********************GradStudentPositions******************** PhD Student Position- Behavioral Ecology and Evolution Application deadline 15th Dec! Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany PROJECT DESCRIPTION: How much are individual odors determined by genetics? The goal of this project is to investigate if genetics, particularly loci at the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), govern identity cues that are used for social communication in banded mongoose populations. Banded mongooses have been studied in detail as part of the Banded Mongoose Research Project at a long-term field site at the Mweya Peninsula, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Behavioral, fitness, and genetic data have been collected from wild habituated mongooses continuously for over 20 years, and the study is ongoing (see the project website at http://socialisresearch.org). This project is part of an international collaboration and will combine behavioural data, field experiments, chemical odor profiles, microbial profiles, and high-throughput sequencing genetic methods to comprehensively investigate the mechanisms of genetic-based social signaling in a natural population. TASKS: The PhD student will investigate the genetic basis of odor-based social communication in wild banded mongooses. Methods will include genotyping of MHC-loci, conducting field experiments on wild banded mongooses at Queen-Elizabeth National park in western Uganda, statistical analyses, and writing scientific publications for international, peer-reviewed journals. REQUIREMENTS: (1) a university bachelor or Master degree in Biology, Ecology, or a related discipline, (2) experience with field and lab work, (3) experience with statistical software, preferably R, (4) interest in behavioural, genetic, and evolutionary questions, (5) ability to work both independently and as part of a team, (6) excellent oral and written communication skills in English. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: (1) papers in peer-reviewed international journals, (2) experience with high-throughput sequencing techniques, (3) experience working with multiple, large-scale data sets. POSITION: The position runs from early 2019 for three years and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Animal Behaviour at Bielefeld University ( www.uni-bielefeld.de/biologie/animalbehaviour/home.html) and will be supervised by Dr. Jamie Winternitz and co-supervised by Dr. Hazel Nichols at Swansea University. Salary will be paid according to Remuneration level 13 (65%) of the Wage Agreement for Public Service in the Federal States (TV-L). APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: To apply, please provide: (1) a letter of motivation including a statement of your research interests and skills and experience relevant to the position; (2) a CV including publication list; (3) names and contact details of two referees willing to write confidential letters of recommendation. All materials should be emailed as a single PDF file to: jamie.winternitz@uni-bielefeld.de. The application deadline is December 15th 2018 and interviews will take place shortly thereafter. After the decision, the position should start as soon as possible. For further information on the project and the department, please contact Jamie Winternitz (jamie.winternitz@uni-bielefeld.de) with any informal inquiries. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The Department of Animal Behaviour at Bielefeld University is the oldest of its kind in Germany and currently hosts seven principal investigators, eight postdocs and 20 PhD students. It offers a stimulating international environment and an excellent research infrastructure including new molecular laboratories. The working language of the Department is English. Together with the Evolution and Animal Ecology research groups housed in the same building, there are some 50 scientists and PhD students from over ten different countries working on related topics in behaviour, ecology and evolution. Bielefeld is a city of 325,000 inhabitants with all expected amenities and easy access to the Teutoburger Wald for hiking and other outdoor pursuits. It offers a high standard of living and is well connected to most major European cities. Bielefeld University has received a number of awards for its achievements in the provision of equal opportunity and has been recognized as a family friendly university. The University welcomes applications from women. This is particularly true with regard both to academic and technical posts as well as positions in Information Technology and Trades and Craft. Applications are handled according to the provisions of the state equal opportunity statutes. Applications from suitably qualified handicapped and severely handicapped persons are explicitly encouraged. "Nichols H.J." ********************GradStudentPositions******************** Two PhD positions are available with the Plant Ecophysiology and Evolution Group at Guangxi University in Nanning, China to study (1) temperature stress memory in mangroves and (2) conservation genomics of endangered tropical trees. The candidates will be part of a team studying the ecological genomics of tropical trees in the Indo-West Pacific. Other research topics are available for discussion following an accepted application. Applicants to this position should have a Masters degree with a strong background in plant population genetics, biogeography, epigenetics