ELFT HÍRADÓ

[Gergely J Szöllősi <sszolo AT gmail.com>]

ERC.2.EvolutionaryGenomics

Second call for postdocs in evolutionary genomics and phylogenomics are 
available to join the ERC 'GENECLOCKS' project 
(http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/207593_en.html) headed by Gergely 
Szollosi (http://ssolo.web.elte.hu) . Two positions are offered for 2 years 
with the possibility of extension up until the 2022 end date of the 
GENECLOCKS project. The position comes with a salary of up to EUR 43,200 per 
year (approx. up to EUR 2,400-2,900 net per month after taxes), as well as a 
travel and research funds.

We are looking for an individual who received his or her PhD preferably 
within the last six years, who is highly self-motivated and can work 
independently on a project that he or she will help develop in the context of 
GENECLOCKS. 

A central theme of GENECLOCKS is disclosing new sources of information for 
dating the first three-quarters of Earth's evolutionary history that are 
independent from both fossils and molecular clocks. Life's early history has 
remained terra incognita until now, because the fossils needed to calibrate 
standard evolutionary timescales are simply not available for microbial life. 
Microbial fossils are scarce and difficult to interpret in a phylogenetic 
context with confidence. In previous work we have shown that patterns of 
lateral gene transfer inferred from modern genomes encode a record of 
co-existing lineages throughout the history of life, and that we can use this 
record to reconstruct the relative ages of microbial groups from the three 
domains of life in deep time.

This discovery is a game changer for anyone interested in the history of 
life, from either a geological or genomic perspective. It demonstrates the 
existence of a new and abundant source of dating information that is 
inscribed in the genome of any organism, provided a gene transfer occurred in 
its ancestry. This constitutes the overwhelming majority of the diversity of 
life. 

Postdocs will undertake projects together with international collaborators 
with the goal of either i) developing new methods that systematically extract 
information on the pattern and timing of genomic evolution by explaining 
differences between gene trees, or ii) apply existing methods to resolve the 
timing of microbial evolution and its relationship to Earth history and 
answer long standing questions. Possible collaborations and associated 
projects include: 

Reconstructing a dated phylogeny of Bacteria in collaboration with Vincent 
Daubin at the LBBE in Lyon.

Developing and implementing bayesian methods for the species tree aware 
reconstruction of gene trees with Nicolas Lartillot at the LBBE in Lyon.

Reconstructing a dated phylogeny of Eukaryotes including their position 
within Archaea in collaboration with Tom Williams at the University of 
Bristol.

Developing and implementing new methods for species tree reconstruction in 
the context of hierarchical gene tree-species tree methods with Jens 
Lagergren at the Science for Life Laboratory in Stockholm.

Implementing and applying methods to include transfer derived relative age 
constraints in molecular clock estimates with Bastien Boussau at the LBBE in 
Lyon.

Developing novel gene tree-species tree reconciliation methods that model 
correlated gene histories with Eric Tannier at LBBE in Lyon. 

Research visits of up to several months are foreseen as part of potential 
collaborations.

To be considered, please send a single merged PDF to 
ssolo AT elte.hu
 that contains your CV including publication list, preferably with a link to 
your google scholar profile, academic transcripts, a statement of research 
interests (3 pages or less) as well as three academic references. Please 
include 'GENECLOCKS17' in the subject of your email. Applications will be 
considered until October 1st, 2017, or until the position is filled. The 
position is available from the fall or winter of 2017.

The research group is lead by Dr. Gergely Szollosi ( 
https://scholar.google.hu/citations?user=sPrYT-oAAAAJ ) and is hosted at 
Eotvos Universities Institute of Physics in Budapest. The Institute of 
Physics has been included in the Excellence Group of European Universities, 
and has achieved top placement in the number of citations, the number of ERC 
grants, the time available for PhD research and the gender balance of 
master's students in the CHE Excellence Ranking. Budapest is a vibrant 
capital city with exciting cultural life, a unique atmosphere and affordable 
living costs (cf. https://goo.gl/86II3s ).

Please direct any enquiries to Dr. Gergely Szollosi 
(ssolo AT elte.hu,
 http://ssolo.web.elte.hu).