Assistant Professor
Universidade de São Paulo
Tenured Faculty position in Evo-Devo
The Department of Zoology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil invites applicants for a tenured appointment in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at the level equivalent to that of Assistant Professor (Professor Doutor). Candidates should have a strong research focus on the developmental mechanisms of phenotypic evolution. The candidate will be expected to establish and maintain an extramural-funded research laboratory and will have the opportunity to participate in the Department´s PhD program and both graduate and undergraduate teaching. Candidates should have a PhD recognized by the brazilian authorities or proof of request for such recognition and an adequate post-doctoral degree is highly recommended. For further information, please contact Prof Antonio Marques (marques@ib.usp.br)
The Department of Biology at Syracuse University (SU) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor position to support ongoing interests in epigenetics, chromatin, and small RNA biology at SU. We seek applicants who utilize biochemical, genetic, and/or genomic approaches to address chromatin- and/or small RNA-based mechanisms of epigenetic regulation within a developmental context such as, but not limited to, stem cell biology, cell-signaling, or cellular differentiation.
The successful candidate will occupy space in the Life Sciences Complex, a new research facility designed to support collaborative research. This position is part of the epigenetics research focus at SU. The successful candidate is expected to develop an independent, extramurally funded research program and will be expected to interact effectively with colleagues in Biology as well as with colleagues from other departments at SU, SUNY-Upstate Medical University, and SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The successful candidate will also be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses and develop new courses as appropriate to his/her expertise and the needs of the Department of Biology. Competitive salary, start-up funds, and laboratory space will be provided. Candidates must have a PhD in any area of biology relevant to this search and productive postdoctoral research experience.
For full consideration applicants must complete an online application at www.sujobopps.com , (#028464) and attach the following documents. Please send documents as follows: FILE 1 – a cover letter outlining the candidate’s qualifications, a 2-3 page statement of research experience, interests and philosophy, a curriculum vitae, and contact information for three professional references to provide letters of recommendation. FILE 2 – recent publication #1. FILE 3 – recent publication #2.
Review of applications will begin December 5, 2011. For questions, please e-mail Eleanor Maine, Chair of the Search Committee, emmaine@syr.edu.
Syracuse University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer; qualified women and minority candidates are especially encouraged to apply.
THE MAMMALIAN GENETICS AND DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
A meeting of the Genetics Society
Venue: UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH
Date: November 17th 2011.
Organisers: Nick Greene, Andrew Ward & Andrew Copp
The Mammalian Genetics and Development Workshop is an annual meeting covering any aspects of the genetics and development of mammals. Meetings are based on the submitted abstracts, and usually include diverse topics ranging from early mammalian development (not exclusively human or mouse), imprinting and identification of disease genes to human population genetics and association studies. In recent years, presentations on other model systems (such as chick and zebrafish) have also been included where these relate to general developmental questions or disease models.
The meeting is traditionally a venue for post-docs and PhD students to talk rather than laboratory heads and so is an excellent training ground and a friendly, informal forum.
Registration
A £10 registration fee is payable by all attendees on arrival at the meeting. This fee entitles registrants to attend all of the scientific sessions, and to receive the abstract booklet plus tea and
coffee refreshments on both days. Speakers and chairpersons will be provided with lunch, free of charge, on the day of their presentation. Other participants will be expected to make their own arrangements for lunch. There will also be a wine reception on the first day of the meeting.
Abstract Submission
All Workshop presentations will be in lecture format . If you would like to present a paper at the Workshop at this year’s meeting, please e-mail your abstract to the following address: mgd.workshop@ich.ucl.ac.uk by Friday 4th Nov*, specifying your preference for a 15 or 30 min slot. *Due to the late notice there will be some leeway on this closing date for readers of the Node provided you let us know your abstract is coming!
With the authors’ permission, abstracts will be published in Genetical Research.
