Application deadline: anytime from now till April/May 2024 (the selection will start in March and will continue until the suitable candidate is found, so the earlier you apply the better)

Start date: negotiable (1st July 2024 – 1st January 2025)

Duration: 2 years with possibility for extension

Location: Department of Zoology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, EU

Research group: http://www.fishevo.com/

We are searching for a motivated candidate with interest and experience in molecular and evolutionary genomic approaches to reveal the secrets of how fish see in the deep sea. The project focuses on evolution of the visual sensory system in fishes, including genomics, regulation of expression, and single-cell transcriptomics in the selected species with extreme sensory adaptations. The successful candidate will join the Fish Evolution research group of Zuzana Musilova at Charles University in Prague.

We offer:

– an international research group with the ERC funding located in an inspiring historical city

– a competitive salary way-exceeding the average for the Prague city

– possibility to participate at international conferences and our collaborations

We seek:

– a candidate with motivation and enthusiasm for biology, nature and science willing to do research on deep-sea fishes

– a candidate with experience in the fields of evolutionary genomics, transcriptomics, or evo-devo field and with bioinformatics (the candidate is expected to work independently on the genomic architecture and gene regulation including analysis of the single-cell RNA and ATAC-seq data; generally the candidate should be able to adapt the analytical pipelines in case (s)he has no previous experience with this type of data)

– a candidate with a PhD degree in biology or related fields (or to be finished before starting the position)

The project:

Deep-sea fish have evolved extreme adaptations to their environment. In several deep-sea fish lineages, a novel visual system with unknown mechanism has been discovered (https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aav4632) and the current project funded by the ERC Consolidator grant focuses on species with multiple rhodopsins, something very unusual for vertebrates. The main goal is to get more instight into the mechanism this visual system can work in selected (=most extreme) candidate species. We will use single-cell RNA seq to get cone and rod cell identity. We will use the single-cell ATAC-seq to study regulation, and we will search the whole genome for the actual architecture of multiple gene copies. While the focus is mainly on molecular evolution, we generally aim to interpret cool stories out of our findings mainly in the context of the evolution, fishes, and their life. The candidate is expected to present about his/her project at international conferences and will be authoring research publications. All nations applicable.

All questions and applications (CV + half-page motivation letter + contact details for two persons who can be asked for a reference) should be sent directly to Zuzana Musilova (zuzmus[AT]gmail.com or zuzana.musilova[AT]natur.cuni.cz)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR APPLICATION:-)

PS: There is also a PhD position call in a separate post