ERC-funded Postdoc Position in Comparative Genomics

The Hiller Lab at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt,
Germany has an opening for a Postdoc to work on our BATPROTECT project
to investigate the genomic basis of long healthspans, disease resistance,
and viral tolerance in bats.

*BATPROTECT*
is a 6-year funded ERC synergy grant project that will use bats as
natural models of healthy aging and disease tolerance to elucidate the
molecular mechanisms behind bats' exceptional longevity and resistance
to viral and age-related diseases. BATPROTECT brings together a team
of global leaders in bat biology and ageing (Emma Teeling, Dublin),
bat immunology and virology (Linfa Wang, Singapore), evolution and
genomics (Michael Hiller, Frankfurt), and ageing model organisms
(Bjoern Schumacher, Cologne) that will jointly investigate aging and
immune responses in bats from the wild and captive colonies, discover
genes with evolutionary importance for longevity and disease resistance,
and functionally validate longevity and immune regulators in stem and
differentiated cells of bats and model organisms, with the ultimate goal
to uncover new directions to improve human healthspan and disease outcome.

*The Project*
Our goal is to uncover the genomic basis of exceptional healthspans and
disease tolerance in bats, understand the evolution of these traits, and
identify key molecular targets for functional validation. To this end, we
are generating ~150 new reference-quality bat genomes and transcriptomic
datasets, and will analyze these data using our established methods
repertoire (TOGA and others). Work includes comparative genomic screens
to identify key adaptations in coding and non-coding genes as well
as differences in gene expression patterns across the bat phylogeny,
associating genomic and transcriptomics changes with longevity and viral
reservoir traits, identifying novel bat genes, and investigating the
evolutionary history of endogenized viral elements.  The postdoc will
work closely with other members of the BATPROTECT team, the Hiller lab,
and other Bat1K collaborators. We also offer exchanges with the other
BATPROTECT labs and yearly retreats with all project members.

*Your Profile*
- PhD degree in genomics, bioinformatics/computational biology, or a
related area
- Research experience in comparative genomics
- Excellent programming skills in a Linux environment, experience with
shell scripts and Unix tools

*Our Lab*
The mission of our lab is to understand how nature's fascinating
phenotypic diversity has evolved and how it is encoded in the genome. Work
in the lab includes sequencing and assembly of reference-quality genomes,
genome alignment and gene annotation, development and application of
comparative genomic methods to discover differences in genes and gene
expression, and the use of statistical approaches to link phenotypic to
genomic changes.  Our lab is part of TBG (https://tbg.senckenberg.de/)
and the Senckenberg Research Society (https://www.senckenberg.de/en/),
and is based near the city center of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. TBG
provides access to cutting-edge computational (large HPC clusters, genome
browser) and lab infrastructure to sequence and analyze genomes. English
is the working language in our lab.

*We offer*
- Funding is available for 6 years
- Flexible working hours - opportunities for mobile working -
annual special payment - company pension scheme - Senckenberg badge
for free entry in museums in Frankfurt. - leave of 30 days/year
- Frankfurt is a vibrant and highly international city at the heart
of Europe that combines a skyscraper skyline with ample parks and green
areas. The Economist 2022 index ranked Frankfurt among the top 10 most
livable cities worldwide.

*How to apply*
Please send us your application documents, as a single pdf, containing
- a CV with a publication list and contact information for at least
two references
- a summary of previous research experience (max 1 page)
- and copies of certificates, transcripts and grades in electronic
form by November 15th, 2024 to recruiting@senckenberg.de
quoting the reference number #12-24013, or apply through
https://www.senckenberg.de/en/career/apply-online/

For more information about the lab and the project, please contact
Michael Hiller (michael.hiller@senckenberg.de) or visit the lab webpage
https://tbg.senckenberg.de/hillerlab/.

Michael Hiller, PhD
Professor of Comparative Genomics
LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics,
Senckenberg Society for Nature Research & Goethe University, 
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Michael Hiller <michael.hiller@senckenberg.de>

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