• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Entomology Job Board
  • Menu
  • Job Board
  • Job Board
  • Submit A Job
  • Job Posting Guidelines & FAQs
  • Department of Entomology

PhD position in collective behavior and social immunity at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

Agency
University of Fribourg
Location
Switzerland
Job Category
Faculty Appointments
Start Date
May 1, 2019
Website
https://college.agrilife.org/entojobs/wp-content/uploads/sites/79/2019/01/PhD-position_Effects-of-pathogen-pressure-on-personal-and-social-immune-investment-in-ants.pdf
Description
A 4-year PhD position is available in the research group of Professor Nathalie Stroeymeyt in the Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, to study the effect of group composition on disease transmission and relative investment in personal vs. social immunity in ants. Background Group living offers favourable conditions for the spread of infectious diseases, because high population densities and frequent social contacts facilitate pathogen transmission. To mitigate that risk, social animals have evolved a variety of defence mechanisms to prevent the entry and propagation of pathogens within the group, ranging from a raised investment in personal immunity to highly coordinated collective sanitary actions (‘social immunity’). Recent studies have shown that social groups can also adopt organizational features, such as the subdivision into well-separated subgroups, which reduce epidemic risk through transmission bottleneck effects. However, the importance of organizational immunity features in disease risk management by real animal groups is still poorly understood. Our research adopts an empirical approach based on the experimental manipulations of garden ant colonies (Lasius niger) to (i) quantify the effect of social organization on disease transmission and test key predictions from network epidemiology, and (ii) evaluate the relative of importance of personal immunity, collective sanitary actions and organizational features under different environmental conditions and at different stages of development (for more detail see https://stroeymeyt-lab.ch/research). The project The goal of this PhD project will be to investigate how group composition (in particular colony size) influences the social network topology of ant colonies, and how this in turn affects disease transmission risk and the need for individuals to invest in personal immunity. The project will rely on automated behavioural tracking, social network analysis, simulation of disease transmission, monitoring of the transmission of pathogenic and non-pathogenic agents, fitness measurements, physiological assays and immune gene expression analysis. Among others, the project will address general hypotheses about the effect of group size on social organisation ('size-complexity’ hypothesis) and immune investment (‘density-dependent prophylaxis’).
Qualifications
We are looking for candidates with experience in quantitative behavioural analysis and programming, a good working knowledge in statistics and experimental design, and a willingness to apply a variety of approaches (behavioural tracking, writing own code to analyse the data, and lab work). Experience with social insects, insect immunity and/or molecular biology would be a plus. Candidates must be creative, motivated and passionate about science, have excellent oral and written communication skills, and be at ease working both independently and as part of a team. A Master’s degree (or equivalent) will be required prior to taking up the position.
Job Number
79
Contact Person
Nathalie Stroeymeyt
Contact eMail
Nathalie.Stroeymeyt@gmail.com
Bookmark the permalink.
← Assistant Professor (SEEMS/Biology– Cluster Hire in Agriculture Sciences – Integrated Pest Management and Plant Pathology)
PhD position in collective behaviour and social immunity at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) →

For all job opportunities at Texas A&M AgriLife, visit https://agrilifeas.tamu.edu/hr/careers-employment/

Instructions for external applicants (Not currently employed by Texas A&M University System/Texas A&M AgriLife) are in left hand column. Instructions for internal applicants (currently employed by the Texas A&M University System/Texas A&M AgriLife) are in the right hand column.

Jobs By Category

  • Full Time Positions
  • Part Time Vacancies
  • Temporary / Seasonal Positions
  • Internships
  • Volunteer Openings
  • Graduate Assistanships
  • Undergraduate Assistantships
  • Post Doctoral Appointments
  • Fellowships & Scholarships
  • Faculty Appointments
  • Student Employment at TAMU
  • Training
  • Grants
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information
Texas A&M University System Member