Postdoctoral Position

Postdoctoral Grant in Genome Bioinformatics.

Postdoctoral project: Genome analysis of a degenerate asexual
tetraploid
– the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga

Selection of candidates for a postdoctoral grant to submit to the
Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) by Sept. 15th 2009.
This FNRS-sponsored postdoctoral position is requested by Karine Van
Doninck (University of Namur – FUNDP, Belgium) together with the
postdoctoral candidate to participate in the project on the
forthcoming
availability by Genoscope of the first assembled whole genome sequence
of the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga.

Rotifers of Class Bdelloidea are remarkable in having evolved for
millions of years, apparently without males and meiosis and therefore
termed an "evolutionary scandal" by John Maynard Smith. Sequencing the
genome of the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga will make it the first
representative of the Phylum Rotifera and of the early branching
triploblasts to which it belongs. The availability of their genome
sequence will also facilitate further tests investigating the genomic
consequences of long-term evolution without meiosis and confirm their
status of degenerate tetraploid.

The genome sequencing project of A.vaga has started and therefore a
researcher with a strong background in Bioinformatics and in genomics
is
requested to start in January 2010. The postdoctoral candidate will
work
with Karine Van Doninck at the University of Namur (Belgium) and
Olivier
Jaillon at the Genoscope – CEA (Paris, France) and will participate in
the interpretation of the annotated genome, especially with respect to
the evolutionary and biological characteristics of bdelloid rotifers.

The FRFC Belgian non-taxable postdoctoral fellowship can be for 2 or 3
years with a maximum salary of 37.000 euro/year.
To be eligible the candidate should have the following
characteristics:
- did not reside or work in Belgium during 24 months the last 3 years
- obtained his PhD less then 6 years ago
- has a strong publication record

Recent publications include:
Van Doninck K, Mandigo ML, Hur JH, Wang P, Guglielmini J, Milinkovitch
MC, Lane WS, Meselson M. Phylogenomics of unusual histone H2A Variants
in Bdelloid rotifers.
PLoS Genet. 2009 Mar;5(3).

Hur JH, Van Doninck K, Mandigo ML, Meselson M. Degenerate tetraploidy
was established before bdelloid rotifer families diverged.
Mol Biol Evol. 2009 26:375-83.

Mark Welch DB, Mark Welch JL, Meselson M. Evidence for degenerate
tetraploidy in bdelloid rotifers. 2008
Proc Natl Acad Sci 105:5145-9.

Jaillon O. et al. Translational control of intron splicing in
eukaryotes.
Nature. 2008 Jan 17;451(7176):359-62.

Jaillon O. et al.
The grapevine genome sequence suggests ancestral hexaploidization in
major angiosperm phyla.
Nature. 2007 Sep 27;449(7161):463-7.

Aury JM et al. Global trends of whole-genome duplications revealed
by
the ciliate Paramecium
tetraurelia.
Nature. 2006 Nov 9;444(7116):171-8.

If you have further questions concerning this position, please contact
Karine Van Doninck (kvand...@fundp.ac.be).
Interested candidates should email a letter of application, its
curriculum vitae including a brief description of recent research, and
the names, email addresses and telephones of three references by
September 3rd, 2009 to Karine Van Doninck (kvand...@fundp.ac.be) and
Olivier Jaillon (ojail...@genoscope.cns.fr).

--
Magali Michaut, PhDhttp://baderlab.org/MagaliMichaut