Expected duration of the contract: 18 months (subject to the funding
acceptance)
The European sturgeon Acipenser sturio is a species that collapsed
in the 20th century. Formerly abundant all around Europe from the
Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, there is currently still a genetically
impoverished population in the Gironde. This species is the subject
of a restoration program (captive stock and production of juveniles
for restocking). Since more than 20 years, IRSTEA (National research
institute of science and technology for environment and agriculture,
near Bordeaux) has conducted basic and applied research to preserve the
species. In particular, the experimental station at Saint Seurin Sur
Isle can produce tens of thousands of juveniles dedicated mainly for
stocking to restore the population in the wild.
It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of this method of
management. In particular, the differential survival of juveniles should
be tested according to several parameters: the stocked fry's family,
the release sites and other parameters to be discussed. To provide some
answers, a research subject trying to connect parent's origin to the
survival of juvenile sturgeon released is developed. This work requires a
microsatellite genotyping approach and the control of parentage softwares.
This program briefly presented will be proposed for funding by
IRSTEA.
We are looking for an applicant who holds a PhD in biology (genetics or
molecular biology specialties). The successful candidate will develop
the methods of molecular biology and chose the appropriate parentage
software amont several available ones, according to their characteristics
and applications. The primary goal is to determine the parents of young
sturgeon released into rivers and recaptured.
Expected skills
- Good practice of traditional methods of molecular biology;
- An understanding of population genetics and molecular genealogy
concepts;
- An ease to explore (operating principle, scope ...) and use several
statistical softwares;
- Flexibility to work in multiple teams, in a molecular biology
laboratory, with a computer, in the field;
- The ability to write scientific articles in international journals.
Project preparation will follow the following steps:
- Current October 2013: publication of the call for applications in
various media
- Early December ranking of the top 3 candidates
- During December: funding demand to IRSTEA
- If funding is granted, contract will start in March 2014
- contract period 18 months (10 months + additional 8 months conditional
on the submission of a publication after 10 months)
Environment of the postdoctoral contract can be described as
follows:
Workplace: Research Unit 'Estuarine ecosystem and diadromous fish ' IRSTEA
Cestas, main contact: Marie-Laure Acolas, researcher,
marie-laure.acolas@irstea.fr,
and Eric Rochard, unit director,
eric.rochard@irstea.fr)
Collaboration with 'Fish evolution ' team at ISEM (Montpellier
University), contact and team director: Patrick Berrebi
Patrick.Berrebi@univ-montp2.fr,
Montpellier stays are planned.
To apply, please send simultaneously to the three addresses above your CV
and a covering letter outlining how your skills coincide with the
qualifications for this position and your research motivation. Thank
you to specify your commitment to this project knowing that we can
not guarantee that the project will be funded before February 2014
(cancellations during the process is equivalent to failure because the
evaluation for funding is based on the couple research
subject/candidate).
Deadline for applications: December 2, 2013
