Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition at Cornell University is looking for a postdoc to develop projects related to understanding the neurobiology and/or evolution of social recognition in paper wasps. We have NIH and NSF funding to study both the neural basis of individual facial recognition in paper wasp as well as the evolution of extreme color pattern diversity that wasps use to signal their individual identity.
We are interested in postdocs that would like to develop projects in one of two areas dealing with the animal recognition abilities:
(1) Single-cell sequencing approaches to understand the cellular basis of recognition behavior. This work will build on on-going single-cell projects in the lab and has opportunities for comparing the brains of wasps after different experiences, in distinct behavioral states, reared under different social environments, and/or comparisons across species or populations.
(2) The genetic basis of color pattern diversity in paper wasps. This work will build on lab’s on-going work generating large population-genomic datasets of paper wasps and use these data to understand the evolutionary processes that have given rise to the high level of color pattern diversity within and among populations of paper wasps.
Individuals interested in learning more about the lab and potential research opportunities should reach out to Michael Sheehan (msheehan@cornell.edu) to discuss possible projects.