The Virology group of the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, UK, is announcing a PhD project on Evolution of Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis virus (IPNV).

RNA viruses are economically important pathogens of marine fish, and among these viruses, Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus (IPNV) is of particular concern the the fish aquaculture industry. This project will use next generation sequencing to analyse a large library of IPNV isolates collected over a period of 3 decades. We expect to gain insight into the evolutionary dynamics of IPNV. Molecular phylogeographic analysis of the data cloud generated may lead to an understanding of how IPNV breaks through the existing vaccine coverage of farmed salmon. It is anticipated that as part of the project the student will be sent to laboratories in Germany (3 months) to be trained on a protocol for sequencing RNA viruses and to Canada (6 months) to be trained on methods used for high-throughput sequencing of marine viruses. An important objective of the work will be to fuse aspects of both techniques to develop a new assay targeted towards RNA virus sequencing. The candidate should have a good grasp of molecular biology methods. Interest or experience in virus research and bioinformatic analysis of sequencing data would be assets, but are not essential. The offer is open from now and the project can begin as soon as possible.

Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Manfred Weidman (hm7@stir.ac.uk, telephone +44 1786 467873) with informal enquires.

To apply for this post, please click on the Apply button below.

Closing date: Friday 22nd November