Manager of Laboratory and Facility Services

Are you accurate, flexible, and ready to take on a versatile role in a research environment?
For our location in Yerseke, we are looking for a Laboratory Manager and Facilities Support Staff Member who will play a crucial role in keeping the laboratory and facilities running smoothly and professionally.

As Laboratory Manager, you are responsible for processes and tasks within the framework of ISO 9001, ensuring that our quality management system complies with international standards. Among other things, you manage documentation and chemicals and work closely with the QHSE Coordinator.

Your tasks and responsibilities in Quality Management & Research Support

• Managing the laboratory and ensuring that all processes run smoothly
• Responsible for chemical inventory management and safe storage
• Managing measuring instruments and equipment, including performing or coordinating repairs
• Carrying out quality checks, identifying deviations, contributing to process improvements, and preparing clear reports

Facilities Responsibilities
You ensure that researchers and students feel welcome right away. You are their first point of contact for the use of facilities and materials, efficiently arrange visits by technicians for repairs and maintenance, and act as the link between the Yerseke site and the Head of Facilities at WMR and NIOZ.

Your facilities-related duties include:

• Welcoming and onboarding new colleagues through intake meetings and practical explanations (laptops, badges, cars, keys, laboratory use)
• Fleet management (arranging garage maintenance, mandatory winter tire changes, monthly calibration)
• Inventory management and ordering (cleaning supplies, office materials, catering)
• Providing support during events
• Practical tasks such as waste management, laundry service, and submitting meter readings

Support in Practical Research
During busy periods, you help keep the laboratory running smoothly by actively contributing to practical research, such as measuring, weighing, and cleaning fish and shellfish. We are looking for an enthusiastic colleague who is flexible and takes initiative.

Your Team and Collaboration within the Organization
For quality management and research support tasks, you will work closely with researchers who carry out projects and activities in the laboratories. For the facilities part of your role, you will collaborate closely with all staff at our Yerseke location (approximately 30 FTE) and report functionally to the Head of Facilities at WMR in IJmuiden.

Practicumondersteuners (TOA)

Altijd al met je MLO opleiding als practicumondersteuner bij WUR willen werken?
Lijkt het je wat om op de achtergrond een bijdrage aan het onderwijs te leveren en ben je voor minimaal 32 uur per week beschikbaar?
Lees dan snel verder en loop bij ons binnen op dinsdag 11 november tussen 13.30 uur en 16.00 uur.

Voor de afdeling Practicum Facilitaire Ondersteuning zijn wij op zoek naar een enthousiaste
Practicumondersteuner (TOA)

Jouw baan
Onze afdeling Practicum Facilitaire Ondersteuning (PFO) zet zich in om een optimale dienstverlening te verzorgen voor alle practica in de onderwijsgebouwen van Wageningen University & Research. Een team van 20 medewerkers werkt in nauw overleg met de docenten en biedt ondersteuning om de practica goed te laten verlopen. Deze practica, die in verschillende onderwijsgebouwen worden verzorgd, zijn zeer divers. Uiteenlopend van chemisch georiënteerde practica tot dissectie practica van dieren en planten.

Jouw werkzaamheden bestaan uit:

• In een levendige omgeving alle zaken rondom practicumvoorbereiding verzorgen. Met het team doe je dit voor ongeveer 250 verschillende vakken in 46 practicumzalen;
• Werken in teams met variërende groottes van 3 personen tot ongeveer 8 personen;
• Faciliteren en assisteren van docenten en onderwijsmedewerkers;
• Als Practicumondersteuner beheer je practicumzalen, voorraden, (chemisch) afval en documenten;
• Zorg dragen voor het goed functioneren en het onderhoud van apparatuur;
• Toezien op naleving van de (veiligheids-)regels en voorschriften.

Application specialist CRM & Finance

As an Application Specialist CRM, Finance & Power Platform, you will work together with colleagues who manage various business applications at WUR. Your main focus is Microsoft CRM.
You help users to make their work processes – for example around acquisition, contracts and finances – smarter and easier. You do this by properly translating processes into clear solutions in the systems and by automating tasks as much as possible.

In doing so, you will work closely with architects, business analysts and developers. Together with your team, you ensure that the applications continue to run smoothly and that they keep up with the changes within WUR. Your goal is always: to ensure that users are really helped and get more value out of the systems.

