College of Biological Sciences

Dr. Daniel Voytas Lab is seeking to welcome TWO sophomore or junior undergraduate students to join the lab. These positions are for students who are thinking about a research career in biotech/life sciences. Please note, depending on what position interests you, there are different contacts.

• These are not technician jobs. You will be trained to be a scientist, with participation in journal clubs and lab meetings and can register for research credits/UROPS based on your departmental restrictions. As students gain more experience and skill they will be given increasing independence. 
• The skills you will gain will be broadly applicable to both grad school as well as biotech industries. 
• Both positions require 10-15 hours a week commitment to lab work. Hours can be flexible depending on mentor availability and independence.
• While prior lab experience is a plus, it is by no means required.

Position 1 

Projects include developing new genome editing technologies and engineering photosynthesis to improve yield and abiotic stress tolerance in C3 plants. Students who are accepted will gain skills in:

• Molecular cloning
• Genome editing
• Photosynthesis engineering
• Plant rearing and transformation

If you are interested please contact Degao Liu (liu01049@umn.edu ) with your CV to apply for an interview. 

Position 2

Projects involve cutting edge genetic engineering, virology and synthetic biology in crop plants. Students who are accepted will gain skills in:

• Molecular cloning
• Plant rearing and genetic modification
• Viral engineering for biotechnology
• RNA extraction and qPCR
• Python coding and data analysis

There are several potential projects that are span modifying the pathways with which plants make chemicals, the developmental programs that control plant shape, or re-engineering plant viruses to rapidly generate transgenic plants. The end goal of all the projects is to develop technologies to combat hunger and malnutrition around the world. Watch a video describing some of the work and an introductory panel discussion about plant synthetic biology.

If you are interested please contact Arjun Khakhar (akhakhar@umn.edu) with your CV to apply for an interview.