Anemonefish Husbandry Supervisor Position (Technician)

The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) is a model for change in education and research with the best international graduate students, working side by side with world-class faculty in modern well-equipped laboratories. Beautifully situated on the island of Okinawa, OIST relies on a cross-disciplinary approach, with an emphasis on creativity and exchange, to offer unique, individualized graduate training. OIST is a university with no departments, eliminating artificial barriers between people working in different fields, but many nationalities, with students and faculty being attracted from all over the world. Concentrating initially on Neuroscience, Molecular Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Environmental and Ecological Sciences and Physical Sciences, OIST is bringing some of the best brains in the world to Okinawa to transform the way science and education is done in the global academic world.

Position summary

The Marine Eco-Evo-Devo (MEED) Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) seeks to understand the evolution of life history strategies (in particular metamorphosis), integrating ecological, evolutionary and developmental components. We use coral reef fishes, and in particular anemonefish, as models to address three main questions: How do fish larvae integrate environmental and physiological information to trigger coordinated programs leading to metamorphosis? How does this explain the diversity of patterns of pigmentation produced during metamorphosis? And how do anthropogenic stressors affect these processes?

We are looking for a highly motivated husbandry supervisor to be in charge of our fish husbandry. The main goal of the successful candidate will be to oversee and develop the anemonefish husbandry system. He/she will take care of the fish (breeding pairs, juveniles, and larvae), sea anemones and living prey culture. He/She will also support unit member needs in terms of experimental design (mainly developmental, genetic, behavioral and/or ecotoxicological experiments) and assistance, helping them to set up meaningful and realistic animal experiments that respect animal welfare as much as possible. The successful candidate will also manage other husbandry team members. He/she will work on both the main campus and OIST Marine Science Station (OMSS). Our unit is very international so communication within the unit is done in English, so fluent English is required. For a motivated supervisor, this position will offer great opportunities to develop new skills in experimental marine science on a promising fish model that is used by an increasing number of labs. It will also allow to work with scientists from diverse fields and from all around the world.

Distinct parts of the clownfish husbandry are located at OIST Marine station and on OIST main campus. The new husbandry of the main campus built in November 2022 is a high-tech recirculating system who include two main systems for rearing breeding couples and also a quarantine room, an experimental room and a live prey production room as described in Roux et al., (J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol). 2021;336, 376-385). The overall equipment is world-class facility for studying anemonefish.