Postdoc position in computational neuroscience

A Postdoc position is now available in the Dura-Bernal Lab at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University (Brooklyn, New York), working on a new exciting multidisciplinary project entitled "Restoring motor function after spinal cord injury using multiscale modeling to decode neural latent dynamics from motor cortex EEG." The position is funded by New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) Spinal Cord Injury Research program.

The project aims to improve brain-machine interface decoders by combining multiscale modeling of motor cortex circuits, analysis of low-dimensional neural manifolds associated with behavior, and realistic simulation of EEG signals. See our recent Cell Reports publication describing the multiscale motor cortex model and behavior-related neural manifolds: www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(23)00585-5

Benefits and conditions:

• Gain research experience and learn cutting edge methods in computational neuroscience, including large-scale modeling of neuronal  circuits to study brain function and disease, and machine learning applied to neuroscience. For more details see Research and Current Collaborations. 

• Opportunities to contribute and interact with other ongoing projects, including the development of the NetPyNE modeling tool, interfacing circuit and whole-brain models (TVB-NetPyNE), developing an integrated sensorimotor thalamocortical circuit model, studying the cellular/circuit mechanisms underlying schizophrenia, epilepsy and other disease, and simulating novel neurostimulation and pharmacological treatments, among others.

• Opportunities to collaborate with leading national/international experimental and computational labs/projects at Yale, Brown, Northwestern, Edinburgh, Allen Brain Institute, Charité Berlin, EPFL, UCL, HBP, EBRAINS, TVB, and others.

• Full-time position (40 hours / week), initially for 1-year, with possibility of extension. 

• Work from New York City (Brooklyn), one of the world's most vibrant cities and and major research and tech hub.

Required: 

• PhD (or equivalent) in Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, Engineering, or related discipline.

• Experience in one or more of the project research topics: multiscale modeling of brain circuits, motor cortex, neural manifolds, EEG, brain-machine interfaces (preferably with related peer-reviewed publications).

• Experience programming in Python (or similar), including packages for scientific computing.

• Spoken and written English language proficiency.

Desired:

• Experience in research/academic environment and/or neuroscience background.

• Experience with the NEURON simulator and/or NetPyNE multiscale modeling tool.

• Experience running parallelized large-scale simulations on supercomputers.

• Experience in data science, data visualization and machine learning. 

How to apply:

• To apply please complete this simple online form: https://forms.gle/RSAZy6TYSf4Kdy1F7 

• For questions please email salvador.dura-bernal@downstate.edu

We are committed to creating a diverse workplace, with every member of the team able to thrive both personally and professionally. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.