After the interview with Ottoline Leyser was posted last week, a discussion on Twitter focussed on the last part of the interview, about parenting.
That interview question referred to a little booklet Leyser published a few years ago, after winning the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award in 2007. The book, called “Mothers in Science: 64 ways to have it all” features interviews with mothers who have managed to maintain a career in science while raising children. (Here is a link to the PDF on the Royal Society website.) In the booklet, all featured scientists have a page with a timeline showing the important events in their career and family life. They’re all unique stories, because every situation is different.
When I wanted to address the ensuing Twitter discussion (which you can read in the Storify embedded below) I thought I could add a poll to ask how other people have managed to combine their career with children, or perhaps to ask how others have failed to do so. But I quickly realised that there is no question I could possibly ask for which the answer can be reduced to a set of multiple choice answers. The possible answers would need to include all combinations of which family members are scientists, what the other partner’s job is, the age difference between parents (e.g. one is a postdoc, one a PI), working hours, who took the main child-rearing responsibilities or whether there is a balance, gender, which country you’re in, competition in the field of research, how close together the kids are, and much, much more.
Even a quick show of hands, just to ask who has children or not, would be meaningless if it didn’t account for gender, age, career stage, country, family situation, and desire to even have children in the first place.
So there is no poll. There is no poll because clearly there isn’t one clear-cut problem, and because there is not just one type of family unit.
What Ottoline Leyser’s book did is showcase a group of women who all managed to combine a family with a career in their own way. It’s an example to show that it can be done, but it’s not a collection of recipes for success. Each case really is different, and this Twitter discussion between @fishscientist and @David_S_Bristol tells a different story. (Text continues after the embedded file.)
So are there solutions? One promising step was made last week in the UK, when the Research Excellence Framework (REF) announced that “UK funding bodies have taken an early decision on the arrangements for taking account of maternity leave in the REF. … researchers may reduce the number of outputs in a submission by one, for each period of maternity leave taken during the REF period.”
That doesn’t help most of you, but it positively affects the career progress of a few mothers, and at least changes their stories.
If you have your own story to add, please leave a comment, as a poll was just too complicated….
What was new on the Node this month? Here are a few of the highlights from October:
MacArthur genius grant for Yukiko Yamashita
Sasha Terashima interviewed Yukiko Yamashita, one of this year’s MacArthur Fellows. The MacArthur foundation hands out “genius grants” of half a million dollars to a select group of people in all areas of arts, science, and humanities. There is no application process, and recipients are free to choose what they do with the money. Half a million out of the blue, with no strings attached – how would you react if you got that phone call?
“When Yukiko received the phone call informing her about being selected and asking her asking her not to discuss it with anyone except her spouse until the official announcement, she had a hard time believing that it was not a scam. “I called my husband right after I hung up my phone call with the foundation and [he] seriously warned me that ‘if you get a second phone call asking your bank account and pin number, so that they can transfer the award money, don’t give it to them.’” “
Academic teaching
If you teach plant science courses, make sure to have a look at Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. In the comments, Mary Williams give some additional advice.
Meanwhile, Lucia Prieto Godino travelled to Uganda to coordinate a course on insect neuroscience and Drosophila neurogenetics. The course members are graduate students and Junior Faculty from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and in the course they will learn how to effectively use insects to teach or do research in neuroscience. In a later post, Lucia updated us on the course progress after the first few weeks.
One student in the course explains the experiment on olfactory choice in Drosophila that his group performed the day before.
Meetings, Jobs, and more Interviews:
– The entire Company of Biologists Workshop on Growth, Division and Differentiation is covered in a series of posts from the meeting.
– Several PhD and postdoc positions have been posted on the jobs page.
– Interviews with Development Editors Gordon Keller and Ottoline Leyser were reposted on the Node. The interview with Ottoline Leyser sparked a lively discussion on Twitter – more about that later today!
