PostDoc position in the department of Department of Neurobiology : Rehovot, ISRAEL

Employer:

Weizmann Institute of Science

Location:

Rehovot, ISRAEL

Type:

Other

Posted:

October 25, 2011

Expires:

October 17, 2012

Requisition number:

Euraxess-euraxess-jobs-33637876

Science jobs from Weizmann Institute of Science: job description

Neuro-engineering of touch: Study of the mechanisms of closed-loop processing of active touch

Description

PostDoc position in the department of Department of Neurobiology at Weizmann institute of Science in the group of Ehud Ahissar for 2-3 years. Perception is achieved via well coordinated action of parallel motor-sensory loops, which actively sample the environment. One such perceptual system, which gradually becomes the standard model for studying active sensing, is the whisking system employed by rodents. This system controls an array of highly sensitive facial hairs which are used for efficient tactile (touch) sensation of the near environment. During the last decade the loops controlling active touch via whisking were delineated and characterized in detail in many laboratories across the world. However, while details of loop activities are rapidly accumulating, understanding of the control and processing algorithms of these loops is still lacking. Students with background in engineering who are interested in neuroscience are welcome to take part in this neuro-engineering study of perceptual control. The study aims at understanding closed-loop control of active touch via whisking in rats and mice. It involves reverse engineering methods, advanced neuro-genetic tools, advanced ethological methods, state-of-the-art video tracking, and robotics. The project is part of an international, multi-institutional research consortium (the BIOTACT project, http://www.biotact.org/), which involves frequent interactions with scientists with a broad range of expertise in rodent neuroscience, robotics, and computational neuroscience. Interested candidates should send email to Ehud Ahissar (ehud.ahissar@weizmann.ac.il) with: Title: [PhD / post-doc] in neuro-engineering CV List of publications Pdf of key publications List of references (with e-mails and tel. numbers) Anything else that is relevant (research interests, relevant experience, �)

Benefits

Normal benefits of postdocs as described at http://www.weizmann.ac.il/feinberg/postdoc_fell/

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