October 2017 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Workshop announcement: The Probabilistic Brain, March 2018
by Ulrik Beierholm 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

Dear Colleagues We are very pleased to invite you to an exciting 2-day workshop on *probabilistic approaches to learning, perception, and action* in the historic city of Durham in the North-East of England: see the workshop website <https://sites.google.com/view/tpbw2018/>. The workshop will take place on *March 23rd-24th 2018*, and registration is *open now*. Speakers: Vikranth Rao Bejjanki, Hamilton College ● Nick Chater, University of Warwick ● József Fiser, Central European University ● Aldo Faisal, Imperial College London ● Samuel Gershman, Harvard University ● Janneke Jehee, Donders Institute ● Rebecca Lawson, UCL / Cambridge ● Laurence T Maloney, NYU ● Pascal Mamassian, Ecole Normale Supérieure ● Christopher Summerfield, University of Oxford ● Jane Wang, Google DeepMind The workshop is supported by the Experimental Psychology Society and Durham University. For full info on the workshop format and topics, our location and travel, and Registration, please see the workshop website <https://sites.google.com/view/tpbw2018/>. Hope to see you there, The organisers, Marko Nardini ● Ulrik Beierholm ● Maria Olkkonen (Durham University) ● Tessa Dekker (UCL) ● Laurence T Maloney (NYU)

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[jobs] Assistant and Associate Professor positions in Bio- and Neural Robotics in Odense
by Poramate Manoonpong 08 Oct '17

08 Oct '17

The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, invites applications for Assistant or Associate Professor with research focus in Neural Robotics, Bio-inspired or Biorobotics, available from January 2018 and based in Odense. The positions are based in the Embodied Systems for Robotics and Learning (ESRL) unit and will complement the unit's existing research activities: - biorobotics; - neural models of control for embodied robots; - bio-inspired / neural learning mechanisms; - cross-modal and multi-modal sensory interpretation; - development of bio-inspired and embodied robotic hardware; - bio-inspired collective behaviour in robot groups; - embedded electronics design and research; - development and use of robotic educational tools; - morphological computation and the role of embodiment. Duties comprise research and teaching, student project supervision and acquisition of external funding. If you have a Ph.D. in a computing, mathematical, computational neuroscience or robotics-related discipline and a research track record including strong interdisciplinary work in one or more of the topics above, send us an application: for more detail and application form see [1]. The closing date is the 27th of October, 2017. For more information about these positions, please contact Professor John Hallam <john(a)mmmi.sdu.dk<mailto:john@mmmi.sdu.dk>>. [1] https://ssl1.peoplexs.com/Peoplexs22/CandidatesPortalNoLogin/Vacancy.cfm?Po…

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M-GATE: 15 PhD positions available in leading labs across Europe on the physiology and circuits of memory [WITH FIXED LINK; APOLOGIES]
by Francesco Battaglia 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

M-GATE is a network of 8 leading European institutions funded by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission, for 15 PhD students Healthy brain physiology, as well as diseases of memory circuits such as epilepsy and Alzheimer will be studied. Detailed circuit analysis approaches in animals will be combined with work on human subjects and theoretical approaches. New experimental and analytical technologies will be developed and deployed, also in collaboration with industrial partners. Positions are available with the following PIs: - Dr. Francesco Battaglia (network coordinator)/Dr. Lisa Genzel Donders Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands; - Dr. Clifford Kentros; NTNU, Trondheim, Norway - Dr. Hugo Spiers; University College London - Dr. Christophe Bernard Université d’Aix/Marseille, France - Dr. Pim Drinkenburg; Janssen Pharmaceutica BV, Beerse, Belgium - Dr. Alessandro Treves; SISSA International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy - Dr. Nachum Ulanovsky; Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel - Dr. Misha Tsodyks; Weizmann Institute, Rehovot Israel - Dr. Rosa Cossart; Institut de neurobiologie de la Mediterranée, Marseille France We will offer to the students a training program including events at all participating institutions, including theoretical courses, experimental methodologies and transferable skills. The details of the network and all projects are available at our website http://www.mgate.eu <http://www.mgate.eu/> requirements and application procedures vary by PhD project, as described in the website. Please contact the project PIs (addresses available on the website) for questions on the project. General inquiries may be directed to the network coordinators at info(a)mgate.eu <mailto:info@mgate.eu>. In general, we will give full consideration to applications received by Nov., 30 2017.

