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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Belgium: A 4 year PhD position for an evolutionary biologist, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Overview

A 4 year PhD position for an evolutionary biologist is immediately vacant at the Laboratory of Animal Diversity and Systematics (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium) in the research group of Prof. Filip Volckaert to study micro-evolutionary responses in Lake Tanganyika cichlids.

Description: The project investigates the role of parasitism and immunogenetic adaptation in the diversification of Lake Tanganyika cichlids. Parasites may play an important role in cichlid adaptive radiation as they may influence both naturally and sexually selected traits, speeding up the evolution of reproductive isolation. Field studies, mate-choice experiments and molecular work will be carried out to investigate parasite community structure, mating isolation, the potential role of parasites in mate choice, and local immunogenetic adaptation (MHC). The comparison between cichlid species showing extreme versus no chromatic differentiation will clarify whether parasites, immunogenetic adaptation and colour polymorphism have a synergistic effect in cichlid mate choice. Evolution of cichlids and their parasites has been studied in our team over the past 3 years, while the Royal Museum for Central Africa is a world expert in cichlid systematics (see http://bio.kuleuven.be/de/dev/pubs.php for publications). The project starts on 01/04/2010 and is supervised by prof. Filip Volckaert and
dr. Joost Raeymaekers.


The team: The Laboratory of Animal Diversity and Systematics has a strong expertise in neutral and adaptive evolution of fishes and their parasites, including field monitoring, experimental design, medium-throughput genotyping, the analysis of genetic, genomic, and phenotypic data with up-to-date statistical approaches. Topics addressed include phylogeny, barcoding, phylogeography, population genetics, local adaptation and rapid evolution (natural and fisheries induced), enhanced selection in aquaculture (aquaculture genomics), co-evolution between host and parasite, spatio-temporal dynamics of nursery grounds and the management of aquatic habitats. Our team comprises 6 PhD students, 4 postdocs, 2 technicians and a team leader. The historic KULeuven, founded in 1425, has a very stimulating research environment. The modern city of Leuven with its medieval roots offers a high quality of life.

Profile: High motivation, background in evolutionary biology, interest or experience in field based experimental research is strongly recommended. Research will be carried out in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team specialised in evolutionary biology, molecular parasitology and population genomics. Mate choice experiments will be carried out at the University of Graz (Prof. C. Sturmbauer).

Financing: The successful candidate is funded by a national project (Research Fund - Flanders; salary of approximately 1700 ¤/month net). The candidate is expected to apply for a national Research Fund - Flanders or IWT fellowship.

Application deadline: Please apply at
http://phd.kuleuven.be/set/voorstellen_departement?departement=50000454#detail,
send a letter of motivation, and two letters of reference to Filip
Volckaert by 15 April 2010.

Contact:
Prof. Filip Volckaert
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Laboratory of Animal Diversity and Systematics
Ch. Deberiotstraat 32 Postbox 2439
B-3000 Leuven, BELGIUM
Phone: +32 16 32 39 72 (office) or +32 16 32 39 66 (secretariat)
Fax: +32 16 32 45 75
Mailto:filip.volckaert [at] bio.kuleuven.be
URL: http://bio.kuleuven.be/de/dev/index.php

Tine Huyse at Tine.Huyse@bio.kuleuven.be


Please kindly mention Scholarization.blogspot.com when applying for this opportunity


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