Phd studentship in phylogenomics at FEM, Trentino.
“Evolutionary genomics of fruit pests: Drosophila suzukii and other
grapevine parasites”
We are seeking an enthusiast student to employ genomics and phylogeny
to understand the molecular basis of behavioural innovation in
insects.
The student will focus on fruit flies, in particular Drosophila
suzukii, an emerging fruit pest which shows an unprecedented
ecological behaviour when compared to other fruit flies. Other models
will be grapevine specific insect parasites. The goal is to understand
how and when this species developed their novel ecological behaviour.
The student will employ bioinformatics (including molecular
phylogenetics, clock studies, comparative genomics and
transcriptomics) to study the evolutionary history of the above
species and of some of their gene families. Depending on student
attitude/interest there may be space for other work spanning from
chemical ecology to evodevo, as well as for the development of
student's own ideas.
Most of the training/work will be carried out at the Research and
Innovation Centre of the Edmund Mach Foundation (FEM), an agricultural
research institute located in the Italian Alps. Part of the training
will be done at an external PhD school chosen by the candidate in
conjunction with FEM. Supervision will be given by Omar Rota-Stabelli
(phylogenomics) and Gianfranco Anfora (chemical behaviour) as well as
by one supervisor at host university. FEM pays the studentship as well
as external fees. There will be plenty of
interaction/training/
collaboration with other labs both at FEM and
abroad, particularly at the Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences.
We are ideally looking for a candidate with a MSc in biology,
bioinformatics, agriculture or a related discipline. A successful
candidate will have a background either in evolutionary biology or
bioinformatics, with some programming skills.
Application deadline: 10 January 2012
For more info: http://www.fmach.eu/UploadDocs/8433_088_ASB_DDS_Profile.pdf
Send your cv and application form to: phd.fem [AT] iasma.it
For (scientific) questions: omar.rota[AT]iasma.it
