Location: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Marco and Louise Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology (MDDE), Midreshet Ben-Gurion campus, Israel, Hadas Hawlena’ s research group.
Position description: Open positions are available, and the successful candidates will be able to choose between multiple projects in the laboratory; from bacterial species coexistence, through behavioral and applied aspects of disease ecology, to bacterial evolvability (the evolution of parasite capabilities to produce novel variation). Some of the research projects conducted are part of a collaborative project between leading laboratories in the field (University of Michigan, Prof. Luis Zaman; The University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Jeffrey Barrick; Michigan State University, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Shimon Harrus; Ben-Gurion University, Prof. Michal Segoli, and Dr. Ido Tsurim) and multiple years of funding are possible.
Minimum qualifications:
B.Sc., M.Sc., or PhD in ecology or microbiology, for M.Sc., PhD, and post-doc, respectively Devotion to work, curiosity, and reliability.
High level of scientific writing and publications in English.
Preferred additional qualifications:
Strong background in evolutionary biology, community ecology, or disease ecology.
Experience in microbiological methods or molecular biology.
Quantitative thinking.
Proficiency with R for statistical analyses.
Application deadline: 1 of August 2023
About the laboratory: We use evolutionary and ecological theories to investigate the interactions between microbes, their vertebrate hosts, arthropod vectors, and the surrounding environment. Our philosophy is that realism and simplicity must be balanced. We get closer to nature by studying simultaneously wild, multiple host and multiple parasite species. However, our main model—the rodent-flea-bacterial system of the Negev Sand Dunes (Israel)—keeps the studies quite simple as all the relevant players are readily manipulated in the laboratory and field. The research lies at the interface of evolution, ecology, microbial ecology, disease ecology, immunology, and molecular genetics. See attachment for further details on our research.
About Midreshet Ben-Gurion campus: This campus of the Ben-Gurion University is situated at a beautiful site in the Negev Desert (south Israel), surrounded by desert wildlife and its student population is made of about 50% foreign graduate and postdoctoral students that come from all over the world together with local Israeli students. The campus has a friendly attitude and plenty of opportunities for social interactions with fellow students and locals alike. See https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/bidr/SIDEER/MDDE/Pages/default.aspx for more information about the department.
Interested? Submit a paragraph detailing your interests and experience, a CV, and a list of three references (with contact information) to Prof. Hadas Hawlena (hadashaw@bgu.ac.il).
