Mots-Clés
Genome Assembly
Comparative Genomics
Nematodes
Description
We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow (PDF) to work on the generation and analysis of nematode genome sequences, and to carry out a programme of research exploring the evolution and adaptation of nematodes.
Nematodes are ubiquitous, abundant and speciose. The phylum includes many parasites of human, veterinary and plant health importance. Free-living members often dominate sediments and soils, and play key roles in ecology. The model nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, is a preeminent biological model organism. We are interested in describing and exploring the patterns and processes that shape nematode genomes, and in using genomic data to interrogate the evolution of parasitism and other traits.
Using advanced sequencing toolkits, including single-specimen protocols, we plan to generate many 100’s of nematode genomes–chromosomally complete wherever possible–from species in laboratory culture, from species isolated from wild or farmed hosts (animal and plant) and from single individuals identified from marine and terrestrial sediments.
The PDF will be part of a team focussed on nematodes, and will participate in specimen acquisition and preparation for sequencing, but will have a main focus on assembling raw data into chromosomally-complete genomes and on analysing the biology of those genomes. For example, many nematode species undergo programmed DNA elimination, meaning that the genomes of somatic cells differ from that of the germline. This process is biologically fascinating but has the side effect of making genome assembly entertainingly difficult.
Researchers in the Blaxter group, part of the Tree of Life programme, work on a range of taxa, from protists to metazoa, with overarching goals of linking genomic diversity to phylogenetic diversity, and understanding the drivers of and constraints on genomic change. The group is intensely collaborative, with shared questions that we explore in different groups of species. We develop toolkits for our work that we share openly with others, and provide data platforms to support dissemination of our work. The PDF will be embedded in this supportive and dynamic environment to produce significant work of wide impact.
see https://www.sanger.ac.uk/person/blaxter-mark/ and https://www.sanger.ac.uk/group/blaxter-group/
The Tree of Life programme as a whole is dedicated to biodiversity genomics, with faculty-driven research and several major core projects delivering and analysing reference genomes from protists, plants, fungi and animals, with skilled wet lab and informatics teams for extraction, sequencing, assembling, and curating genomes. The Institute too is intensely collaborative, and postdocs in particular benefit from an active postdoc community, with training, seminars and mutual aid over beers and pizza.
see https://www.sanger.ac.uk/programme/tree-of-life/