or ecophysiology. Experience in genomics and/or bioinformatics are considered a major advantage when applying. Successful applicants will be fully-funded by governmental scholarships. The working language of our research group is English, however knowledge of Mandarin will be useful. The PhD students will be part of a creative and stimulating research environment consisting of both Chinese and international researchers. To apply, please contact Alison Wee at alisonwks@gxu.edu.cn. In your application, please include a cover letter, CV, brief research statement, and a list of references. For further information about our group please see: http://www.ecologicalgenomicslab.com/ aidanwshort@outlook.com ********************GradStudentPositions******************** PhD: Behavioral Ecology and Social Evolution of Wasps Application deadline: December 31th, 2018 Start date: as soon as possible (but negotiable depending on KU Leuven application procedure and visa) We invite applications for a 3-year PhD position on the evolution of eusociality in wasps. We will focus on the co-option and modification of the hormonal and reproductive cycles that were present in solitary species during the evolution of primitive and advanced eusocial wasp species. Specifically, we will compare European and Brazilian primitively and advanced eusocial species of wasps with closely related solitary ones to test whether and how endocrine JH (juvenile hormone) cycles in pre-social ancestors regulated reproduction, reproductive signalling and division of labour. The PhD candidate will investigate these questions using behavioural experiments, chemical analyses, and molecular analyses. We are looking for a highly motivated candidate, not afraid of collecting wasps nests, with an MSc degree (or equivalent) in Biology or a related field. The successful applicant should have a strong background in ecology, animal behaviour and/or evolutionary biology. The candidate must have an excellent command of both spoken and written English. Experience with social insects and statistics are advantageous. Training that the candidate will receive include among others (1) chemical analyses with our Thermo ISQ GC/MS, (2) carrying out bioassays, (3) carrying out molecular phylogenetic work and (4) performing advanced data analysis in R. T his project is a bilateral collaboration (FWO-FAPESP) with Prof. Nascimento (USP-Ribeirão Preto, Brazil); most of the time the PhD student will stay in Leuven, but there will be field trips to Brazil. We are a multidisciplinary lab (https://bio.kuleuven.be/ento/index.htm) working on questions related to social evolution and use insects, microorganisms and humans as model systems. Our lab employs a variety of techniques, including theoretical modeling, behavioral observation, chemical ecology and genetics, genomic and proteomic analysis. The working language of the laboratory is English. KU Leuven is among one of the most prestigious universities in the world (48º in the ranking of THE 2019) and offers good employment conditions (https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/en). Leuven is a historic university city with a vibrant student life. Leuven is a 15-minute train ride away from Brussels International Airport (which is well-connected to destinations all over the world) and a 20-minutes train ride from Brussels itself (https://www.kuleuven.be/english/living). Brussels is one of the best-connected cities in Western Europe; Amsterdam, Paris and London are all reachable within 2 hours by train. If you are interested, please send an application as a single pdf file containing your CV, a 1-page motivation letter, your previous research activities, BSc and MSc grades, publications (if applicable), 1 reference letter, and the names and email addresses of two potential referees. Applications should be sent to Dr. Cintia Akemi Oi (cintiaakemi.oi@kuleuven.be) with the subject [PhD application_NAME]. Funding is available, but we would also stimulate you to apply for your own scholarship -the research unit will fully support you in this application procedure. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed via Skype. Do not hesitate to contact us if you would have further questions. Prof. Tom Wenseleers & Dr. Cintia Akemi Oi Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution Dept. of Biology, KU Leuven Naamsestraat 59 3000 Leuven Belgium https://bio.kuleuven.be/ento/wenseleers/twenseleers.htm ? Cintia Akemi Oi ********************GradStudentPositions******************** GradStudent Position : Caribou SNP-Chip validation for wildlife forensics This project aims to validate a new genomic tool for population assignment of caribou in a wildlife forensics context. The validation of the tool implies the population genomic characterization of regional and fine scale groupings as well as assessing the power of assignment and the strength of evidence provided to court. In order to complete a proper wildlife forensics validation, the candidate will test the tool for sensibility, reproducibility and specificity. The candidate will be base in Dr. Claude Robert's Lab at University Laval in the health science department and co-supervised by Dr. Vincent Bourret and Dr. Steeve D. Côté. University Laval is a French speaking institution so candidates should be ready to learn French in order to complete the master program. The University offers a great opportunity to learn or perfect a second language in a