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Two Post-doctoral positions available in Rome
by Aldo Genovesio 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Two ERC funded Post-doctoral positions in Primate Neurophysiology are available in the laboratory of Aldo Genovesio at the Medical School of the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Both positions are of one year renewable for at least other two years. We are looking for candidates with a PhD in the field of neuroscience, statistics, biomedical engineering, computer science, or related fields with a background in training animals, recording and analysis of neuronal data or in computational neuroscience. Experience with data analysis, programming (C/C++ and Matlab), and a quantitative approach are important. One position is for a candidate with previous experience in training animals, recording and analysis of neuronal data. The other position is for a candidate with a background in computational neuroscience or computer science. He is expected to analyze the activity of large sets of single cells of simultaneously recorded neurons and local fields and to develop computational models of the data. The ERC project investigates using multi-site electrode arrays the neural activity underlying prediction, categorization, and monitoring of self and others goals actions in the prefrontal cortex during social interaction with a focus on the Frontal Pole cortex, a prefrontal area only recently investigated at the single cell level in our past studies. Inquiries should be addressed to genovesiolab(a)gmail.com. All interested candidates should send a CV, a brief description of research interests for a preliminary evaluation and names and contact of 2 references to genovesiolab(a)gmail.com. The start date is flexible. The salary will be determined based on the experience. Prof. Aldo Genovesio Department of Physiology and Pharmacology Sapienza University of Roma Piazzale Aldo Moro 5; 00185 Roma E-mail: aldo.genovesio(a)uniroma1.it

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AoN Brainhack Warsaw 2017 - call for participants - early bird registration till 15.10
by Daniel Borek 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

*AoN Brainhack Warsaw 2017* *November 17-19, 2017* *University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland* *— The early bird registration extended to 15th October2017 — * On the weekend of *17-19th November 2017*, the first edition of AoN Brainhack Warsaw will take place. During this three-day event dedicated to students and PhD students, we will work in teams on* neuroscience-related projects*. The aim of the event is to meet new, enthusiastic researchers, make new friendships in academia, learn, share the knowledge on data mining and brain research, but also promote open science in the spirit of the whole Brainhack community ( <https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0121-x>Craddock et al., 2016) <https://gigascience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13742-016-0121-x>. Attendees of various backgrounds are welcome to join! Below you could see list of projects which will be realised during our three day event: 1. Functional connectivity research: can we find a common ground? <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity> 2. Detecting trypophobia triggers <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23trypophobia> 3. Development of video game for studying joint action dynamics <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23game> 4. Training a human-like movie evaluation system based on the semantic features of the storylines <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23movies> 5. Hypothesis-driven white matter tractography from T1-weighted MRI images <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23whitematter> 6. One channel EEG sleep staging with open source and open hardware NeuroOn sleep mask <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23neuroon> 7. Building a brain-ageing biomarker using machine learning <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23ageingbiomarker> 8. Building and using the “FlyPi”: the 3D-printed Neurobiology Lab <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/#connectivity%23flypi> *‘Early bird’* registration for project participants,* closes on 15th October 2017*. The applications will be reviewed and the notification of acceptance will be sent to the applicants until 20th October2017. We welcome everyone at the AoN Brainhack Warsaw 2017 event. We would like to prepare the equipment and the clusters properly before the event, therefore we are asking the participants to register in advance and choose the projects of their preference. We will do our best to make sure that everyone can take part in the project they like, and that the projects are well prepared for the participants. In any case, we welcome everyone to come, watch the event and help us at the first Brainhack in the history of AoN conference! A registration fee of 25EUR (or 100PLN) will be requested upon acceptance. The registration fee will be spent on the catering during the event. To register please visit our page and learn more about the Brainhack Warsaw! https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/ <https://brainhackwarsaw.github.io/> We looking forward to see you in Warsaw! *The AoN Brainhack Warsaw 2017 team*

