Statistical Genetics PhD opportunity in New Zealand

We offer a 3-year Marsden-funded PhD programme examining the molecular 
evolution of New Zealand’s most prominent human pathogen: Campylobacter. 
We are looking for someone with an interest and background in population 
genetics and/or statistics who would like to develop skills applying 
phylogenetics, molecular epidemiology and coalescent-based genealogical 
modeling to genome-scale data. You will be based at Massey University in 
Palmerston North, North Island, New Zealand and will be supervised by a 
team of scientists based at the Hopkirk Research Institute, the Allan 
Wilson Centre, the Institute for Environmental Science and Research Ltd 
and the Universities of Oxford and Lancaster in the United Kingdom. You 
must be willing to spend some time working in the United Kingdom during 
the PhD programme.

For further information please contact:
Professor Nigel French
Email - [log in to unmask] , Phone - +64 (06) 356 9099 extn 81188

Further details of the research programme:

“Cows, starlings and Campylobacter in New Zealand: unifying phylogeny, 
genealogy and epidemiology to gain insight into pathogen evolution”

Summary: The introduction of European wildlife has had a devastating 
effect on New Zealand’s flora and fauna. Yet these historical events, 
coupled with the importation of domestic livestock, have provided us 
with a unique opportunity to study the evolution of a globally important 
human pathogen: Campylobacter. Using analytical tools recently developed 
by our research team, together with detailed sequencing studies, we aim 
to exploit the newly-discovered host specificity of C. jejuni and C. 
coli strains and the well-characterised historical separation of both NZ 
and European host and bacterial populations, to improve our 
understanding of Campylobacter species evolution. We have unprecedented 
access to isolates, and their multilocus gene sequences, cultured from 
humans, domestic animals and wildlife in NZ and Europe - and will gather 
additional isolates and more detailed sequence data from NZ. We will 
discover how often, and how much, genetic material is exchanged between 
natural populations; how important recombination is relative to mutation 
for the emergence of new strains; and in which host species these events 
are most likely to occur. Ultimately we can learn how and why C. jejuni 
emerged to become such a prominent human pathogen; anticipate further 
evolution and restrict the emergence and spread of new strains.