magnificent environment. University Laval is located in beautiful Québec city, the only fortified city north of Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage treasure. Spectacular landscapes are just minutes from town. We are looking for a highly motivated student interested in mastering skills in population genetics, bioinformatics, molecular ecology and wildlife forensics. Interested candidates are invited to send a motivation letter and curriculum vitae to: Claude.Robert@fsaa.ulaval.ca or Vincent.Bourret@mffp.gouv.qc.ca The project could start as early as January 2019. Cheers, Vincent Bourret Biologiste, Ph.D. Laboratoire d'expertise biolégale Direction du soutien aux opérations Direction générale de la protection de la faune Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs vincent.bourret@mffp.gouv.qc.ca mffp.gouv.qc.ca Vincent.Bourret@mffp.gouv.qc.ca ********************Jobs******************** Posting #1 The Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough invites applications for a tenure-stream appointment in the area of Computational Genomics, Evolutionary Genomics. The appointment is at the rank of Assistant Professor and will commence on July 1, 2019 or shortly thereafter. ¨¨ Candidates must have a PhD in biological or computational sciences, and at least one year of postdoctoral experience relevant to the position. The successful candidate will be expected to conduct innovative and independent research at the highest international level and to establish an outstanding, externally funded research program. Applicants must have a record of excellence in research, as demonstrated by publications in top ranked and field relevant academic journals, the submitted research statement, presentations at significant conferences, awards and accolades for work in the field, and strong endorsements by referees of high international standing. Candidates must also demonstrate a commitment to excellence in undergraduate and graduate student training and supervision. A commitment to excellence in teaching will be demonstrated through the statement of teaching philosophy, teaching accomplishments, and evidence of superior performance in teaching-related activities documented in the teaching materials submitted as part of the application (including performance as a teaching assistant or course instructor, experience leading successful workshops or seminars, student mentorship, or excellent conference posters or presentations), as well as strong letters of reference. ¨We seek candidates whose research and teaching interests complement and strengthen our existing departmental strengths. The successful candidate will apply computational approaches to genome-wide datasets to address fundamental questions in ecology and evolution, including topics such as phylogenomics, population genomics, conservation genomics, or behaviour genomics. They will make use of the University of Toronto's Scinet supercomputing cluster (https://www.scinethpc.ca) and other computation resources to sort through the Big Data associated with whole genome sequences. Computational, bioinformatics and programming proficiency is expected and must be demonstrated in the application materials. ¨¨ Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. ¨¨ The University of Toronto is an international leader in biological research and education and the Department of Biological Sciences enjoys strong ties to other units within the University. The successful candidate will join an expanding and dynamic group of faculty working in the areas of Ecology, Evolution, Conservation, and Genomics and will contribute to both the undergraduate curriculum and graduate teaching. The successful candidate will be a member of a Tri-campus Graduate Department (Cell and Systems Biology, https://csb.utoronto.ca/, or Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, http://www.eeb.utoronto.ca/ depending on their field of research). ¨¨ Further information on the research and teaching activities of the department can be found at http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~biosci/. ¨¨ All qualified candidates are invited to apply by clicking https://utoronto.taleo.net/careersection/10050/jobdetail.ftl?job04962&tz=GMT. Applications must include a cover letter, a CV, a statement of research, three representative publications, a statement of teaching philosophy, and other teaching materials showing evidence of excellent performance in teaching related activities as listed above. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply We recommend combining attached documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. ¨¨ Applicants should also arrange that letters of reference (on letterhead, signed and scanned) from at least three referees familiar with the candidate's research and teaching be emailed directly by the referees to: biologygeneral@utsc.utoronto.ca by the closing date. ¨¨ Applications lacking reference letters will not be considered. If you have questions about this position, please email biologygeneral@utsc.utoronto.ca ¨¨ All materials, including reference letters, must be received by January 14, 2019. ¨¨ The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. ¨¨ As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP. ¨¨ All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Posting #2 The Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) invites applications for a tenure-stream appointment in the area of Computational Genomics and Epigenomics. The appointment is at the rank of Assistant Professor and will commence on July 1, 2019, or shortly thereafter.