[HELICONIUS] 2-year Postdoc - Evolutionary genomics of Heliconius - Natural History Museum, Paris

[Mathieu Joron]

Dear all

We have a 2-year postdoc position open to work in our lab on the 
genomics of wing-pattern adaptation and hybridization in Heliconius.

The general aim is to decipher the evolution of inversion polymorphism 
and the role of hybridization in wing-pattern adaptation, as well as to 
start understanding the functional basis of allele expression and 
dominance at a wing-patterning "supergene".

The reserach will include a combination of wetlab and analysis of 
genomic and transcriptomic datasets, and the postdoc will work in close 
collaboration with our team here and at our field station in Peru. Any 
enthusiastic evolutionary biologist with original ideas at the interface 
between evolutionary genomics, population biology, and natural history 
is encouraged to apply.

Below please find the advert posted on Evoldir a few weeks ago.
We set the deadline at the end of next week (28 Feb) so we will start 
reviewing applications then.

Interested people should get in touch with us as soon as possible.
Pease do not hesitate to contact us for more details and to distribute 
to people around you.

Mathieu Joron (joron at mnhn.fr)
Violaine Llaurens (llaurens at mnhn.fr)
Insitute of Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity
http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/joron
http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/violaine-llaurens


> Postdoctoral position in the genomics of adaptation at the Natural History
> Museum in Paris
>
> A two-year postdoc is available for an independent, creative and motivated
> post-doc to work on the genomics of adaptation and hybridization in mimetic
> butterflies. The postdoc will work with Violaine Llaurens and Mathieu Joron
> at the Institute of Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity at the National
> Museum of Natural History in Paris (France).
>
> Our group is interested in the ecological and genetic changes associated
> with adaptive wing color patterns in Heliconius butterflies. We are
> particularly interested in genomic architectures and the formation of a
> supergene controlling a spectacular wing pattern polymorphism associated
> with mimicry in the species Heliconius numata. This supergene is
> characterized by complex inversion polymorphism forming long haplotypic
> blocks, and a dominance hierarchy of alleles. This adaptive architecture
> appears to have evolved in response to selection for multiple mimicry forms,
> but how the variants corresponding to accurate mimetic phenotypes
> differentiate is still a puzzle. Processes such as ancestral polymorphism,
> large size mutations, or introgression may be involved, and some seem to be
> supported by our currently available resequence and transcriptome datasets.
> Our project aims at understanding the evolutionary origins and the
> functional basis of this genetic architecture in this lineage and how this
> relates to closely-related species. The postdoc will be in charge of
> developing population genomics approaches towards the dissection of the
> history of inversion polymorphism and recombination in H. numata and close
> allies, and transcriptomic/expression analyses to understand the functional
> basis of supergene expression.
>
> Butterflies in the genus Heliconius have become a prominent group of insects
> for evolutionary genomics, with a rich evolutionary radiation, a reference
> genome, and vigorous collaboration between labs within the Heliconius
> consortium (www.heliconius.org). This project, funded by a grant from the
> Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), will provide ample opportunity for
> the postdoc to develop his/her own original research ideas.
>
> Candidate profile: A Phd in evolutionary biology, with a strong interest in
> population genomics. Experience with whole genome or transcriptome datasets
> would be appreciated.
>
> Income and Starting Date: Net salary will be around 2500 euros net per
> months, depending on experience. Starting date in the spring 2014 is desired
> but is negotiable.
>
> Application deadline: Send us a CV and a cover letter, and the names of two
> references by 28th February 2014 to the following addresses: joron at mnhn.fr
> and llaurens at mnhn.fr
>
> More information:
>
> http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/joron
>
> http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/violaine-llaurens
>
> http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/mathieu-joron



-- 
Mathieu Joron

Institut de Systématique, Evolution, et Biodiversité
UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
CP50, 45 Rue Buffon, 75005, Paris

Tel: 0033-(0)1-40-79-80-92
Mob: 0033-(0)6-28-28-11-88
Fax: 0033-(0)1-40-79-33-42
http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/joron