Postdoc position funded by SLU?s Plant Breeding Platform

Postdoc position funded by SLU?s Plant Breeding Platform Optimizing Plant Breeding Strategies Using Genome-wide Dense Marker Data Since 1 July 2014 a plant breeding platform has been implemented at SLU. Its mission is to promote an internal coordination of SLU?s resources and efforts in plant breeding for agriculture, forestry and horticulture, and includes research, basic education, infrastructure and outreach. It also works to strengthen SLU?s profile in plant breeding in relation to the outside world. Plant breeding is a discipline found in several of SLU?s departments and faculties and needs to be coordinated across different location and faculty boundaries. The plant breeding platform includes the Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Crop Production Science, the Faculty of Forest Sciences and the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Science. A committee with two members from each faculty leads the coordination work. Special funds have been set aside for this venture. Each faculty will from 1 July 2015 have the main mentorship for a two-year postdoc position funded by the platform. The three postdoc projects have a clear across-faculty profile with assisting mentors at other faculties and with resources to promote SLU collaboration across campus- and faculty boundaries.

För fullständig annons se: www.slu.se/lediga-tjanster
Arbetsuppgifter: In crops and trees, most yield and quality traits along with abiotic and biotic resistance traits are controlled by a large number of genes (quantitative trait loci, QTL) and their interactions with environmental factors. Various breeding strategies to improve such traits were proposed and used already when the genetic architecture of QTL was unknown. The proposed breeding strategies varied considerably between different species including both inbreeding-hybrid methods and population based methods of reciprocal recurrent selection. The ongoing dissection of the genetic base of QTLs using pedigree-based linkage mapping, candidate gene-based association mapping, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) have now made it possible to optimize plant breeding methods using the distribution and effects of the detected QTLs. The Postdoc in this project will (1) integrate existing QTL mapping and GWAS in plants (for agriculture, horticulture and silviculture) in collaboration with plant breeding scientists at SLU different campuses, (2) conduct Meta-data analyses of the genetic architecture of plant traits, (3) implement genomic simulation using finite locus allelic model to develop optimal breeding strategies for plants for maximizing genetic gain in short and long term breeding.

Kvalifikationer: Highly motivated and team-oriented candidates with experience in statistical analyses, quantitative and population genetics or plant genetics and breeding are encouraged to apply. To qualify, you should have a PhD degree in subjects relevant for the position, such as one in biology or statistics. The PhD degree should not be more than 3 years old. Good English communication and writing skills are required.