¨ ¨Candidates must have a PhD in biological or computational sciences, and at least one year of postdoctoral experience relevant to the position. The successful candidate will be expected to conduct innovative and independent research at the highest international level and to establish an outstanding, externally funded research program. Applicants must have a record of excellence in research, as demonstrated by publications in top ranked and field relevant academic journals, the submitted research statement, presentations at significant conferences, awards and accolades for work in the field, and strong endorsements by referees of high international standing. The successful candidate will also have a strong commitment to excellence in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level and to graduate student training and supervision. A commitment to excellence in teaching will be demonstrated through the statement of teaching philosophy, teaching accomplishments, and evidence of superior performance in teaching-related activities documented in the teaching materials submitted as part of the application (including performance as a teaching assistant or course instructor, experience leading successful workshops or seminars, student mentorship, or excellent conference posters or presentations), as well as strong letters of reference. ¨¨ We seek candidates whose research and teaching interests complement and strengthen our existing departmental strengths. The successful candidate will apply computational approaches to genome-wide datasets to address fundamental questions in stress biology and disease. They will make use of the University of Toronto's Scinet supercomputing cluster (https://www.scinethpc.ca) and other computation resources to sort through the Big Data associated with whole genome sequences. Computational, bioinformatics and programming proficiency is expected and must be demonstrated in the application materials. ¨¨ Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.¨¨ Further information on the research and teaching activities of the department can be found at http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~biosci/. The University of Toronto is an international leader in biological research and education and the Department of Biological Sciences enjoys strong ties to other units within the University. The successful candidate will join an expanding and dynamic group of faculty working in the areas of Epigenetics, Stress, Cells & Infections, Neuroscience and Genomics. They will contribute to both the undergraduate curriculum and graduate teaching. The successful candidate will be a member of a Tri-campus Graduate Department (Cell and Systems Biology, https://csb.utoronto.ca/, or Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, http://www.eeb.utoronto.ca/ depending on their field of research). All qualified candidates are invited to apply at . Applications must include a CV, a cover letter, a statement of research, three representative publications, a statement of teaching philosophy, and other teaching materials showing evidence of excellent performance in teaching related activities as listed above. Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply We recommend combining attached documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. ¨¨Applicants should also arrange that letters of reference (on letterhead, signed and scanned) from at least three referees familiar with the candidate's research and teaching be emailed directly by the referees to: biologygeneral@utsc.utoronto.ca by the closing date.¨¨ Applications lacking reference letters will not be considered. If you have questions about this position, please email biologygeneral@utsc.utoronto.ca. ¨¨ All application materials including reference letters must be received by January 14, 2019. ¨¨ The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Joanne Terakita Assistant to the Chair Biological Sciences University of Toronto Scarborough 1265 Military Trail, Room SW421B Toronto, ON M1C 1A4 Telephone 416 287-7399 Fax 416 287-7676 Joanne Terakita ********************Other******************** Next on http://phyloseminar.org/: Model Adequacy of Experimentally Informed Site-Specific Substitution Models Sarah Hilton (University of Washington, Seattle) Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 10:00 AM PST Phylogenetic substitution models are hypotheses about evolutionary process and, like all models, they contain simplifying assumptions. One common assumption is that all sites in a gene evolve identically. However, even a cursory analysis of a multiple sequence alignment will show that this assumption is violated in natural protein evolution. Relaxing this assumption greatly increases the number of model parameters to account for the effect of every amino acid at every site in the protein. We have developed a family of models, called Experimentally Informed Codon Models (ExpCMs), which describe the site-specific constraints on a protein using empirical measurements from a high-throughput functional assay in the lab. Even though the vast majority of the parameters are determined empirically rather than fit to the data, we have found that ExpCMs are generally better descriptors of natural sequence evolution than site-uniform codon models, as evaluated by