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M-GATE: 15 PhD positions available in leading labs across Europe on the physiology and circuits of memory
by Francesco Battaglia 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

M-GATE is a network of 8 leading European institutions funded by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission. We offer to 15 promising young researchers the opportunity to get a world-class doctoral training and do cutting edge research on memory circuits. Healthy brain physiology, as well as diseases of memory circuits such as epilepsy and Alzheimer will be studied. Detailed circuit analysis approaches in animals will be combined with work on human subjects and theoretical approaches. New experimental and analytical technologies will be developed and deployed, also in collaboration with industrial partners. Positions are available with the following PIs: - Dr. Francesco Battaglia (network coordinator) Donders Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands; - Dr. Rosa Cossart; Institut de neurobiologie de la Mediterranée, Marseille France - Dr. Hugo Spiers; University College London - Dr. Christophe Bernard Université d’Aix/Marseille, France - Dr. Pim Drinkenburg; Janssen Pharmaceutica BV, Beerse, Belgium - Dr. Clifford Kentros; NTNU, Trondheim, Norway - Dr. Alessandro Treves; SISSA International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy - Dr. Nachum Ulanovsky; Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel - Dr. Misha Tsodyks; Weizmann Institute, Rehovot Israel We will offer to the students a training program including events at all participating institutions, including theoretical courses, experimental methodologies and transferable skills. The details of the network and all projects are available at our website http://www.mgate.eu <http://www.maget.eu/>. Job requirements and application procedures vary by PhD project, as described in the website. Please contact the project PIs (addresses available on the website) for questions on the project. General inquiries may be directed to the network coordinators at info(a)mgate.eu <mailto:info@mgate.eu>. In general, we will give full consideration to applications received by Nov., 30 2017.

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Open position: Expert in machine learning and high-performance computing
by Daniel Zysman 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences seeks an expert in machine learning and high-performance computing to collaborate on cutting edge research on neuroscience, perception, cognition, and artificial intelligence. The department is a world leader in computational approaches to brain science, and is home to state-of-the-art computing resources as well as the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, a multi-institutional NSF Science and Technology Center dedicated to the study of intelligence. Salary will be competitive with industry. To apply: https://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_mit/external/jobDetails.do… <https://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_mit/external/jobDetails.do…> For more information about our department: https://bcs.mit.edu/ <https://bcs.mit.edu/> Job Description: PROGRAMMER/SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER/COMPUTATIONAL AND MACHINE LEARNING SPECIALIST, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, to help tackle challenging problems in high-performance computing methods and systems, machine learning, management of large datasets, and artificial intelligence. Responsibilities include helping researchers translate computational algorithms into efficiently functioning (especially parallelized and GPU optimized) code; assisting with installation and implementation of third-party tools; staying up-to-date with cutting-edge computational techniques; providing guidance for storage and management of large data sets; developing and maintaining online courses for computing resources, running in-person tutorials on specific software packages/tools, and helping transition users to new computing tools; providing educational support and training to users of the departmental computing cluster; and monitoring cluster usage and resolving problems. Job Requirements: Bachelor’s degree (advanced degree preferred) in a scientific field or computer science; at least four years’ experience in scientific high-performance (cluster) computing; familiarity with Slurm and Lustre; broad computational background with knowledge of Unix, HPC algorithms, GPU computing, programming models, debuggers, and performance tools; software development experience, especially Python and MATLAB, but also R, Lua, JavaScript, etc.; knowledge of high-level APIs for HPC computing; expertise installing and maintaining third-party software in an HPC environment and with container technology, especially in the context of computational reproducibility; familiarity with mathematical algorithms for high-performance computing, use or design of HPC profiling or optimization tools, and deep neural networks; ability to work effectively with scientists and engineers; initiative, tact, and judgment in developing solutions for users; excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, orally, in writing, and via live presentations; demonstrated ability to assume leadership roles, grasp complex problems, and develop solutions; and extensive background in high-performance computing. MIT is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.

