POST DOCTORAL POSITION: PROTIST MOLECULAR EVOLUTION/GENOMICS

A two-year post-doctoral position in the molecular evolution of protistan eukaryotes is available immediately, at Dalhousie University, Canada. The project will involve the production and analysis of EST libraries from free-living protists potentially related to the ???deep-branching??? anaerobes Giardia and Trichomonas. This will include multi-gene analysis of organismal phylogeny, analysis of lateral transfer events, and the identification of mitochondrial-targeted genes.

The successful applicant will work on collaborative research involving the laboratories of Andrew Roger (Dept. Biochemistry) and Alastair Simpson (Dept. Biology), through the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) Program in Evolutionary Biology. See below for some relevant publications.

Applicants will need extensive research experience with laboratory molecular biology and experience with molecular phylogenetics and/or bioinformatics. They will have a strong publication record in international journals. A demonstrated interest in protist evolution would be an asset.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to interact with world-class phylogenomicists and bioinformaticians at Dalhousie University involved in the CIAR Program and Genome Atlantic. Dalhousie University is the premier research university in maritime Canada, and was judged the best institution outside the US for postdoctoral researchers in a recent survey (The Scientist magazine).

Please send a C.V. and contact details for two references to: Alastair Simpson Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 4J1, N.S., Canada
Fax: 1 902 494 3736
Email: alastair.simpson[AT]dal.ca.

by August 30th 2004

Some Relevant Publications:

SIMPSON, A.G.B. and ROGER, A.J. (2004) Protein phylogenies robustly resolve the deep-level relationships within Euglenozoa. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evoluton 30: 201-212

SIMPSON, A.G.B. MacQuarrie, E.K., and ROGER, A.J. (2002) Early origin of canonical introns. Nature 419: 270

SIMPSON, A.G.B. and ROGER, A.J. (2002) Eukaryotic evolution: Getting to the root of the problem. Current Biology 12: 691-693.

SIMPSON, A.G.B., ROGER A.J. et al. (2002) Evolutionary history of ???early diverging??? eukaryotes: The excavate taxon Carpediemonas is closely related to Giardia. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19: 1782-1791.

Baldauf, S.L., ROGER, A.J., Wenk-Siefert, I and Doolittle, W.F. (2000) A kingdom level phylogeny of eukaryotes based on combined protein data. Science 290, 972-977