model comparison techniques such as AIC. Now, we are turning to model adequacy tests as a more quantitative and comprehensive way to evaluate ExpCMs on a site-by-site basis. We believe that sites which are inadequate descriptors of natural sequence evolution may indicate sites where the selective pressure differs between the lab and nature and point to interesting biological mechanisms. Model adequacy tests will also allow us to compare how well experiments performed under different conditions are able to capture natural constraint. Overall, the site-specific ExpCMs can be used as a tool to bridge the gap between what we know about selection in the lab and in nature. Andy Magee UW Biology ********************Other******************** The American Genetic Association grants awards each year to its members for support of special events that advance the mission of AGA, particularly to support students to attend the event. Eligible events include specialized workshops and short courses in topical areas of organismal genetics and genomics, but any event relevant to AGA's purpose will be considered, especially those that could lead to Journal of Heredity articles. Awards are between $1,000-$15,000, with a total of $70,000 available for 2019. Funding is competitive, and applications must follow the guidelines. To apply, visit https://www.theaga.org/ Anjanette Baker, AGA Manager theaga@theaga.org ********************Other******************** The American Genetic Association grants Evolutionary, Ecological, or Conservation Genomics (EECG) Research Awards to graduate and post-doctoral researchers who are at a critical point in their research, where additional funds would allow them to conclude their research project and prepare it for publication. These awards are open to any PhD student or postdoctoral fellow who is a member of the AGA at the time of application - visit the AGA homepage for membership details. The program is not intended to fund an entire research project, to initiate new research projects, or to provide salary support. Proposals addressing genome-scale questions, or ecological, evolutionary and conservation genetics questions best addressed with genome-scale data, will be given priority for funding. Awards will generally range from $5,000 to $10,000, awarded to the PI or institution (no overhead is provided). To apply, visit https://www.theaga.org/ Anjanette Baker, AGA Manager theaga@theaga.org ********************Other******************** The Councils of the Linnean Society (https://www.linnean.org/) and the Systematics Association (http://www.systass.org/) jointly administer the Systematics Research Fund (SRF) that provides grants annually for small-scale research projects in the field of systematics. Typical activities supported include contributions to fieldwork expenditure, the purchase of scientific equipment or expertise (e.g. buying time on analytical equipment), specimen preparation (including the cost of temporary technical assistance), and contributions to publication costs. However, please note that it is unable to fund the cost of article publication charges. Projects of a more general or educational nature will also be considered, provided that they include a strong systematics component. Typical activities not supported include attendance at scientific meetings and contributions to student maintenance or tuition fees. The fund does not provide payments for Bench Fees. Projects already substantially funded by other bodies may be disadvantaged. Applications of all nationalities are welcome but applicants must be a current member of the Systematics Association or Linnean Society of London. Successful projects are selected by a panel of systematists who represent a wide range of conceptual interests and taxonomic groups. Generally, applications in the range of £500-£1000 are preferred, the value of any single award will not exceed £1500. Deadline: 20 February 2019 More information on SRF on the Systematics Association webpage: http://systass.org/grants-and-awards/srf/ Questions about the application procedure can also be sent to the SRF Administrator (srf@systass.org) Dr. Anne D. Jungblut Grants & Awards Secretary for SRF The Systematics Association Anne Jungblut ********************PostDocs******************** Two postdoctoral fellowships are available with The Plant Ecophysiology and Evolution Group at Guangxi University in Nanning, China to study (1) temperature and drought stress memory in mangroves or (2) the molecular response of Dipterocarps to temperature and drought stress. Applicants to this position should have a PhD degree with a strong background in gene expression profiling, epigenetics and ecophysiology. Experience in genomics and/or bioinformatics are considered a major advantage when applying. Funding is available for two years with the possibility of a one-year extension. These fellowships include a salary of 10000 RMB per month, health insurance and housing. Conference travel and travel to field sites will also be supported. The working language of our research group is English, however knowledge of Mandarin is of course useful. Postdocs will have the opportunity to develop individual research projects and collaborative work with external groups. They will be part of a creative and stimulating research environment consisting of both Chinese and international researchers. To apply, please contact Alison Wee at alisonwks@gxu.edu.cn. In your application, please include