[Taxacom] Postdoc -- Phylogenetics (AToL)

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Dear Prof. Sanderson,

I am currently a PH. D. student in Xiao-Ru Wang¡¯s lab at State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and I am writing to inquire about the possibility of a postdoctoral position in your laboratory. I plan on graduating in July, 2006 and I would be interested in beginning after then. 

My graduate work has focused on molecular population genetics in Pinus densata. Together with its putative parents Pinus tabuliformis and Pinus yunnanensis, P. densata offered an excellent system to study mechanism of homoploid hybrid speciation and plant strategy of adaptation to extreme environment. I investigated patterns of nucleotide variation in P. densata and its progenitors, and discussed demography and selection forces which shaped the genetic variation in the hybrid species. Partial work has been published in Mol. Biol. Evol. (2006).

During the course of my graduate work, I have become very interested in adaptive evolution and molecular systematics. Plants exhibit great morphological and functional variation, however, the relationships between taxa are not clarified enough by now. Thus, more phylogenomics data and new valid methods must be taken in rebuilding ¡°Tree of Life¡±. ToL projects will greatly facilitate us to comprehend evolution scenarios fully, which is a dream of all of evolutionists. I am familiar to the substitution models in molecular evolution and the approaches of constructing phylogeny trees. Furthermore, five-year experiences in molecular population genetics facilitate me to understand evolution problems in unique sights. Consideration of my background and extremely interests, I am well qualified in the work going on in your laboratory.

Enclosed are a copy of my CV and a soft copy of my paper published. Contact information of three references is added at the end of my CV. I¡¯ll ask my three references to send you letters on my behalf if you like. I look forward to hearing from you. If you need any other information or material, please let me know promptly.


Sincerely yours,
Xiao-Fei Ma

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Address: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany
Institute of Botany
Chinese Academy of Sciences
20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing 100093, China
Tel: +86-10-62836641
M-phone: +8613241492810
E-mail: maxf at ibcas.ac.cn; sunwashing at 263.net

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡2006-06-02