PhD student in Molecular Evolution

Are you interested in working with molecular data, 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 Cell and Molecular Biology is divided into seven research programs, each focusing on different areas within cell and molecular biology: Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Microbiology and Immunology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Biophysics, Molecular Evolution, Molecular Systems Biology, and Structural Biology. The scientific foundation of what we do lies in biology, but our research overlaps with other fields such as medicine, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, and physics. The department has over 200 employees, including around 60 doctoral students. Please read more about our work at https://icm.uu.se.

A PhD student position in the Molecular Evolution program is now available, with supervisor Jennifer James. More information about her research can be found here: https://www.scilifelab.se/researchers/jennifer-james/. The position is fully funded for four years. The applicant will become a member of a newly established research group focussing on understanding the patterns and processes that shape genome and proteome evolution. We are excited to welcome you to the group!  

Project description

Understanding the mutational variation present in populations is a key goal of evolutionary biology. The amount and type of standing variation across the genome determines how well populations can adapt, and how susceptible they are to carrying slightly harmful mutations. However, much of our current analysis focusses on only one type of mutation, known as SNPs, which affect only a single nucleotide. The goal of this PhD project is to consider the effect of other types of mutation on population fitness, in particular, CNVs, which are genomic regions of intermediate size that are present in variable numbers of repeats across individuals in a population. This project will explore patterns of evolution in understudied categories of mutations to assess their effects across species, to understand how they change in copy number within a genome, and to uncover their potential role in adaptation. 

Duties

This PhD position will be entirely computational, focusing on the large-scale bioinformatic analysis of existing data from a range of species. The successful candidate will be responsible for the creation of bioinformatics pipeline to analyse genomic data, and to apply cutting edge methods to identify and characterise CNVs, and to calculate population genetics summary statistics. The student will then conduct comparative genomics analyses, to assess the likely effects of different types of mutations on fitness. The student will also explore how CNVs may increase of decrease in copy number over evolutionary time within a genome. Finally, the student will consider how to predict the effects that understudied categories of mutation have on fitness. Further specific research projects will be developed collaboratively with the successful candidate, depending on their project findings and research interests. 

Requirements 

To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must 

    -    hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in a field of biology, 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.

Candidates must be able to express themselves fluently in spoken and written English. We welcome candidates with a training in biology, or related fields (such as mathematics or computer science) as applied to biology. The applicant should also have an interest in learning, or previous experience in, computer programming, particularly using languages such as Python. 

The ideal candidate is driven and a creative thinker, with a passion for discovery. We are looking for a person with excellent communication skills who will thrive in a collaborative environment but is also able to work on their own initiative. We’re excited to support you in developing your skills and following your scientific interests.

Additional qualifications 

Prior experience in computational biology, bioinformatics or generally in computer programming is desirable. Experience working in population genetics and evolutionary biology/genomics or proteomics is also desirable. Experience with mathematical modelling and statistics will be considered advantageous.

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 employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2026-05-04 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala 

For further information about the position, please contact: Jennifer James, jennifer.james@icm.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 2026-03-02, UFV-PA 2026/365.