PhD opportunities in Plant Ecological Genetics and Genomics

Are you interested in the genetic and physiological mechanisms of
adaptation, the costs of plasticity, understanding potential maladaptive
responses to climate change, and/or the fitness effects of non-additive
genetic architecture?

The Oakley lab in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue
University is recruiting a PhD student for Fall 2025 for one of two NSF
funded projects in plant ecological genetics and genomics. One project
is connecting the genotype-phenotype-fitness map for cold acclimation,
an adaptive plastic response in seasonally freezing environments. Cold
acclimation is common in plants throughout the temperate zones and
involves dramatic metabolic and physiological changes in response to
cool autumn temperatures which increase winter freezing tolerance. It is
energetically costly, particularly in cool but non-freezing environments,
and climate change may exacerbate the negative fitness consequences of
this cost. The other project is examining the fitness consequences of
non-additive genetic architecture (dominance and epistasis) and linkage
on local adaptation and maladaptation. There are many opportunities for
new directions building off the main themes of these projects including
extension of work on Arabidopsis to other systems including Populus
and Plantago. There is a vibrant community of interdisciplinary plant
biologists (https://ag.purdue.edu/cpb/faculty/) at Purdue, providing
ample opportunity for interaction and collaboration.

A BS/BA degree in ecology & evolution, genetics, plant biology, or related
field is required (by Spring 2025), as is a strong interest in learning
to use -omic tools to answer evolutionary questions. No specific skills
are required, but some combination of experience in experimental biology,
molecular genetics, bioinformatics/quantitative analysis, and plant care
is strongly preferred.

If you are interested in applying, please email your CV and a short
(1-2 paragraph) email explaining your interest in graduate school
in general, and the lab and project in particular. This should be
done prior to applying, ideally no later than 4 weeks prior to the
application deadline. Applications are due by Dec. 1st, 2024, do
not require the GRE, and you may be able to have the application fee
waived through the Big Ten Academic Alliance FreeApp program. This is
a direct admit program (no rotations). Students interested in doing
rotations may also apply via the interdisciplinary plant science program
(https://ag.purdue.edu/cpb/apply-now.html).

Chris Oakley
Associate Professor
oakleyc@purdue.edu
https://btny.purdue.edu/labs/oakley

"Oakley, Christopher G" <oakleyc@purdue.edu>

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