Funded PhD in Computational Neuroscience - The University of Manchester

Dear All,

applications are invited for a 3-year PhD studentship to work on a project entitled 'Quantifying the contribution of melanopsin to the processing of complex visual information' under the supervision of Dr Marcelo Montemurro and Prof Robert Lucas at the Faculty of Life Sciences of The University of Manchester.  The 3-year studentship will provide full support for tuition fees and an annual minimum tax-free stipend of £13,590. This studentship is available to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding and is due to start October 2013.

The successful applicant will work on the development of computational analysis methods based on information theory and their application to experimental data gathered at Lucas' lab. The student will also have the opportunity to receive training in experimental methods and actively participate in experiment design. The precise balance between the different types of approaches will be defined according to he the student's background and interests.

Further details can be found at:

http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/studentships/featuredstudentship/fstudentship1

For enquires, please write to  Dr Marcelo Montemurro (m.montemurro@manchester.ac.uk

). Applications are invited up to 9.00 am Wednesday 14 November 2012.

Regards,

--
Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Manchester
Room 3.606
Stopford Building
Oxford Road
Manchester, M13 9PT
UK

phone: +44(0)161 306 3883
___

Postdoctoral position in theoretical neuroscience

A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Goldman at the University of California at Davis.  The lab works on a broad range of problems in computational neuroscience ranging from neural coding to dynamics and plasticity of single neurons and networks.  Immediate funding is available for a range of projects related to working memory, neural integration, motor learning, and decision-making as described below.  The postdoctoral candidate also would have flexibility to work on a range of issues of his or her choosing.  Candidates are expected to have strong training in an analytically rigorous discipline such as theoretical neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering.  The postdoctoral candidate will have ample opportunity to interact within the vibrant computational and systems neuroscience communities at UC Davis and in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.    

     Candidates should send a CV, brief statement of previous research and future research interests, and email addresses and phone numbers of three references to:  Mark Goldman, msgoldman@ucdavis.edu.  I will also be at the upcoming SFN meeting.

Recent topics of particular interest to the laboratory are:

1) Dynamics of memory and motor-related neural activity: 

     Challenging the attractor picture of working memory.  In the traditional attractor picture of working memory, memory storage results from positive feedback processes that lead to the formation of self-sustained attractors.  In one project, we are exploring how functionally feedforward, rather than feedback, network architectures can generate flexible codes for storing memories and producing a broad range of input-output transformations.  In a second project, we are utilizing methods from engineering control theory to show how balanced cortical networks can utilize negative feedback to stabilize persistent patterns of neural activity. 

     Multi-scale modeling of neural integration.  The oculomotor neural integrator is a model system for understanding the mathematical integration of inputs and the maintenance of persistent neural activity.  We seek to determine the respective roles of cellular and circuit mechanisms of memory storage in this system.  Multi-scale models, from ion channels to behavior, will be generated based upon electrophysiological and optical imaging recordings from the laboratories of David Tank at Princeton University and Emre Aksay at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.  

     Role of the granule cell layer in cerebellar motor learning.  The eye movement system provides a highly tractable setting for studying motor learning because it is well-characterized experimentally and has fewer degrees of freedom than more complicated movement systems.  In collaboration with the whole-circuit optical imaging experiments of Emre Aksay’s laboratory, we are modeling the neural dynamics and coding of cerebellar granule neurons.  Particular focus is upon understanding the circuit basis for the transformations underlying plasticity in the gaze-holding system and oculomotor neural integrator. 

2) Collective intelligence and decision-making in ant colonies:  In collaboration with Deborah Gordon’s laboratory at Stanford University, we are using the foraging behavior of desert ants as a model system to quantitatively understand social decision-making.  Desert ants have strong ecological pressure to make wise choices as to when to leave the nest to forage for food.  We are modeling how the decision-making processes of individual ants result in adaptive whole-colony behavior.

POSTDOC: Computational modelling

POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW

Computational modelling of the neural mechanisms of spatial cognition

A post-doctoral research position in Neil Burgess’s lab. at UCL is available for computational modelling of the interactions between grid cells and place cells in coding spatial location (see e.g. 1,2,3) and their role in human spatial memory and imagery in combination with parietal cortex (see e.g. 4,5,6). Applicants should have experience of computational modelling applied to neuroscience or cognition and of programming languages such as MatLab. Experience of analysis or acquisition of experimental data in neuroscience or psychology would be a bonus.

Neil’s lab. forms part of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/), located close to the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/), the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging  (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/) and other facilities for research including electrophysiology and virtual reality. For details of the lab’s research interests see:  http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/Research-Groups/Space-and-Memory-Group/.

The post is part of a European Union grant on computational modelling of spatial cognition, with partners Fred Hamker (T U Chemnitz), Patrick Cavanagh (U Paris Descartes), Pieter Menendorp (Donders/Neijmegen) and Rufin Van Rullen (CNRS/U Toulouse). It will start in March 2013, for 3 years, with starting salary from around £30,000 pa, including London allowance. For more information please send informal inquiries to: n.burgess@ucl.ac.uk (he will be at SfN this year).

1. Burgess N, O’Keefe J (2011) Models of place and grid cell firing and theta rhythmicity. Curr Opin. Neurobiol. 21: 734-744.

2. Barry C, Ginsberg LL, O’Keefe J, Burgess N (2012) Grid cell firing patterns signal environmental novelty by expansion. P.N.A.S. In press.

3. Krupic J, Burgess N, O’Keefe J (2012) Neural Representations of Location Composed of Spatially-periodic Bands. Science, 337: 853-857.

