Quantitative Analysis of Nematode Collective Behaviour

Vacancy Reference Number

https://imprs-qbee.mpg.de/87237/quantitative-analysis-of-nematode-collective-behavior

Closing Date

24 Nov 2024

Salary

The payment for the position is made in accordance with your experience and qualification within the salary group 13 of the collective agreement for the public service (TVöD-Bund).

Address

Konstanz / Radolfzell

Duration

3 Years

The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior at its sites in Konstanz and Radolfzell offers an international, interdisciplinary, and collaborative environment that opens up unique research opportunities. The goal of our basic research is to develop a quantitative and predictive understanding of the decisions and movements of animals in their natural environment.

The Genes and Behavior Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior would like to fill the following position with a flexible starting date in 2025. This position is fully funded for a period of 3 years with a possible 1-year extension. The workplace will be in Konstanz, Germany.

Your project: We seek a motivated PhD student to work on the analysis of imaging datasets on various types of nematode collective behavior including aggregation, swarming, and towering. These behaviors are visually stunning, and range from 2D to 3D and from 101 to 105 worms. Each such behavior requires different imaging approaches and analysis techniques, so you will learn to work with different data types and develop suitable methods to extract useful information from our rich datasets. We envisage that you will take a primarily data-driven computational approach in collaboration with our experimentalists, to address how nematodes behave collectively by scrutinizing individual- and group-level dynamics.

Our group: The Genes and Behavior Research Group is headed by Dr. Serena Ding. The group’s research is aimed at understanding the mechanism and evolution of collective behavior in nematodes including C. elegans. We design behavioral assays and imaging hardware to capture behavior, develop tracking and data analysis methods to measure behavior, and employ statistical and modeling approaches to predict behavior. Our group currently consists of eight scientists plus support staff, and we are a friendly and interdisciplinary team embedded within a stimulating international research environment. For more information about the group, please visit https://www.serenadinglab.com/.

Our offer: The successful candidate will become part of the International Max Planck Research School for Quantitative Behavior, Ecology & Evolution (IMPRS-QBEE), and also benefit from close interactions with the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour in Konstanz. You will therefore work in a dynamic and highly international research environment. Our working language is English.

Applicants should apply via the IMPRS application system

Further Information

You should be interested and/or have a background in animal behaviour, olfactory coding, neuroscience, optical imaging, computational neuroscience, insect studies – not all of these, or course: the missing ones you will be trained on. Strong written and oral communication skills in English are necessary

Contact Details

Questions about this position should be addressed to Dr. Serena Ding (sding@ab.mpg.de).