Translational Research from Model Organisms

Translational Research from Model Organisms: Genetic and ecophysiological analyses of natural variation in the control of water use efficiency and response to drought stress inBrassicarapa.

Two NSF-funded post-doctoral positions are available to study ecophysiological and genetic mechanisms of adaptation to atmospheric and soil drought stress inBrassica rapain the labs of Cynthia Weinig and Brent Ewers at the University of Wyoming. Research questions include: What are the structural and ecophysiological traits that confer adaptation to soil and atmospheric drought stress? What QTL and genetic loci underlie variation in the expression of adaptive ecophysiological traits? What role does quantitative variation in the circadian clock play in regulating ecophysiological traits? To what extent does the clock model developed inArabidopsistranslate to other species?

Preference will be given to candidates with a strong background in ecophysiology (working in the Ewers lab) or evolutionary genetics (working in the Weinig lab). Activities of the different labs will include development of Nested Association Mapping populations (NAM), quantitative-genetic analysis and QTL mapping of drought responses in RILs and natural accessions ofB.rapa, fine-scale mapping and transgenic rescue to clone QTL for the ecophysiological components of water-use efficiency, ecophysiological analyses at multiple scales of the connection between plant gas exchange and hydraulics in response to atmospheric and soil drought, and development and dissemination ofB. rapagenetic resources for enhancing K12 and undergraduate education.

Applicants should send a cv and a brief letter stating specific research interests, research accomplishments, and future research objectives as well as the names and contact information for three professional references as a single pdf file to both Cynthia Weinig ( cweinig@uwyo.edu) and Brent Ewers ( beewers@uwyo.edu). Review of applications will begin April 15th and continue until suitable candidates are identified.