Huye del frío y vete 3 meses a Panamá a estudiar comportamiento de mariposas

The Evolution of Brains and Behaviour (EBAB) Lab
(http://shmontgomery.co.uk/index.html) at the University of Bristol, UK
is seeking a field assistant to help with developmental and behavioural
studies of Heliconius butterflies at the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute (STRI) in Gamboa, Panama. The successful candidate will spend
approximately three months in Panama, beginning in mid-January 2020. The
position is open to all students with a background in zoology and interest
in animal behaviour or neurobiology.

Heliconius butterflies exhibit a marked expansion of the mushroom body,
a region of the insect brain associated with learning and memory, being
3-4 times larger than in other Lepidoptera, including closely related
Heliconiini genera. The EBAB Lab is investigating both the developmental
basis and behavioural consequences of this expansion through developmental
timeseries of neural tissue and behavioural experimentation across both
Heliconius and non-Heliconius Heliconiini species.

The primary responsibilities of the field assistant will be to maintain
stock butterfly populations and rear caterpillars. There will also be
opportunities to collect wild butterflies from surrounding forests, assist
with behavioural experiments on long-term memory and learn to perform
insect brain dissections and lab protocols for next-generation sequencing
approaches. This is an excellent opportunity for a recent graduate to
gain experience in lab work, experimental design and field collecting.

Dates: starting and finishing dates are flexible, but ideally the
successful candidate will be available for three months, beginning in
mid-January 2020.

Funding: the successful applicant will receive 800 USD per month, which
comfortably covers living costs while in Panama. STRI requires that
all researchers have health insurance, this is not provided but can be
purchased through STRI at the applicant¢s cost. Financial assistance
with air travel to and from Panama will be available if required.

Accommodation: application can be made for accommodation through STRI
or arranged privately. Accommodation costs are approximately 250-300 USD
per month. Gamboa is a small town, with all facilities within comfortable
walking distance.

Interested applicants should have training in zoology or a related
field, and should send a CV and brief statement of research interests
to Fletcher Young (fletcherjyoung@gmail.com) and Laura Hebberecht
(laurahebberecht@gmail.com). Applicants will be interviewed via Skype
in mid-November 2019.

Applications will close 10 November 2019.