• you manage and support applications such as CRM, Docusign, SmartPIA and project administration in our ERP system;
• you design and implement solutions in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform;
• you help users with questions and ensure that the opportunities for better support of their process can be seized;
• you think along about smart improvements to integrations, data models, automation and AI applications;
• you advise on the future of the systems and services (roadmap);
• you work together with suppliers and steer on agreements in contracts and ongoing work;
• you ensure effective handling of user questions and actively work on high user satisfaction at support.

PhD position - Ecological, Molecular and Genetic Aspects of Nematode-phage Hitchhiking

Do you have a keen interest in microbial interactions between hosts and parasites? Would you enjoy pursuing PhD combining ecology, molecular biology and genetics? Are you enthusiastic about combining fieldwork, labwork and sequencing analyses? If yes, then we may have the perfect opportunity for you!

The Laboratory of Nematology at Wageningen University & Research is seeking a motivated and curiosity-driven PhD candidate to join an interdisciplinary and collaborative team aimed at discovering and characterizing nematode-associated phages. We recently discovered that soil phages, viruses that infect bacteria, can hitchhike along with nematodes to overcome spatial barriers in their environment. Our team aims to build a model system to understand these newly discovered nematode-phage interactions.

As a PhD candidate in this project you will perform and analyze experiments that cover a combination of field work, microbiology, virology, molecular biology and genome sequencing. Specifically you will;

• isolate phages associated with the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans;
• determine molecular associations between nematodes and phages;
• measure if phage virulence and genetics can change upon hitchhiking.

Thereby, you will contribute to fundamental understanding of nematode-phage interactions that could affect soil biodiversity and nutrient cycling.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Laboratory of Nematology led by prof. Geert Smant. Your daily supervisor will be dr. Lisa van Sluijs, who has expertise on nematode-phage interactions and your co-promotor and promotor will be dr. Mark Sterken and prof. Jan Kammenga who have experience on genomics and the model organism C. elegans. Furthermore your work will be supported by experienced technicians.

PhD position: A taste for cabbage: Unravelling the role of tarsal taste receptors in the coevolution of Pierid butterflies and their Brassicales host-plants

Are you a highly motivated and curious PhD candidate with a strong interest in insect–plant interactions to investigate the evolution of glucosinolate detection in cabbage white butterflies (Pieris spp.)? Do you want to explore how these butterflies recognize and adapt to their host plants, and to contribute to cutting-edge research at the intersection of evolutionary biology and sensory ecology? Then we have at Wageningen University & Research an exciting opportunity for you.

In this PhD project, you would unravel the function of butterfly taste receptor neurons by determining to which plant compounds they respond and what role they play during the coevolution of butterflies and their host plants, using a novel molecular approach. Insects and plants are intertwined in an intimate coevolutionary arms race in which plants produce toxic defence compounds and insect herbivores in turn evolved specific detoxification mechanisms. In parallel to these feeding adaptations, insects also evolved specific detection mechanisms for those plants to which they have become adapted, to select suitable plants for feeding or for laying their eggs.

We will use the model system of the cabbage white butterflies, Pieris spp.. These insects lay their eggs almost exclusively on plants containing glucosinolates, toxic compounds to which these insects have specifically adapted. We will create mutant butterflies lacking the most relevant candidate receptor genes using Crispr/Cas9, to unravel the role of different receptors and taste neurons during host-plant recognition. Through these comparisons we will not only gain information about the compounds these receptors detect, but also on their ecological and evolutionary relevance. In addition, we will express the candidate receptor genes in a cell-based assay to test their responses in vitro. Combined, these results will provide a unique insight into the sensory mechanisms underlying the coevolution of insect and plants, which is a major driving factor of biodiversity and has shaped many of today’s terrestrial (agro-) ecosystems.

As a PhD candidate, you will contribute to fundamental research in the context of insect-plant coevolution. You will be embedded in a diverse group of international scientists and collaborate with colleagues from both in- and outside Wageningen University & Research.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Laboratory of Entomology Lab of Entomology - WUR, which is led by Prof. Bregje Wertheim (Bregje Wertheim - Wageningen University & Research). You will be co-supervised by Dr. Alexander Haverkamp (Alexander Haverkamp - Wageningen University & Research). In addition, you will also be embedded in the PE&RC graduate school (Home | PE&RC), which will allow you to follow a wide variety of training courses and provide support during your academic journey.