to –Hojun.Lee@ugent.be (Direct visits or post not available), please name the E-mail title as KEITI-AIE-Your Name.
8. Other inquiries: Hojun.Lee@ugent.be