PhD fellowship - Insect Neurobiology and Biophysics - University of Lleida

We offer a 3-year PhD fellowship to be started in January 2021 with an annual gross income of around 16.000 euros. The candidate should have a Master degree, 300 ECTS between the undergraduate and the master, a the BS finished on or after January 2011, and a GPA >= 6.5 in a 1-10 scale.

Our laboratory studies the behavior of three moth species which are important pests of fruit trees. We want to understand how their sensory system works in order to develop environmentally friendly control methods. Currently we are characterizing the electrophysiological response of the neurons that detect volatile chemical stimuli (olfaction) and non-volatile chemical stimuli (gustation). We also want to explore other senses, such as vision, sound, hygro- and thermo-reception and CO2 detection. The insects are reared and studied in the laboratory.

In our experience, the kind of student most suitable for this kind of research is a person driven mainly by curiosity who aims to continue in research, very patient and very persistent (because it is delicate and difficult work) and with a minimum interest in electronics and programing (to run the electrophysiological instrumentation) and statistics (a huge amount of data is generated and signal analysis is not straight forward). Candidates from the life sciences with an interest in physics/electronics (Aduino, Raspberry Pi, sensors, programming, etc.), or candidates from the physical sciences who want to learn from the life sciences, may both be interested in this position.

Interested candidates should send the following material to: cesar.gemeno@udl.cat
1-Letter of motivation
2-BS and Master list of courses indicating credits and scores, and the respective titles
3-CV (there no need to include a picture)