A 24 months post-doctoral position is available starting end of 2008 at
the Research Unit on Improvement, Genetics and Physiology of Forest
Trees (http://www.orleans.inra.fr/les_unites/ur_agpf) at INRA Orleans
(France).
This project is to gain insight through mathematical simulation on how
phenotypic plasticity responds to different causal genetic mechanisms
subjected to environmental shifts and evolutionary forces. This will
involve several successive objectives: a) to explore theoretically the
underlying mechanisms responsible of the expression of given levels of
phenotypic plasticity, b) to compare the constraints to the evolutionary
progress that are implicit to each of these identified mechanisms, c) to
evaluate the adequacy of population based response curves as measures of
individual plasticity under the different mechanisms. These mechanisms
will be studied by means of allelic models structured into gene
networks. Two complementary modelling approaches will be used, a
model-to-result approach and an expectation-to-model approach. The
fulfilment of objective (c) will allow a first validation over results
from dendrochronological records, where families and individuals were
simultaneously evaluated for temporal and spatial phenotypic plasticities.
The position is funded by a grant from the French Ministry of Research.
More details about the announcement are given at INRAs institutional
website
(http://www.international.inra.fr/join_us/positions/postdoctoral_positions/annual_campaign_for_postdocs/research_projects_2008)
QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants MUST have a Ph.D. degree by the time of
appointment, along with experience in quantitative and population
genetics and development of mathematical models, and training and/or
experience in one programming language (FORTRAN, C++, etc). An interest
in plant and/or forest tree improvement is also highly desirable.
APPLICATION: Application forms will be provided upon request at one of
the addresses below (or downloaded from previous INRAs website). Send
fulfilled forms as soon as possible to
leopoldo.sanchez from orleans.inra.fr,
or
jean-charles.bastien from orleans.inra.fr,
catherine.bastien from orleans.inra.fr
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ATTENTION NOUVELLE ADRESSE!
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Leopoldo Sanchez
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) - Centre d'Orléans
Unité Amélioration, Génétique et Physiologie Forestières
2163 Avenue de la Pomme de Pin
CS 40001 ARDON, 45075 ORLEANS Cedex 2, France
Tél: +33 (0) 2 38 41 78 14 Fax: +33 (0) 2 38 41 78 79
e-mail: sanchez from orleans.inra.frhttp://www.orleans.inra.fr/AGPF
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