Job ID: 121751

2-Year Postdoc Position: Evolution and Organization of Ant Olfactory Systems

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 31 January 2025

Employment Start Date: 1 March 2025

City: Mainz

Country: Germany

Institution: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Department: iDN ans iomE

Description:

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join an interdisciplinary team focused on investigating the evolution and organization of the olfactory system in ants. The team includes Carlotta Martelli (neurobiology and computational biology), Hugo Darras (evolution and genomics), and Susanne Foitzik (behavior and evolution), along with two PhD students.

The project will explore the organizational structure of the olfactory system in Temnothorax ants, from genes to neurons to behavior. The long-term goal is to identify evolutionary signatures of non-canonical organizations of the olfactory system and to understand the computational consequences of different architectures for odor coding and behavior. This innovative, interdisciplinary project combines neurobiological and behavioral experiments, molecular genetic analysis, genomics, transcriptomics, and theory. This position will focus on bioinformatics as applied to genomic, (single-cell) transcriptomic, and neurobiological data, and will be co-supervised by H. Darras and C. Martelli, in collaboration with S. Foitzik. The ideal candidate should have a strong background in bioinformatics, ideally with practical or theoretical experience in single-cell transcriptomics or comparative genomics. A keen interest in neurobiology is essential. Additional skills in evolutionary biology, insect handling, and programming (preferably in Python) would be advantageous, but are not mandatory.

Position Details:

Start Date: Available immediately

Duration: 2 years

Contract: TVL-E13

Application Process:

If you are interested in joining our team, please send:

1. A letter of motivation

2. Your CV

3. Contact information for two referees

in a combined pdf to cmartell@uni-mainz.de. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and candidates will be considered in the order they are received.

For additional information, please contact us!

Carlotta Martelli cmartell@uni-mainz.de, https://mrtlllab.uni-mainz.de/

Hugo Darras hdarras@uni-mainz.de, Group Darras | Behavioural Ecology and Social Evolution

iDN and iomE, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany