University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna PhD Call 2009 at Austria

University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna PhD Call 2009 at Austria

"PhD program in Population Genetics"

Application deadline is 15 May 2009

It is well understood that natural populations carry a wealth of molecular variation. While it has been assumed for a long time that most of this variation is neutral, there is increasing evidence that a large proportion is functionally different and thus subjected to different evolutionary forces.

After the first phase in the genomics projects, which were focusing on the sequencing of one genome for each species, the emphasis has now shifted to the genome wide characterization of natural variation. In particular the new generation of sequencing technology (454, Solexa etc.) is contributing to a hitherto unprecedented wealth of information about naturally occurring sequence variation. Nevertheless, the advances in cataloging natural variation are not matched with our advances in understanding the functional differences among the naturally occurring alleles.

In the PhD program Population Genetics, we are aiming to train a new generation of scientists that is able to deal with this new challenge. The institute consists experimental as well as theoretical research groups spaning a wide range of the expertise from new sequencing technologies to bioinformatics to functional testing.

PhD Call 2009 at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Several PhD positions are available in the Institute of PopulationGenetics at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna from autumn 2009. Through the analysis of natural variation the students will receive training in evolutionary theory and population genetics in an interdisciplinary research environment. Students will join a lively institute working at the interface between experimental and theoretical population genetics. Our institute represents a synthesis of theoretical and experimental expertise in population genetics (Christian Schloetterer) , molecular evolution and bioinformatics (Carolin Kosiol), functional genetics (Alistair McGregor and Thomas Flatt) and conservation genetics (Franz Suchentrunk) . We welcome applications from international students as the working language of the institute is English. Available projects include:

• Functional characterization of copy number variation in Drosophila (Schloetterer group)

• Probabilistic modeling of inter- and intraspecies sequence evolution (Kosiol group)

• Mechanisms and evolution of Drosophila life history and aging (Flatt group)

• Genetic basis of morphological variation in Drosophila (McGregor group)

Measuring gene flow between hare species by massive parallel sequencing (Suchentrunk group)

Application deadline is 15 May 2009

See the following websites for more information on the projects and the application procedure:
http://i122server.vu-wien.ac.at/pop/index.html
For questions and enquires, feel free to contact carolin.kosiol@ vu-wien.ac.at