Considering animals most people think about vertebrates and thereby especially mammals and birds. These are often considered the most sophisticated and evolutionary successful animals on earth. However, this is not true taking into account evolutionary history, biodiversity, ecology or biomass. Invertebrates outshine vertebrates in all these categories. Moreover, invertebrates have evolved novel structures and inhabited habitats unoccupied by vertebrates. Hence, invertebrates have much to teach us about evolution in general and in particular. On the other hand, except for a few flagship species or groups invertebrates are heavily understudied, especially considering marine invertebrates. The latter are especially important as all animal live depends on water and originated from the marine realm. Hence, understanding the evolution of marine invertebrates will help us to understand evolution at much more detailed and complete level.
The topics of these Master projects will be part of the RCN-project “InvertOmics - Phylogeny and evolution of lophotrochozoan invertebrates based on genomic data”. The main aim of the project itself is to unravel the phylogeny and evolution of Lophotrochozoa, one of the major animal groups comprising half of all animal phyla. Problematic in this respect are artefacts in the data, which can mislead the whole analyses. In this part, the goal is to concentrate on the methodological problems of the reconstruction of phylogenies and to develop a new approach to assess the support for specific phylogenetic hypotheses and determine a priori the best procedure to minimize the effect of such misleading artefacts. Hence, if you are interested in
bioinformatics and method development at the computer contact us and we can discuss possible Master projects in this part.
What you will learn: You will learn to use the tools and principles of phylogenomics and bioinformatics. This will include, among others, programming, generating simulated data and handling large amounts of empirical data. This will also include phylogenetic pipelines and the development of new mathematical formulas. Pictures of different marine and other invertebrates of the spiralian group.
What we offer: First and foremost, we offer a friendly and kind mentoring environment. We offer a membership in ForBio (the research school in biosystematics) where you will be able to take courses in several places in Norway. You will potentially be able to attend international courses if they fit with the objectives. You will be able to participate in a national conference (ForBio meeting) and potentially in an international conference depending on funding. If you are interested, we will be able to discuss travel opportunities and a travelling period abroad.
What we expect from you: Commitment and dedication.
Outcomes: One (or more) scientific publications, conference communication.
Supervision and teaching: You will be supervised by Torsten Struck, James Fleming, (both NHM Oslo) & Kevin Kocot (University of Alabama).
For further inquiries, please contact Torsten Struck (t.h.struck@nhm.uio.no).