Stillingstittel:
Researcher position in animal nutrition/health - Ref.no 16/02588

Stillingsbeskrivelse:

Global challenges regarding energy and climate change, the environment, health, food safety, technology and renewable solutions, use and conservation of land and natural resources, and development of the bio-economy, requires greater effort. NMBU is well equipped to conduct further research in these fields. NMBU's expertise spans entire value chains and includes both basic and applied research.

 

On 1 January 2014, the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science and the University of Life Sciences merged and became -NMBU, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. NMBU has 1700 employees and 5100 students, and is currently located on two campuses - Ås, about 30 km south of Oslo, and Adamstuen in Oslo. In 2019, the new research- and education-building for veterinary science will be completed and all of NMBU will then be located at Campus Ås.

 

Further information about NMBU is available on www.nmbu.no

Jobbnorge ID: 126180

The Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences (IHA) at NMBU is currently inviting applications for a full-time, 2-year researcher position, with possibilities for extension depending on available funding. The position is funded by the Research Council of Norway to work on the project "Wood Prebiotics - Exploring tree-derived hemicelluloses as a source for prebiotics.

 

Wood Prebiotics aims to explore tree-derived hemicelluloses as a source of prebiotics in diets for monogastric farm animals and humans. The project is a collaboration between IHA and the Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science at NMBU, which is leading the project.

 

Hemicellulose in the form of xylan and mannan is a major constituent in woody biomass and interestingly, the overall structure of these carbohydrates resembles prebiotic substances that are found in edible plants. This project entails the production of several highly defined prebiotic oligosaccharides from tree biomass that will be tailor-made by nanofiltration and advanced enzymatic modifications. The project will increase the understanding of prebiotics, by identifying key structural elements that are determinants for the utilization of oligosaccharides by commensal bacteria in both the gastrointestinal tract of monogastric farm animals and humans.

 

Wood Prebiotics is closely tied in with the prestigious Centre for Research-based Innovation, Foods of Norway (http://foodsofnorway.net), which is hosted by IHA.

 

 

Research project

The researcher will be associated with WP 5 in Wood Prebiotics on evaluating the effect of prebiotics tailor-made from hemicellulose derived from tree biomass on piglet growth performance and gastro-intestinal health. A major research focus will be to evaluate the effect of novel feed ingredients (e.g. microbial ingredients) and prebiotics on nutritional value, growth performance and gastro-intestinal health of piglets by using a wide range of analytical techniques to provide novel insight into the mode of action of novel feed ingredients and prebiotics on gut function and health.

 

 

Main tasks

• Design and conduct experiments in piglets to determine growth performance and assessment of gastro-intestinal homeostasis.
• To contribute to diet formulation and feed production.
• To study the impact of prebiotics/functional feed on pig growth and health using state of the art tools (including immunostaining, next-generation sequencing technology, microscopy, metabolomics and proteomics).
• Processing and statistical analysis of data.
• To generate scientific publications.

 

 

Academic qualifications<

Minstelønn: 0

Maksimal lønn: 0

Arbeidsgiver Navn: Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige unive

Arbeidsgiver adresse: Universitetstunet 3 1430 ÅS

Job kort beskrivelse: University and higher education teachers

Land: Norge

Region: Akershus

Kilde til jobbtilbud: NAV, Offentlige arbeidsformidlinger, Norge

Lønn valuta: NOK

Lønn periode: Pr. år