From listmaster animalgenome.org Wed Jun 12 08:26:14 2019
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From: Jean-Luc Jannink <jeanluc.workgmail.com>
Postmaster: submission approved by list moderator
To: Members of AnGenMap <angenmapanimalgenome.org>
Subject: Post Doctoral Position in Statistical Genetics of
Sugar Kelp Improvement
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 08:26:14 -0500
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is a pioneer of purpose-driven
science and home to Cornell University’s second largest population of
students, faculty and staff. We work across disciplines to tackle the
challenges of our time through world-renowned research, education and
outreach. The questions we probe and the answers we seek focus on three
overlapping concerns: natural and human systems; food, energy and
environmental resources; and social, physical and economic well-being.
The position is in the lab of Jean-Luc Jannink, Section of Plant Breeding
and Genetics at Cornell, and is part of a large ARPA-E grant to develop
open-ocean grown sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima). Saccharina latissima is
a brown algae or kelp. It is phylogenetically distant from both plants and
animals, having diverged from green algae early in the evolution of
eukaryotes. The project will explore its genome, the population history of
New England sugar kelp, and take advantage of its biphasic lifecycle to
rapidly domesticate it using cutting edge genomic selection methods.
The Section of Plant Breeding & Genetics, within the School of Integrative
Plant Sciences, trains interdisciplinary scientists in the elaboration of
new breeding methods, the discovery of genetic mechanisms important for
economically important traits, and the development of genetic stocks,
germplasm, and varieties. Cornell University plant breeders are world
leaders in innovative plant breeding research, teaching, and extension, and
we collaborate globally.
The Jannink lab works with several crop species (wheat, oat, barley,
cassava, and kelp) to develop new genomic prediction methods and integrate
them optimally within breeding schemes. Many researchers are active in this
area. We work together to discover, build on, and share new ideas and tools
from across computational disciplines that lead to successful applied
breeding outcomes.
The postdoc will collaborate with scientists at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, the University of Connecticut, and the HudsonAlpha
Institute for Biotechnology. We are a team discovering together how to
address a range of challenges from evaluating many unique genotypes in
common gardens, to isolating high molecular weight DNA in kelp, to
designing breeding schemes around the kelp life cycle. Primary tasks for
the postdoc include the bioinformatic analysis of a large panel of
resequenced haploid kelp gametophytes to identify variants, use the panel
as an imputation reference population, and estimate important population
genetic parameters of New England sugar kelp. Individuals from this panel
have been mated and their sporophyte progeny are being evaluated off the
Massachusetts and New Hampshire coasts by collaborators. The postdoc will
be the team's expert resource on bioinformatics and quantitative genetic
questions. The postdoc will analyze data from experiments for genome wide
association between variants and multiple phenotypes, for the training of
genomic prediction models, and for estimating parameters of kelp population
and quantitative genetics. Based on these analyses, the postdoc will select
among newly-generated gametophytes genotyped by low-depth skim sequencing.
Finally, the postdoc will design and analyze validation field experiments
measuring the performance of progeny sporophytes. Further possibilities for
the data include research on linear models to predict heterosis and the
identification of evolutionary conservation and signatures of selection in
the sugar kelp genome.
Term is one year renewable for an additional year contingent on performance.
To apply, please see: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/13834
--
Jean-Luc Jannink
USDA-ARS, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health
Phone: +1 607 255 5266
Fax: +1 607 255 6683
Cornell University
Dept. of Plant Breeding and Genetics
258 Emerson Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
USA
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