PhD Adaptive potential of the Artic key stone species Polar cod in a changing oc

The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF) and funded by federal and state government. AWI focuses on polar and marine research in a variety of disciplines such as biology, oceanography, geology, geochemistry and geophysics thus allowing multidisciplinary approaches to scientific goals.

PhD Position "Adaptive potential of the Artic key stone species Polar cod in a changing ocean" (m/f/d)

Background

The Arctic Ocean is particularly affected by on-going climate change. Northward-directed shifts of boreal fish may affect native polar species like the Polar cod,

Boreogadus saida
, a key stone species in the food web. Increasing temperatures, ocean acidification and retreating sea ice may have adverse effects on physiological performance and resilience of Polar cod.

B. saida
became a model species for our integrative ecophysiological studies including early life stages, being most sensitive to prospected future climate conditions. A close link between phenotypic plasticity/adaptive traits and genotype variablility/selection deserves comprehensive studies to decipher the fate of this key species. Comparative transcriptomics in combination with DNA methylome analysis and metabolomics will reveal critical turning points during life cycle. Epigenetic patterns of essential functional traits in populations along climate clines are intended to elucidate, whether the adaptation potential of the species can keep up with the ongoing dramatic changes.

The position is part of our recruiting initiative AWI INSPIRES - INternational Science Program for Integrative Research in Earth Systems. AWI INSPIRES aims at strengthening our new research program “Changing Earth, Sustaining our Future”. Details about all open positions and the general application requirements can be found at

.

Tasks

You will

• Estimate acclimatory capacities/sensitivity towards combined treatments of relevant climate factors by means of global (RNA-Seq) and targeted (qPCR) gene expression techniques on the background of physiological performance parameters.
• Determine DNA methylation patterns and relate them to global gene expression of laboratory treated animals and animals from several wild populations/habitats sampled

in situ.

• Determine adaptive potential of specific populations during early life stages under specific climate treatments by means of combined transcriptomics, epigenetics and ecophysiological performance parameters.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or diploma in a relevant area of biology.
• Interest in investigation of ecophysiological research questions with modern molecular methods.
• Experiences in physiological, biochemical or molecular genetic investigations of animals:
• Desirable: Experience in transcriptomic expression analyses, DNA methylomics, sequence analyses and bioinformatics and/or experience with work on early life stages.
• Readiness to perform experiments on live animals and to participate in ship-based sampling campaigns.
• Excellent English language skills and enjoy working in an international and interdisciplinary team.

Further Information

For further information please contact
Dr. Magnus Lucassen
(
+49 471 4831 1340) or
Prof. Dr. Bettina Meyer
(
, +49 471 4831 1378
.
The position is limited to 3 years. The salary will be paid in accordance with the Collective Agreement for the Public Service of the Federation (Tarifvertrag des öffentlichen Dienstes, TVöD Bund), up to salary level

13 (66%)
. The place of employment will be
Bremerhaven.
All doctoral candidates will be members of AWI’s postgraduate program
and thus benefit from a comprehensive training program and extensive support measures.

This characterizes us

• our scientific success - excellent research.
• collaboration and cooperation - intra-institute, national and international, interdisciplinary.
• opportunities to develop – on the job, aiming at other positions and beyond AWI.
• a culture of reconciling work and family – audited, and even more than that.
• our outstanding research infrastructure – ships, stations, aircraft, laboratories and more.
• an international environment – everyday contacts with people from all over the world.
• having an influence – fundamental research with social and political relevance
• flat hierarchies – freedom and responsibility.
• exciting topics – also in technology, administration and infrastructure.

Equal opportunities are an integral part of our personnel policy and we encourage women to apply.
Disabled applicants will be given preference when equal qualifications are present. The AWI fosters the compatibility of work and family through various means. Because of our engagement in the area of work-life compatibility we have been awarded the certificate “Career and Family”.

We look forward to your application!

Please forward your application with letter of motivation explaining why you want to join one of our research areas, two letters of recommendation and a list of publications by

February 16
th
, 2020
exclusively online.
Selected candidates will be invited to present their research ideas and motivation during the “Annual recruitment days”, planned from 16 to 24 March 2020 in Bremerhaven, Germany.

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