E v o l D i r

December 1, 2012 EvolDir 33
Elizabeth Derryberry, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department
of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Tulane
University New Orleans, LA 70118 504-862-8285 (office)
504-862-8706 (fax) elizabethderryberry.tulane.edu
ederrybe@tulane.edu
UBerne BacterialGenomeEvolution
PhD position in bacterial genomic evolution
A PhD position will be available for 3 years at the University
of Berne to investigate the effect of range expansions
on the genomic diversity of bacteria.
Theoretical and simulation results suggest that spatially
expanding populations should accumulate nonneutral
mutations at a higher rate than stationary populations
through the mechanism of gene surfing. The
present research project aims at verifying these predictions
in bacteria.
We are looking for a very motivated PhD student to
perform and analyse the output of a series of experiments
with bacteria, measure their fitness at various
stages of their expansions, analyse the evolution of their
genome by Next Generation Sequencing, and study the
effects of the accumulated mutations. These analyses
will be done in close collaboration with Prof. Martin
Ackermann in ETH Zurich. The candidate is expected
to have a strong background in microbiology and a good
exposure to evolutionary concepts. Additional knowledge
in population genetics, bioinformatics and statistics
will be a plus.
The successful candidate will be able to further her/his
education by following courses organized by Swiss inter-
University doctoral programs in Population Genomics
and Bioinformatics. The gross starting salary is about
3,000 CHF per month (plus an additional 13th month)
and will follow the Swiss NSF progression scale. The
CMPG lab offers an international and very stimulating
research environment and it is affiliated to the Swiss
Institute of Bioinformatics. Berne is ideally located in
the middle of Switzerland and Europe, and provides
rich cultural and outdoor activities.
Please send before December 1 2012, an application
letter stating your motivation for the position, a CV,
and contact information of two references to laurent.excoffier@iee.unibe.ch.
Position start is expected
to be February 2013. People who have already applied
to a previous version of this announcement are discour-
aged to re-apply
Prof. Laurent Excoffier
– Laurent Excoffier
Computational and Molecular Population Genetics
(CMPG) Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University
of Bern 6, Baltzerstrasse, CH-3012 Bern,
Switzerland Tel: +41 31 631 30 31 Fax: +41
31 631 48 88 Email:laurent.excoffier@iee.unibe.ch
http://cmpg.iee.unibe.ch Computational Population
Genetics Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
(SIB) http://www.isb-sib.ch/groups/-
Computational Population Genetics.htm Laurent
Excoffier
UBerne HumanGenomics
PhD positions in human genomics
A PhD positions will be available for 3 years at the
University of Berne to investigate the effect of range
expansions on human non-neutral genomic diversity.
Theoretical and simulation results suggest that spatially
expanding populations should accumulate nonneutral
mutations at a higher rate than stationary populations
through the mechanism of gene surfing. The
present research project aims at verifying these predictions
in humans.
We are looking for a motivated PhD student to be involved
in the analysis of full exomes of human individuals
from a region of Québec known to have been
recently colonized and where gene surfing has been evidenced
(see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/-
6059/1148.abstract). He/she should be also involved in
the modeling and simulation of genomic regions under
selection, and thus have a good background in population
genomics or bioinformatics, and in statistics. Programming
abilities (e.g. R, C++) will be a plus for this
position.
The successful candidate will be able to further her/his
education by following courses organized by Swiss inter-
University doctoral programs in Population Genomics
and Bioinformatics. The gross starting salary is about
3,000 CHF per month (plus an additional 13th month)
and will follow the Swiss NSF progression scale. The
CMPG lab offers an international and very stimulating
research environment and it is affiliated to the Swiss
Institute of Bioinformatics. Berne is ideally located in
the middle of Switzerland and Europe, and provides