PhD and MSc Studies in XiaLab

Are you thinking of joining a group of bright students in Xia Lab? Funded PhD and MSc positions are available for those who want to advance our research on

• mRNA optimization in viruses, bacteria and eukaryotes (factors affecting capping efficiency, translation initiation, elongation, termination efficiency, mRNA stability), and coevolution between mRNA and the translation machinery
• Intron splicing efficiency and alternative splicing in yeasts and multicellular eukaryotes (5' and 3' splicing sites, branchpoint sites, enhancers and silencers)
• Virus-host coevolution
• Molecular adaptation to extreme environments (e.g., Helicobacter pylori in the acidic mammalian stomach)
• New algorithms in sequence alignment and molecular phylogenetics aiming to resolve deep phylogenies.
• Computational methods in genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics aiming to achieve a mechanistic understanding of cellular processes (e.g., unfolded protein response)
• Software development in molecular biology and evolution

General information

• Minimum requirement for applicants:
• Ambitious and critical (e.g., able to find faults/insufficiency in our publications)
• A focused research proposal built upon a critical evaluation of one or more of our publications. The proposal ideally should be in the form of one or more questions and proposed ways to answer the questions.
• A coherent presentation of a research project you have participated in.
• Familiarity with DAMBE which is freely available, together with a lab manual for you to work through. Here are research publications that used DAMBE:
• Research papers that used the first version of DAMBE (Xia and Xie 2001 J Hered)
• Research papers that used DAMBE5 (Xia 2013 MBE)
• Research papers that used DAMBE7 (Xia 2018 MBE)
• Graduate students registered in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, will have a minimum salary of $25,025/year in Sept. 2024 which is made of a research assistantship from my research grant and a teaching assistantship from the department. The salary will increase over the years.
• Review the application guide and apply through our graduate office.
• For international students: Only PhD applicants are considered.