Postdoc in Population genomics of the X chromosome
A post doc position is available to work in the research group of
Mikkel Heide Schierup at the Bioinformatics Research Centre at Aarhus
University on comparative evolutionary genomics of the X chromosome
(and the Y chromosome) in humans and other great apes. The position is
funded by the Danish National Research Council for Independent Research
and includes funds for targeted experiments.
We have recently reported that the X chromosome is under strong adaptive
evolution (Hvilsom et al. 2012, PNAS 10.1073/pnas.1106877109) and that
it has diversity patterns best explained by a large number of very strong
selective sweeps, independently occurring in similar places in most great
apes species, including humans (Nam et al. 2013 arXiv:1402.5790v2). The
candidate will develop models and perform analyses to study this pattern
and test different hypotheses, including the possible involvement of
X-ampliconic regions. The position will exploit high coverage whole genome
sequencing of many individuals of each great apes species and phased trio
data from humans. There will also be the opportunity to do expression
analysis using RNAseq of testis samples and targeted resequencing of
particular difficult regions, such as ampliconic regions. Furthermore,
there will be the opportunity to join our participation in international
consortia for analysis of primate genomes.
A PhD degree and strong expertise in statistical analysis and population
genetics is essential. Analyses will require programming skills and
familiarity with high performance computing.
The position is initially for 1 year with possible extension for 1 more
year. The starting salary depends on qualifications but is typically
in the range of EUR 59,000-65,000 per annum, and there is often reduced
taxation for applicants which have not lived and worked in Denmark for
the past 3 years.
The working environment is the Bioinformatics Research Center
(www.birc.au.dk), which has a strong emphasis on evolutionary analyses
and includes the research groups of Drs Thomas Mailund, Thomas Bataillon
and Asger Hobolth with whom there are extensive collaborations.
Informal inquiries are welcomed and should be sent to Mikkel Heide
Schierup at mheide@birc.au.dk. The application with CV, list of
publications and names of three referees should also be sent to
mheide@birc.au.dk preferably before July 7. Starting date is negotiable,
but the position is available immediately.