Phytoform Labs Ltd (Phytoform), a fast-growing AgBiotech startup located at the Rothamsted Research science park, is offering a 3-month internship for a motivated plant scientist. This internship is ideally suited for PhD students needing to complete their Professional Internship for PhD Students (PIPS).

Phytoform focuses on sustainability in agriculture by developing new crop varieties specifically adapted to climate change challenges and overall sustainability of food production. Phytoform uses novel breeding technologies such as CRISPR genome editing to develop the varieties.

The focus of this internship are tomato varieties specially bred for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). CEA is a form of plant production that can heavily decrease water, fertiliser and pesticide use in comparison to conventional agriculture, as well as secure food production year-round, removing weather dependance. The tomato team at Phytoform has generated several CRISPR varieties of tomato that have the potential to be selected for tomato production in the indoor vertical environment. The PIPS student will be part of the tomato genome editing team and will assess the suitability of the new tomato varieties for indoor vertical farming.

This is a unique opportunity for a PhD student to experience fast-paced translational research, work within an exceptional start-up environment and gain valuable experience within the Ag industry.