PhD student in evolutionary biology and palaeontology

Are you interested in working with 3D virtual palaeontology, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Organismal Biology teaches and explores the evolution, development and function at the organismal level. For more information see http://www.iob.uu.se.

Duties
The fin-to-limb transition is a major evolutionary event and a long-lasting process from which the tetrapod appendage emerged about 400 million years ago. This transformation has puzzled palaeontologists and developmental biologists for more than a century. Progress has been limited by the near-impossibility of making meaningful comparisons between fossil material from transitional forms and the developmental, histological and anatomical data available from modern tetrapods.

This PhD project will focus on using state-of-the-art imaging technologies to access for the first time the bone microanatomy of stem tetrapods in three dimensions and investigate unexplored microstructures involved in the elongation of the appendicular bones and the formation of the wrist/ankle.

This project will aim at reconstructing the evolution of limb-bone microanatomy of Devonian-to-Carboniferous tetrapods in three dimensions using a 3D work-station available at the Evolution and Development (EO) program and the software VGStudioMax. Segmentation and 3D rendering of bone histological structures will be conducted by the PhD student on a synchrotron tomographic dataset acquired by the main supervisor.

Depending on the results, the PhD student will collect more data, apply for extra beamtime and lead new experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in collaboration with local colleagues.

Sophie Sanchez will be the principal supervisor, providing expertise on 3D virtual bone histology and evolution of the appendages of stem tetrapods.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in relevant field of biology/palaeontology, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

First-hand experience of segmenting synchrotron microtomography data sets of fossils, ideally with a conventional software package such as VGStudio or Mimics, is essential. The candidate must be fluent in spoken and written English.

Additional qualifications
Other experience of working with vertebrate histology/palaeontology is desirable.

In filling this position, the university aims to recruit the person who, in the combined evaluation of competence, skills and documented qualifications, is judged most suitable to carry out and develop the work-in-hand and to contribute to a positive development of the department.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The PhD-student position is a 4-year appointment, and the candidate will primarily devote the time to his/her own research studies. Other departmental work, such as teaching or administration can be part of the position (maximum 20 %). Salary placement is in accordance with local guidelines at Uppsala University. The applicant must be eligible for PhD studies at Uppsala University.

The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2024-09-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

Application
The application should include 1) a letter of intent describing yourself, your research interests and motivation of why you want to do a PhD, 2) a short description of your education, 3) a CV, 4) a copy of your master degree and course grades, 5) the names and contact information (address, email address, and phone number) of at least two reference persons, 6) relevant publications (including master thesis). The application must be written in English.

For further information about the position, please contact: Sophie Sanchez, Sophie.sanchez@ebc.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 8 th of July 2024, UFV-PA 2024/2425.

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