Research Assistant | Laboratory of Neurotechnology and Biophysics

Organization Overview

Neurobiological discoveries have been fueled in recent years by rapid development of optical imaging tools. Over the last decade the Laboratory of Neurotechnology and Biophysics has developed a wide portfolio of advanced optical neurotechnologies that have enabled large-scale optical interrogation of neuronal population activity at high spatiotemporal resolution across model systems. These capabilities have opened up new opportunities for understanding the fundamental principles of how brain-wide neurocomputation and animal behavior emerges from dynamic interaction of vast and highly distributed neuronal populations in the mammalian brain. Developing and applying new neurotechnologies towards these other neuroscience questions represents a major focus of the lab in the coming years. These efforts have the potential to transform our understanding of how cognitive functions emerge from the connectivity and of neuroactivity as well as provide new avenues for the development of new class of biologically inspired AI algorithms and architectures. 

Overview

The Research Assistant will play a crucial role in facilitating and being responsible for all aspects related to in vivo animal-related work required to characterize and apply the above optical technologies. They will work independently and collaboratively with other lab members including postdocs, graduate students and engineers in the lab on data acquisition and analysis while independently managing and owning areas related to in vivo animal-related work. As the success of multiple projects is highly dependent on the quality on their work, the successful candidate will a be highly organized, detail-oriented and self-motivated individual. They will join an intellectually stimulating high-end scientific research environment closely with a small interdisciplinary team of highly driven and passionate scientists. Candidates intending to apply to a graduate school are expected to commit for at least the duration of two years to this position. Prior experience with working with rodents, basic knowledge of molecular and neurobiology and hands-on experience with performing in vivo surgeries in rodents is required.

Responsibilities

The Research Assistant will be responsible for all aspects related to in vivo animal related work. These include:

• Testing and characterization of various fluorescent reporters of neuroactivity
• Management of the animal colony
• Performance of in vivo cranial windows surgeries
• Stereotactic virus injections
• Development of animal training protocols and apparatus for behavioral training and monitoring supported by technical staff
• Pperforming in vivo experiments independently or collaboratively with other lab members using the advanced microscopy portfolio in the lab

The Research Assistant will also be responsible for utilizing and expanding (as needed) the existing data processing pipeline and post-acquisition data analysis, documentation, compiling reports or manuscript sections.

Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, biology, or related field
• Must be highly organized, detail-oriented and self-motivated with excellent time management and be able to manage multiple tasks
• Excellent communication skills
• Must have basic knowledge of rodent neuroanatomy and previous hands-on experience with rodent handing including stereotactic injections
• Basic knowledge of molecular biology tools including mouse genetics, cloning, plasmid design, sequencing and work with viral vectors is required

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in neuroscience or related field is preferred
• Previous experience with rodent cranial window surgery is strongly preferred
• Experience with rodent behavior or managing a colony is desirable
• Experience with two-photon in vivo microscopy or confocal microscopy as well as data analysis is desirable