We are often open to taking motivated undergraduate students to help us with screens to discover new genes controlling development in model and non-model organisms! More on undergraduate research opportunity at Extavour Lab
Learn next-generation sequencing, high-throughput gene expression, and classical genetics techniques. Contact Cassandra if you are interested!
We are accepting applications from motivated and independent prospective Ph.D. students to join ongoing projects or develop new ones. Our work is multidisciplinary and can combine molecular biology, biochemistry, classical genetics, experimental embryology, and advanced live imaging – you should be prepared to become a multidisciplinary scientist! All projects should be at least somewhat related to our primary research foci (see Research), but students will be encouraged and expected to contribute to project development as their interests evolve.
Interested students should email Cassandra Extavour with a brief statement of research interests.
Students can join the lab as Ph.D. candidates through any one of a variety of graduate programs. No matter which program Ph.D. students in our lab are enrolled in, the majority of the Ph.D. experience will consist of full time research in the Extavour lab with Cassandra Extavour as your primary thesis research advisor.
All of these Ph.D. programs include advanced coursework and teaching opportunities, and benefit from the stimulating academic environment provided by close ties with neighboring labs in several departments. All programs provide stipend, full tuition, and benefits. The differences between the programs lie primarily in the required coursework, teaching requirements, expectations of involvement from other faculty in the form of advisory committees, and the format of their qualifying/candidacy exams.
- The Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) Ph.D. training program
- The Molecules, Cells and Organisms (MCO) Ph.D. training program
- The Systems Biology Ph.D. training program
- The Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Ph.D. training program
Because the OEB department only accepts candidates whose interests can be matched with a faculty member, interested applicants should email Cassandra Extavour directly before applying to the OEB graduate program.
The non-OEB programs require students to rotate through at least two labs before finally joining one. Students interested in working in the Extavour lab as a member of these programs are encouraged to contact Dr. Extavour before applying and/or upon acceptance to these programs.
The deadline for applications is generally in the middle of December of each year, for entry in the following academic year. See the links above for information on how to apply to each program. You can apply to more than one program, but pay careful attention to the requirements for each program, as they are not all the same.
The links below provide general information about graduate study at Harvard, and Life Science graduate work at Harvard.
Independent, motivated postdocs interested in joining current projects or developing their own projects within the framework of the lab foci should contact Cassandra Extavour via email with a brief statement of research interests or project proposals. Experience in at least one of the fields from which we draw our current experimental approaches (including but not limited to developmental genetics, molecular biology, zoology, evolutionary biology, biochemistry, phylogenetics, cell biology, molecular evolution, quantitative imaging, systems biology, bioinformatics including genomics and transcriptomics, reproductive biology…) is desirable but not absolutely required.
