We are looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral scientist to work on the ERC Starting Grant MeioPoly, which seeks to elucidate the mechanisms of meiotic adaptation to allopolyploidy. Allopolyploidy resulting from hybridization between related species is ubiquitous in the evolutionary history of plants. When they first arise, allopolyploid organisms face the challenge of chromosome segregation during meiosis due to the presence of sets of related chromosomes inherited from each of the progenitors. Using the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica as a model, the MeioPoly project aims at deciphering the evolutionary processes enabling meiotic stabilization of young allopolyploids with a special emphasis on the molecular mechanisms that prevent recombination between related chromosomes. The successful candidate will develop genetic and epigenetic approaches to characterize genome-wide meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis suecica. He/she will ensure conceptual and methodological development of the project.

Background and skills
– PhD degree in molecular biology and/or genetics
– Expertise in molecular biology technics such as DNA and RNA purification, DNA library construction
and sequencing, and chromatin immunoprecipitation
– Experience and/or strong interest of working with plants
– Previous work in the meiosis field will be highly appreciated, but not mandatory