Research Internship | Desert Fish Population Genetics – Saudi Arabia

We are seeking an intern (graduate or postgraduate student) for a 3-6 months stay in our  lab to work on the following project:

Rad-seq population genetics on Arabian killifish from the Arabian Desert

This project is aimed at understanding how natural populations of fish are adapted to  extreme environments. In the Saudi Arabian desert close to KAUST we can find ponds of  water (wadis) in which we find fish such as the Arabian killifish, Aphanius dispar, surviving harsh conditions. Our aim to start this project is to collect DNA of fish from a collection of different ponds and analyze the population structure of these desert fish. Also, we will be looking at the water conditions and local adaptations in these fish. This will allow observing the presence or absence of gene flow between these ponds through underground freshwater connections. Furthermore, it will be the first step to find
pond/condition specific variants that might reveal local adaptation to certain harsh conditions. The student will be involved in the field work, but also will learn about lab techniques, from DNA extractions to Rad-seq library preparation for high-throughput sequencing. Water chemistry analyses will furthermore be a part of the project as will the population genetic analysis and bioinformatics analysis of the high-throughput sequencing data.

The student will receive flights, housing, visa and a salary of 800$ per month.

The internship conditions and requirements can be found on this webpage:
http://www.kaust.edu.sa/internship/

Here you can find out more about the lab:
http://systemsbiology.kaust.edu.sa

If you are interested or have any questions please write to
timothy.ravasi@kaust.edu.sa
and celiaschunter@gmail.com