It’s that time of the month again, when we upload the desktop calendar for next month. This time an image that you may remember from April – either from the contest on the Node or from the pub quiz at the BSDB meeting.
It’s a sea biscuit during metamorphosis from larval to adult stage. This image, taken by Bruno Vellutini of the Marine Biology Center of University of São Paulo, was the runner up in the Intersection Image Competition held earlier this year.
Visit the calendar page to select the resolution you need for your screen. The page will be updated at the end of each month with a new image, and all images are chosen from either the intersection image contest or from the images we’ve featured from the Woods Hole Embryology 2010 course.
We have now finished the first two weeks of the course. Over these two weeks the students have learned about Drosophila as a model organism and how to set-up a Drosophila lab. They have learn about the genetics of Drosophila, which took quite some time, but now I am sure it is almost like their mother tongue. They have also learned basics concepts in neuroscience, such as the nature of neural impulse, and basic concepts on how neurons work to produce adaptive behaviors. During the practicals among other things they have learned how to do muscle recordings of neuronal activity with inexpensive amplifiers. They have recorded from the legs and wing muscles of grasshoppers (see picture 1)! and observed under the microscope a multitude of different insects, which all together helped them to appreciate in the practice the nature of the neural impulse and the diversity of sensory and motor systems used by insects.
Picture 1. Improvised set-up for recording activity of flight muscles in locust
The students also now know how to collect virgins for their fly crosses, and how to dissect brains out of Drosophila larvae, and look at them under the fluorescent microscope. We have managed to install a webcam on the fluorescent microscope, so that the students can take pictures of the fluorescent preparations that they look under the microscope. The images resulting from this system are actually much better than we expected (see picture 2).
Picture 2. We have attached a regular webcam to the camera port of our Leica fluorescent microscope. The resulting images are surprinsingly good. At the bottom right of this panel you can see a picture of a Drosophila larvae which expresses dsRed in all cholinergic neurons. At the very front (top in the picutre) olfactory and taste sensory neurons are visible, it is also possible to see mechanosensory neurons along the surface of the larvae, which project their axons to the brain, which appears very bright at the centre of the picture.
The students have learned about mechanosensory, chemosensory, visual and motor systems during the theoretical lectures, and they have looked at the wild type behaviours of flies and other big insects during the practical sessions (see picture 3).
Picture 3. One student explains the rest the experiment on olfactory choice in Drosophila that his group performed the day before
They have also performed inexpensive cutting-edge neurogenetic experiments on genetically modified larvae. It is being intense but the effort is worthwhile, now they are ready for the lab work of the last week, during which they will need to apply everything they have learned!
From early 2012, a PhD studentship and a postdoctoral position are available in the Panfilio lab (in Cologne, Germany) to investigate morphogenesis of the insect extraembryonic membranes. As protective covers for the embryo, these simple epithelia are a defining feature of the insects and have been linked to their evolutionary success. However, in order to protect the embryo without obstructing later development, the membranes perform an array of morphogenetic movements as they develop to cover and later withdraw from the embryo. The aim of the research is to understand: (1) how extraembryonic morphogenesis works at multiple levels of biological organization, and (2) how conserved morphogenesis is across species. Research will be conducted in species that represent the two main modes of extraembryonic development and that are amenable to standard developmental genetics techniques as well as live imaging analyses (the beetle Tribolium castaneum and the bug Oncopeltus fasciatus).
Successful applicants will have a strong interest in studying cell shape changes in the context of tissue reorganization, and in doing so from a comparative perspective. Candidates with a degree in cell and developmental biology or related fields are encouraged to apply. The working language of the lab is English, and strong oral and written communication skills are required. PhD candidates must be in possession of a master’s degree or the equivalent before commencing this work. Postdoctoral candidates must have completed the PhD degree. Additionally, the postdoctoral candidate will have a track record of successfully completing research projects, as demonstrated by at least one first author publication. Required skills include standard developmental genetics techniques associated with RNAi, tissue staining, and light microscopy. Experience with electron microscopy, protein expression, transgenic line production, and/ or quantitative analyses of (live) imaging data is desired.
