Ivica Medugorac

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is offering a PhD opportunity in the Population Genomics Group at the Chair of Animal Systems Genomics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Led by Prof. Ivica Medugorac, the group investigates neutral and functional genetic diversity in domesticated animals and their wild relatives, population and evolutionary genomics, domestication, artificial selection, conservation biology and sustainable agriculture. The doctoral research is part of the BackToShort project, which aims to breed sheep with a natural, functional short-tail phenotype into Bavarian commercial and endangered domestic sheep populations. The long-term goal is to help avoid tail docking while maintaining genetic diversity and relevant breeding traits. The project will examine the genetic basis of tail length, building on a variant identified in the HOXB13 gene region and using genetic mapping and genome-wide sequencing to identify additional variants. The PhD researcher will also study how selection influences genomic relatedness, genetic diversity and other breeding characteristics. Research activities combine applied animal breeding with fundamental questions in population and evolutionary genomics. The doctoral project will integrate project-specific genomic and phenotypic data with publicly available genomic datasets to interpret patterns shaped by evolution, domestication and artificial selection. The researcher will systematically collect metadata on sheep population genomics, analyse SNP and whole-genome sequencing data, prepare research reports and scientific publications, and develop an individual doctoral thesis. The three-year project is conducted with breeding organisations, the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture and other veterinary medicine partners. Analyses will be carried out in the Population Genomics Group at Martinsried/Planegg and, from spring 2027, at the Munich city site on Königinstraße.