a cover letter, CV, brief research statement, and a list of references. For further information about our group please see: http://www.ecologicalgenomicslab.com/¨ aidanwshort@outlook.com ********************PostDocs******************** A postdoctoral position on the population genomics of White Sands Pupfish is available immediately in Dr. Andrew DeWoody¢s lab at Purdue University. This position is for 12 months with the possibility of renewal. Interested parties should email a brief letter of inquiry/interest, a CV, and a short summary of research interests to dewoody@purdue.edu; be sure and check out the lab website before doing so. Purdue University is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. "DeWoody, James Andrew" ********************PostDocs******************** Postdoc in marine fungal genomics, University of Hawaii A postdoc position is available in the Amend Lab in the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The successful applicant will join a dynamic group of researchers interested in microbial ecology and evolution within the unique Hawaiian archipelago. The researcher will primarily be responsible for genome sequencing and analysis of marine yeasts from the genus Malassezia. This genus of Basidiomycete yeasts, recently placed within its own class, is ¡§ecologically hyperdiverse¡¨ and among the most widespread and numerically dominant fungi in the world¡¦s oceans: found in deep-sea sediments, hydrothermal vents, on and in invertebrate hosts and throughout pelagic water columns. Improbably, Malassezia also dominate mammal skin on land, are prevalent residents of terrestrial animal guts, and are consistent, though low abundance, members of soil and plant fungal communities. There exist excellent genomic resources for this group, and all but one of the fifteen species for which genomes are sequenced contains fewer than 9 Mb and 5,000 genes, placing them amongst the smallest free-living genomes in kingdom fungi. Malassezia are also dikaryotic (N+N), with a genomic signature of bipolar mating types. This and evidence that Malassezia genomes have undergone extensive rearrangements and gene loss/gain events suggests the potential for rapid evolution. Our main interest is to identify the mechanisms enabling transitions from terrestrial to marine habitats, and to infer how frequently such transitions have occurred. Because none of the marine species have been cultivated yet, the postdoc will be responsible for developing and implementing a single cell genomic workflow targeting habitats in which Malassezia are known to dominate. The researcher will have access to two marine stations, sequencing, microscopy and flow cytometry core facilities as well as access to a large campus supercomputer. The appointment is for one year. Salary is commensurate with experience, and will be livable given Hawaii's high cost of living. Start date is as soon as is feasible. The Amend lab is strongly committed to achieving excellence through diversity. We are aware of biases, conscious and unconscious, in academia and in science and we actively seek to reduce the role of these biases in our own decisions and in those of our colleagues and collaborators. We work together to combat prejudice and work toward equity and inclusion, within the lab and in the communities with whom we interact ¡V on campus and beyond. Required Qualifications Successful candidates will hold a Ph.D. degree in biology, marine biology, microbiology, genetics or another relevant field. Researchers must be willing to contribute to a respectful, collegial, honest, and productive lab environment. Desirable Qualifications -Experience designing clade specific probes/primers -Experience using fluorescence activated cell sorting or other flow cytometry capture techniques -Experience assembling and annotating genomic data -Experience analyzing genomes within a comparative context -Creativity -Evidence of compelling and clear scientific writing. To apply Please visit our lab¡¦s website to learn more about the group and the research we conduct: www.amendlab.com. A short review paper on marine Malassezia is available here: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/comments?id.1371/journal.ppat.1004277 As a single PDF, please submit a CV, a cover letter, and the names/contact information for three referees to Anthony Amend: amend@hawaii.edu. Consideration of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Anthony Amend ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** Course on Programming for Evolutionary Biology When: March 12th - March 28th 2019 Location: Berlin, Germany Application deadline: December 31st 2018 Detailed information about the course content and how to apply: http://evop.