Helsinki evo-devo research community, Salazar-Ciudad group

Helsinki University
Institute of Biotechnology
Helsinki evo-devo research community
Salazar-Ciudad group
We are looking for two students, preferably biologists, to start two grants for two PhDs in systems biology and/or evo-devo about:
-Gene network simulations of pattern formation, morphogenesis and morphological evolution of mammalian organs.
or/and
-Variational phenomics, 3D morphometrics, development and evolution
One of the current challenges of evolutionary biology is to understand how genetic variation leads to specific morphological variation (the genotype-phenotype map) and how that process affects the direction of morphological change in evolution. Our group is devoted to address this question by using gene network models and empirical analysis of developmental and variational data.
Programming skills or a willingness to acquire them are required.
The grants are provided through the Finnish academy of sciences.
One of the positions is between Isaac Salazar-Ciudad´s Group and Jukka Jernvall's group and the other is in Isaac Salazar-Ciudad's group.
The exact topic of the theses would be discussed in detail after an interview.
For an outline of the groups' research:
http://www.biocenter.helsinki.fi/bi/evodevo/group_isaac.shtml
http://www.biocenter.helsinki.fi/bi/evodevo/index.shtml
For further inquiries:
Isaac Salazar Ciudad
Isaac.Salazar@uab.cat

Article example:
Salazar-Ciudad I, Jernvall J.A computational model of teeth and the
developmental origins of morphological variation. Nature. 2010 Mar
25;464(7288):583-6.
Salazar-Ciudad I. Morphological evolution and embryonic developmental
diversity in metazoa. Development. 2010 Feb;137(4):531-9.