Ph.D. position in molecular evolutionary, Germany

A Ph.D. position in molecular evolutionary
biology is available in the lab of Axel Meyer in
the Department of Biology at the University of
Konstanz in Germany. The evolutionary biology
group is an international group of students and
postdocs that also includes the labs of Gerrit
Begemann on zebrafish developmental genetics and
Shigehiro Kuraku on evolutionary developmental
biology. The main language spoken in the lab is
English.

We are looking for an energetic Ph.D. student who
is interested in speciation, molecular evolution,
bioinformatics/genomics, or evolutionary
developmental biology. The specific research
projects we are recruiting for involve (1)
research on phylogenetics and population genetics
of cichlid fishes (2) as well as the discovery
and functional characterization of (e.g.
coloration) genes underlying the diversification
of cichlid fish in Africa and in Nicaragua.

The great lakes in East Africa house some of the
world's most diverse freshwater ecosystems. Lakes
Victoria, Malawi and Tanganyika are particularly
well-known for their adaptive radiations of
hundreds of endemic species of cichlid fishes. We
are interested in understanding speciation,
phylogeography, molecular evolution and molecular
phylogenetics of these cichlid fish assemblages.
Also, we wish to identify and characterize the
function of genes that are involved in the
phenotypic diversification and presumably
speciation of cichlid fishes. Several molecular
biological, "devo-evo" and genomic approaches,
including candidate gene approaches, DNA-chip
technology, characterization of ESTs, in situ
hybridization in cichlids and transgenics in
zebrafish are used to address these questions.
We are also interested in evolutionary genomic
questions and the evolution of novel gene
functions after gene and genome duplications.

Some recent publications of the lab include:
Verheyen et al. (2003). The origin of the
superflock of cichlid fishes from Lake Victoria,
East Africa. Science 300: 325-329.
Salzburger et al. (2005). Out of Tanganyika:
Genesis, explosive speciation, key-innovations
and phylogeography of the haplochromine cichlid
fishes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 5: 17.
Barluenga et al. (2006). Sympatric speciation in
Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fish. Nature 439:
719-23
Braasch et al. (2006). Asymmetric evolution in
two fish-specifically duplicated receptor
tyrosine kinase paralogons involved in teleost
coloration. Molecular Biology and Evolution
23:1192-1202.

Funding is available for at least 2 years. A
Ph.D. thesis in Germany is supposed to be
finished within about 3 years and is supposed to
be written in English. Ph.D. salaries are
approximately 20 to 25,000 Euros annually,
(depending on marital status, age, etc.) before
deductions for taxes, health insurance and
retirement contributions.

The position is open immediately. The review of
applicants will begin immediately until the
position is filled. To apply, please email a
curriculum vitae, including a list of
publications, a statement of research interests,
and the names and email addresses of two
references to axel.meyer@uni-konstanz.de.

Prof. Axel Meyer, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Konstanz University
78457 Konstanz, Germany
Email: axel.meyer@uni-konstanz.de

For more information visit
http://www.evolutionsbiologie.uni-konstanz.de/index.php?section

--
Prof. Axel Meyer, Ph.D.
Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie
Department of Biology
Building M, Room M806
University of Konstanz
78457 Konstanz
Germany

fon + 49 7531 88 4163
fax + 49 7531 88 3018

secretary: Ingrid.Bader@uni-konstanz.de
tel. + 49 7531 88 3069

www.evolutionsbiologie.uni-konstanz.de

Axel Meyer <axel.meyer@uni-konstanz.de>