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/ In this intensive 17 days course, students will learn how to survive in a Linux environment, get hands-on experience in two widely used programming languages (Python and R), and statistical data analysis. The classes will be given by experts in the field and consist of lectures and exercises with the computer. The aim of the course is to provide the students with the necessary background and skills to perform computational analyses with a focus on solving research questions related to genomics and evolution. The philosophy of the course will be "learning by doing", which means that the computational skills will be taught using examples and real data from evolutionary biology for the exercises. During the course, students will also propose projects of their own interest and perform them as final projects in small groups under the supervision of a teaching assistant. This summer school is open for students from all countries and targeted toward PhD students and postdocs of evolutionary biology or related research fields with no or little programming experience who want to become proficient in computational evolutionary biology in a couple of weeks. The course takes place at the Free University of Berlin. -- Dr. Katja Nowick Professorin für Humanbiologie Freie Universität Berlin Institut für Zoologie Königin-Luise-Straße 1-3 14195 Berlin Phone: +49 30 83863761 Katja Nowick ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** Dear colleagues,Registration is open for the Transmitting Science course: AN INTRODUCTION TO METAGENOMICS AND METABARCODING. End of early bird: December 31st.Dates: April 1st-5th, 2019.Place: Heraklion (Crete, Greece).Instructor: Dr. M. Lisandra Zepeda-Mendoza (Chr. Hansen – Bacterial Physiology & Improvement, Denmark).Metagenomics is the study of the collection of genomes in an environment. Environments as diverse as Antarctic lakes, hot springs, or the human gut can be biologically characterized by extracting and sequencing DNA from samples taken from them. A characteristic of many of these samples is their complexity, posing difficulties to their analysis and characterization. However, metagenomics allows the taxonomic and functional characterization of samples. These two kinds of characterizations also enable the comparison of different habitats for biodiversity assessment.In this course, students will be introduced to the command line environment used to analyze high-throughput sequencing data (HTS). The initial cleaning steps that must be performed on every HTS dataset will be described and we will use the processed data for proper functional and taxonomical characterization of a metagenomic dataset. We will use methods such as mapping to whole genome databases, de novo assembly, gene annotation, building of non-redundant gene catalogue, and metagenomic species concept identification. Due to the wide usage of metabarcoding for the taxonomic characterization of an environment, we will also discuss amplicon sequencing strategies and data analysis. The course will be based on both theory and hands-on exercises.More information: http://www.transmittingscience.org/courses/genetics-and-genomics/introduction-metagenomics-metabarcoding/ or writing to courses.crete@transmittingscience.orgBest regards Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno, PhDScientific DirectorTransmitting Sciencewww.transmittingscience.org Soledad De Esteban Trvigno ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** https://www.jyu.fi/en/research/summer-and-winter-schools/ecology/workshop Workshop: Molecular Evolution: Patterns and Causes Time: 20.-22.2.2019 Place: Konnevesi Research Station of the University of Jyväskylä, Konnevesi, Finland Confirmed invited speakers: Prof. Adam Eyre-Walker (Sussex), Prof. Sylvain Glemin (Montpellier), Prof. Richard Goldstein (University College London), Prof. Ville Mustonen (Helsinki), Prof. Andreas Wagner (Zurich) and Dr. Jessica Abbott (Lund). Organizers: Dr. Mikael Puurtinen (Jyväskylä), Dr. Ilkka Kronholm (Jyväskylä), Assoc. Prof. Heikki Helanterä (Oulu) and Prof. Hannu Ylönen (Jyväskylä) The rate of molecular evolution varies at several levels of biological organization, e.g. among sites, among proteins, among chromosomes, and among lineages. The forces underlying this variation include mutation rate and the strength of natural selection, which are in turn affected by e.g. population size, linkage, generation time, gene function, gene expression, pleiotropy, and biophysical properties of gene products (e.g. proteins). While there is a reasonable understanding of these patterns and forces, many questions remain, and a holistic view of molecular evolution is still somewhat underdeveloped. The aim of the workshop is to bring together students and researchers from all career stages to discuss recent findings in the field of molecular evolution, and to foster new research and collaborations. The estimated number of participants is 50. The workshop starts on Wednesday, Feb 20th at 12:45, but it is possible to arrive already on Tuesday, Feb 19th. On Tuesday evening, there will be dinner and sauna provided. The workshop ends on Friday, Feb 22nd at 16:00. Participation fee includes accommodation, meals, beverages, and banquet during workshop. - Tuesday evening to Friday: 260 € - Wednesday morning to Friday: 210 € - for students accepted to the course Introduction to Molecular Evolution, and taking the workshop additionally: 80 € How to apply? Please send your application to the workshop by email to mikael.puurtinen@jyu.fi by December 23rd 2018. The application should include: - Name - Home institution - Career stage (e.g. MSc student, PhD student, postdoc, PI, Professor) - For students and postdocs, a contact person for academic reference - Max ½ page motivation for attending the workshop - If you wish to present, and if you prefer a poster or a talk (20 min) - Title and abstract of the presentation - If you would need financial support for attending the workshop, and the amount of support requested (our ability to support costs is not yet clear). Decisions on the applications will be communicated by January 7th 2019. "Puurtinen, Mikael"