PhD /postdoc in Computational Phylogenetics (Switzerland)

ZHAW Wädenswil, Switzerland

With the advent of new generation sequencing (NGS) bioinformatic methods
must keep pace to provide robust scalable solutions to analyse large
sets of molecular sequences. The evolutionary history of molecules is
described by a tree structure called phylogeny, which is inferred from
genomic sequences. Phylogenies are used for testing biological hypotheses
with applications ranging from medicine to ecology. Phylogeny inference
usually relies on an inferred alignment of homologous sequences,
which ' in turn ' relies on a guide-tree reflecting their ancestral
relationships. The goal is to address this apparent circularity so to
improve the reliability of phylogenetic analyses. Ideally alignment and
tree should be inferred jointly. For example, please see our recent
article: Maiolo M, Zhang X, Gil M, Anisimova M. "Progressive multiple
sequence alignment with indel evolution" BMC Bioinformatics. 2018 Sep
21;19(1):331. doi: 10.1186/s12859-018-2357-1.

In the context of the project funded by Swiss National Science Foundation,
we are looking for a suitable candidate for a PhD or a postdoc position,
depending on previous background and qualifications.

The successful candidate will work as part of Applied Computational
Genomics Team lead by Maria Anisimova at the Institute of Applied
Simulations, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW Wädenswil)
and will have a second affiliation to the University of Zurich.

The group is also part of Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, which
provides additional training and networking opportunities.

Group official ZHAW website:
https://www.zhaw.ch/de/lsfm/institute-zentren/ias/forschung/computational-genomics/

Profile requirements: Strong background in computational science,
algorithms, statistics, stochastic modeling or similar; Working knowledge
of C++ ; Some knowledge of phylogenetics and molecular evolution is
an advantage

To apply please send an email with the title JATI2 to
maria.anisimova@zhaw.ch

Your application should be in one pdf file including your CV, degree
certificates and a letter of motivation.