BACKGROUND

Project title: Development of new computational strategies for identifying genomic regions which have undergone adaptive divergence between populations.

As partially isolated populations each adapt, under natural selection, to their local environmental conditions, so the genotype composition of these populations will diverge at regions of the genome which contribute to these local adaptations. Thus the process of adaptive divergence leaves a genetic signature which it is sometimes possible to detect (in outcrossing species at least) against the noisy background of divergence generated by mutation and random drift. There is a need for improved Bayesian methods to make the best use of the information provided by genotype data from multiple populations in order to identify these genomic regions.

REQUIREMENTS:
BSc or MSc in bioinformatics, statistics, genetics or related field.

TERMS:
This is a BBSRC CASE Studentship. BBSRC studentships are only available to UK nationals and some EU/EEA nationals. For full details of BBSRC eligibility criteria please visit the above link.

LOCALE:
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK.

COMPENSATION:
14,800 British pounds

HOW TO APPLY:
For further information, including application procedure, visit http://www.rothamsted.bbsrc.ac.uk (click on Careers/PhD Studentships).

DEADLINE:
Friday 10 February 2006.