PhD in Zoology (evolutionary developmental biology, evo devo)

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, Canada

Posted 9/19/2024

A 4-year PhD fellowship is available at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, to develop the garden millipede, Oxidus gracilis, into the first lab-tractable myriapod model species with tools including in situ Hybridization Chain Reaction (HCR), CRISPR-Cas9, and a sequenced transcriptome. These tools will be used to compare Oxidus to two other arthropods – the crustacean Parhyale and the insect Tribolium – in order to understand how morphologies and their underlying gene regulatory networks evolve over immense timescales of half a billion years.

For this project, you will investigate whether genes known to pattern crustacean gills and insect tracheae are also involved in patterning millipede tracheae, which would suggest that all three structures evolved from the same structure in their shared ancestor. You will examine embryonic gene expression using in situ Hybridization Chain Reaction (HCR), and examine gene function by performing embryonic microinjection of CRISPR-Cas9. You will also dissect and mount HCR embryos and CRISPR hatchlings for confocal imaging.

Importantly, Oxidus millipede does not currently have any molecular tools. Therefore, the first part of your project will be to help me develop tools and resources for Oxidus, including HCR and CRISPR-Cas9. This will involve the trial and error of figuring out how to micro-inject their embryos, and optimizing rearing conditions for embryos, hatchlings, and adults. Experience raising terrestrial invertebrate pets is a plus.

Apply Here: https://form.jotform.com/242534537864262

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Last Updated 09/19/2024