Characterisation of Caniformia Embryogenesis (Dr Antonia Weberling & Professor Suzannah Williams)

PROJECT TITLE

Characterisation of Caniformia Embryogenesis.

SUPERVISORS

• Dr Antonia Weberling

• Professor Suzannah Williams

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

Caniformia emerged about 42 million years ago and comprise 9 families, such as Canidae (wolves, coyotes, foxes), Mustelidae (bagders, weasels, otters), and Procyonidae (racoons, coatis). Early embryogenesis has never been studied in detail despite the fact that an increasing number of Caniformia members are being listed as vulnerable or threatened. In this project, the student will take advantage of a collaboration with the “Wildlandstiftung Bayern” through which the student will obtain fox, racoon, and badger embryos. The student will characterise early development taking advantage of brightfield imaging, histology staining of cross sections, and light-sheet microscopy and will develop a thorough staging system for each species. In the second part of the degree, the student will then carry out cross-family and cross species comparisons of specific stages to understand the underlying gene regulatory networks governing these stages.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

The student will join a highly collaborative environment and be introduced to both traditional developmental biology, evolutional developmental biology and innovative species conservation approaches during their project. The training will involve sectioning, histology stainings, confocal and light-sheet microscopy as well as in situ hybridisation techniques. The student will gain thorough image analysis skills.

Funding Information

The position is not currently funded and therefore the candidate will need to secure funding.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for this research degree, please click here.