We are currently seeking two postdoctoral researchers interested in the molecular and evolutionary genetics of colonial invertebrate allorecognition. Allorecognition phenomena have long captured the attention of marine ecologists because they couple the mechanisms and outcomes of intraspecific competition, geneticists because of the allotypic diversity they support, evolutionary biologists because they control the level at which selection acts, and immunologists because they resemble the allogeneic interactions that characterize pregnancy and transplantation. Despite their ubiquity in colonial phyla, however, the molecular basis of allorecognition has, heretofore, not been identified outside the chordates. We have recently succeeded in using positional cloning to identify allorecognition complex encoding at least two loci controlling self-not self recognition in colonies of the hydroid Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus. Both loci are structural complex and encode highly divergent members of the immunoglobulin supergene family.
Two projects are available. The first involves functional characterization of allorecognition genes and their encoded proteins including the isolation of interacting proteins using yeast two-hybrid and biochemical methods. The second position will characterize natural structural and sequence variation of the allorecognition complex using high-throughput sequencing and genomic techniques. The latter project is expected to bear directly on the question of how variation in the system arises and is maintained. Opportunities are also present to participate in field studies and computational work.
The successful candidates will join a unique research team comprised of an invertebrate zoologist (Professor Leo Buss, Yale EEB), a molecular geneticist (Stephen Dellaporta. Yale MCDB) and a transplant immunologist (Fadi Lakkis, UPMC). The position will be based at Yale. Experience with molecular biology, genomics and proteomics is required. These positions are available immediately and will remain open until filled. Please send a cover letter outlining the reasoning for your interest in the project, a current CV, and contact information for 3 professional references to leo.bussyale.edu
Yale University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
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