4. Doeller CF, Barry C, Burgess, N (2010) Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network. Nature 463 657- 661.

5. Byrne P, Becker S, Burgess N (2007). Remembering the past and imagining the future: a neural model of spatial memory and imagery. Psychological Review 114 340-375.

6. Tcheang L, Bülthoff H, Burgess N (2011) Visual influence on path integration in darkness indicates a multimodal representation of large-scale space. P.N.A.S. 108: 1152-1157

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POST-DOC IN BRAIN NETWORKS AT IMT LUCCA

POST-DOC IN BRAIN NETWORKS AT IMT LUCCA (www.imtlucca.it). Deadline for
applications is October 26th 2012.

IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca invites applications for a
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Brain Network Analysis, with specific emphasis
on the reconstruction of networks from time-signal analysis and the
detection of communities. Other than a PhD in NMR and international
experience in the field,  candidates must have an excellent record of
high-impact international publications and should demonstrate enthusiasm for
performing applied research in an interdisciplinary Research Unit.

The appointed candidate will join the NATWORKS - Natural Networks research
unit (http://natworks.imtlucca.it/) and specifically the APrICor (Analysis
and Processing of Image Correlation) project. The project’s main objective
is the definition of a framework for the interpretation of dynamical,
multiparametric biomedical images based on advanced statistical analysis
methods. More specifically, it will explore the benefits of a
complex-network representation of spatially and temporally correlated
signals to extract topological features that may be informative of the
underlying dynamical processes. The project will establish and validate
biological correlates for these features, in order to make this framework
useful for biological and medical research purposes. Software tools based on
these concepts will be developed and integrated within a flexible platform
for image analysis that will be made available to the scientific community.

IMT Lucca is a public international Graduate School and Institute of
Technology that acts as a research university with the aim of forming human
capital in disciplines characterized by their high potential for concrete
applications. IMT strives to reach the fusion of theoretical comprehension
and practical relevance.

For further information about the position and the online form, applicants
can refer to the website, or can contact pdf.calls@imtlucca.it.

Sara L. Olson
Communication & Events

IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca
Piazza San Ponziano, 6
55100 Lucca – Italy
Tel: +39 0583 4326 597
Fax: +39 0583 4326 565
E-mail: sara.olson@imtlucca.it
www.imtlucca.it
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Announcement: PhD program in computational neuroscience

Dear Colleagues,

Please inform students interested in computational neuroscience, mathematical biology, or computational biology PhD programs about the Tri-Institutional Training Program in Computational Biology and Medicine (CBM).

CBM takes advantage of the outstanding educational and research resources of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and the Sloan-Kettering Institute (the research arm of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) in New York City to train computational biologists in the interdisciplinary approaches (quantitative and experimental) they need to solve the complex problems that characterize biology and medicine.

This NIH T32-funded PhD program is recruiting highly qualified students from biological science and/or quantitative backgrounds.  Neuroscience is one of CBM's main focus areas.

Please visit www.triiprograms.org/cbm for more information.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
David Christini, PhD
Director, CBM Program

postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience to study sleep oscillations

Applications are invited for an NIH-funded post-doctoral position to study mechanisms and functions of sleep oscillations. The successful candidate will join a research team involving the laboratories of Eric Halgren (UCSD), Terry Sejnowski (UCSD) and Maxim Bazhenov (UC Riverside).  For relevant references see, Chen et al, Journal of Physiology (London), 2012, Jul 9; Bonjean et al, Journal of Neuroscience, 2012, 32(15):5250-63. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand mechanisms and functions of sleep rhythms during stage 2 sleep and the role of sleep oscillations in memory and learning.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the design of a thalamocortical model generating sleep rhythms based on existing experimental data. These models will be used to understand underlying neural mechanisms, as well as guide data analysis and produce novel experimental predictions. Qualified applicants are expected to have experience in computational/theoretical neuroscience and conductance-based neural modeling. Programming experience with C/C++ is required. Knowledge of PYTHON or MATLAB is a plus.

The University of California offers excellent benefits. Salary is based on research experience. The initial appointment is for 1 year with a possibility of extension. Applicants should send a brief statement of research interests, a CV and the names of three references to Maxim Bazhenov at maksim.bazhenov@ucr.edu

-- 
Maxim Bazhenov, Ph.D.
Professor, Cell Biology and Neuroscience
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521
Ph: 951-827-4370
http://biocluster.ucr.edu/~mbazhenov/

Five PostDoc Positions in Glasgow

Research Associate (5 posts available)

University of Glasgow - Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology

You will contribute to Wellcome Trust funded research entitled "Natural and modulated neural communication: State-dependent decoding and driving of human Brain Oscillations" (Joint Investigators: Gregor Thut, Joachim Gross). This is one of 5 simultaneously filled 5-year Research Associate positions covering different aspects of the above project.

The job requires working in an interdisciplinary team of researchers on longstanding questions of how brain oscillations orchestrate brain functions, or relate to brain dysfunction. Depending on the position within the team, this will involve the development and/or application of new analysis methods to eavesdrop on brain communication and decode some of the information coded in brain oscillations (MEG/EEG), or using this knowledge for controlled intervention into brain oscillations by transcranial stimulation to modulate brain function (combined TMS/tACS-EEG).

For more information on the position and environment please write to Joachim.Gross@glasgow.ac.uk,  or Gregor.Thut@glasgow.ac.uk 

This post has funding available until 31 December 2017

Ref: 002653

Please apply here:  http://www.gla.ac.uk/about/jobs/

Salary: Grade 7, £31,948 - £35,938 per annum

Closing date: 15 October 2012