The lab is based in the Institute for Developmental Biology, University of Cologne (home page), and has active research and collaboration links with other developmental, evolutionary, and insect labs. With one million inhabitants, Cologne is an international, vibrant city that is well connected within western Europe. Salaries are paid according to the standard German pay scale for the public sector (TV-L E13, 50%/ 100%), and include health insurance and other social benefit contributions. The Ph.D. position is for three years. The postdoctoral position is for one year in the first instance and is renewable for at least a second year. The University of Cologne is an equal opportunity employer in compliance with the German disability laws. Women and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
To apply for either position, please send a statement of research interest, curriculum vitae, and contact details (e-mail address and phone number) for two references as a single PDF file to Kristen.Panfilio[at]alum.swarthmore.edu. Informal enquiries to further discuss the positions are welcome. All applications will be considered until 10 December 2011.
The Research Associate will work in the MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics within the Department of Biomedical Science. The department has an active community of researchers specialising in different aspects of developmental biology. You will take part in a project aiming to understand how cell proliferation is temporally integrated with digit patterning during vertebrate limb development. For further information, see Towers, Nature 452, 882; Towers, Development 136, 179; and Towers, Nature Communications 2, 426. The project is expected to branch into areas including stem cell biology and regeneration.
http://cdbg.shef.ac.uk/research/towers/
Candidates should have a PhD in vertebrate developmental biology or equivalent experience. You should have proven experience in using the mouse and/or the chick as model systems and in molecular biology methods, including in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Experience in protein biochemistry, confocal microscopy and FACS analysis is desirable. Candidates are expected to have excellent written and verbal communication skills, for example shown by a record of peer reviewed publications and presentations at international scientific meetings. Dr Matthew Towers manages this post and the project, which is funded by the Medical Research Council. The post is available from 1 January 2012 for a fixed period of 36 months.
Apply for the job online at the University of Sheffield vacancies page.
Job Reference Number: UOS003508
Job Title: Post-doctoral Research Associate
Contract Type: Fixed-term, available from 1 January 2012 for a period of 3 years
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Division of Developmental Biology, MRC-NIMR. Funding is available for 2 years from the Simon’s Foundation, an international sponsor of autism research, for a project led by Drs John Jacob and James Briscoe. The successful candidate will build on prior genetic approaches in autism by investigating the molecular pathology of abnormal development of critical neuronal groups in the brainstem in autism. This will involve in vivo analysis of a mouse genetic model of autism, as well as proteomic approaches and yeast two hybrid screens. A strong background in molecular biology techniques will be essential for successful completion of this project. Candidates should hold a PhD in a relevant discipline.
MRC-NIMR provides a supportive and collaborative environment, comprising state-of-the-art imaging and mass spectrometry, high throughput sequencing and computational facilities, FACS, and excellent transgenic fish, frog and mouse facilitates. The research infrastructure is complemented by an exciting seminar programme, career development training opportunities, sports and leisure facilities and an active postdoctoral researchers’ forum.
Applications should include a cover letter, full Curriculum Vitae and the names and addresses of three referees (attached as one document).
Applications are handled by the RCUK Shared Services Centre; to apply please visit our job board at https://ext.ssc.rcuk.ac.uk and complete an online application form. Applicants who would like to receive this advert in an alternative format (e.g. large print, Braille, audio or hard copy), or who are unable to apply online should contact us by telephone on 01793 867003, Please quote reference number IRC*****.
Closing date: 10th November 2011
The MRC is an Equal Opportunities Employer
Final appointments will be subject to a pre employment screening
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Sasha Terashima 
It’s a sea biscuit during metamorphosis from larval to adult stage. This image, taken by Bruno Vellutini of the Marine Biology Center of University of São Paulo, was the runner up in the 
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