Oferta de doctorado para biólogos de bata que quieran colaborar desde el laboratorio en la conservación de gorilas de montaña

The Laboratory for infectious diseases common to humans and (non-human) primates based at the Institute of Vertebrate Biology Czech Academy of Sciences and University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Science Brno
is searching for a PhD candidate for highly ambitious topic with applications to conservation of critically endangered iconic mountain gorillas.

Title: Epidemiology of helminth infections in great apes with emphasis
on mountain gorillas in Virunga Massif in Rwanda

Background: In non-human primates gastrointestinal parasites are
typically asymptomatic, but habitat reduction and fragmentation can
alter the transmission and increase host susceptibility, which may
exacerbate the effects of infection. There is considerable concern that
in fragile or threatened non-human primate populations, these cascading
effects can significantly affect species survival. Due to effective
conservation efforts, the population of critically endangered mountain
gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) at Virunga has been steadily
increasing. Fast increase of the whole population and increase in the
home range overlap in particular can lead to elevated risks of changes
in pathogens' epidemiology.

Project: The student will investigate the dynamics of parasite-host
system and impact of parasites in several gorilla populations at
individual and population level and causal-effects events with focus on
mountain gorillas at Virunga in Rwanda . The study will benefit from
(i) complex sampling design conducted on Rwandan, Ugandan and Congolese
populations of mountain gorillas in collaboration with Mountain Gorilla
Veterinary Project and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and (ii)
our previous long-term research on western lowland gorillas, providing
extensive set of genomics/metagenomics data for planned statistical
analyses.

Funding: research costs and partial salary (in add to a governmental
stipend) covered by a grant by Czech Science Foundation.

Qualifications: Applicants with master degree in biological
orveterinary should have fair background in statistics, knowledge of
molecular methods and she/he is preferrably expected to have experience
in analyses of next-generation sequence data. Parasitological
background is advantageous. Previous experience with ape or non-human
primate research is not needed. We expect strong motivation and
commitment, willingness to quickly learn new methods, analytical
thinking, good communication skills and ability for both independent
and team-work. The successful candidate will participate in a PhD
program at Masaryk University in Brno (parasitology). The starting date
is fall 2018.

Important note: this is not a PhD with a strong field component, most
of the work is focused on laboratory and data analyses.

If interested, please, send (1) CV including a list of publications,
(2) motivation letter, and (3) contact details for 2 references to
Klara Petrzelkova (petrzelkova@ivb.cz) immediately, latest mid-May.

Mgr. Klara J. Petrzelkova, Ph.D.
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences
Kvetna 8
603 65 BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
phone:+420-543422549
fax:+420-543211346
http://www.ivb.cz
http://www.hpi-lab.com/en