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PhD positions at the Univ. of Leicester (for UK/EU candidates only)
by Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo (Prof.) 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

Fully Funded PhD Studentships (for UK/EU candidates only) Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester, UK. www.le.ac.uk/csn The Centre for Systems Neuroscience at the University of Leicester, UK, offers up to 2, 3-Year Fully Funded (stipend plus fees) PhD positions for UK/EU candidates, to study single cell recordings in humans – performed in epileptic patients for curative surgery. The project will investigate concept cells (a.k.a. Jennifer Aniston neurons) – that means, neurons in the hippocampus and surrounding areas that selectively fire to specific concepts, like different pictures and the written or spoken name of a particular person (e.g. Quian Quiroga et al, Nature 2005; Quian Quiroga Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2012), which are involved in declarative memory functions. The successful candidate will contribute to performing recordings with patients in collaborating hospitals and the analysis of the data to investigate the role of these neurons in memory formation. Candidates should have very good quantitative skills (data processing, and programing in Matlab), a strong background in neuroscience and, ideally, good experience with neurophysiology recordings. They should be able to work both independently and as part of a research team within the Centre for System Neuroscience at Leicester and with our external collaborators. Informal enquiries are welcome and should be made to Valeria Zonato, Research Centre Manager, vz12(a)le.ac.uk or 0116 252 3249. Interested candidates should send their curriculum vitae and a brief description of their scientific interests to Valeria Zonato (vz12(a)le.ac.uk<mailto:vz12@le.ac.uk>). The closing date for the applications is Friday 15th September 2017.

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COSYNE 2018: Call for workshop proposals and Meeting announcement
by Tomas Hromadka 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2018 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING 01 - 04 March 2018 Denver, Colorado WORKSHOPS 05 - 06 March 2018 Breckenridge, Colorado www.cosyne.org ==================================================== IMPORTANT DATES NEW Workshop pre-proposal deadline: 14 October 2017 NEW Workshop proposal deadline: 10 November 2017 Abstract submission opens: 10 October 2017 Abstract submission deadline: 20 November 2017 ---------------------------------------------------- MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks is selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. For details on workshop proposals please see below or visit Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. This year we would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. COSYNE SPEAKERS Tim Behrens (Oxford) Josh Berke (UCSF) Tiago Branco (UCL) Jessica Cardin (Yale) Claudia Clopath (Imperial) Marlene Cohen (Pittsburgh) Iain Couzin (Max-Planck) Carina Curto (Penn State) Ann Graybiel (MIT) Vivek Jayaraman (Janelia) Mate Lengyel (Cambridge) Joni Wallis (Berkeley) Byron Yu (CMU) When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Ilana Witten (Princeton) and Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Program Chairs: Linda Wilbrecht (Berkeley) and Brent Doiron (U Pittsburgh) Workshop Chairs: Laura Busse (LMU) and Ralf Haefner (U Rochester) Undergraduate Travel Chairs: Angela Langdon (Princeton) and Robert Wilson (U Arizona) Publicity Chair: Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org ----------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------- PRE-PROPOSALS In an effort to coordinate submissions, the organizers are encouraged to submit a pre-proposal by *14 October 2017.* Pre-proposals will be shared among submitters. Pre-proposals are not mandatory but workshops with a pre-proposal will have priority. The organizers may submit the full proposal by its deadline. A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting (www.cosyne.org). The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals that differ substantially in content, scope, and/or approach from workshops of recent years (examples available at Cosyne.org -> Workshops). Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. In order to foster discussion within Workshops and reduce overlap between workshops, organizers should inform invited speakers that a single person should not speak in more than one of the Workshops taking place on the same day. WORKSHOP DETAILS - There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. - Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people. - The workshops will be split into morning (8.00-11.00 AM) and afternoon (4.30-7.30 PM) sessions. - Workshops will be held at Breckenridge, CO, a ski resort located 100 miles (approximately two hours) from the Denver International Airport. Buses from the main conference will be provided. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Deadline for pre-proposals: 14 October 2017 Deadline for proposals: 10 November 2017 Format: plain text only, please no attachments, email to workshops [at] cosyne.org (Laura Busse, Ralf Haefner) PRE-PROPOSALS should include: - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. - A title. - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted group of participants. - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed speakers. - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please explain why. - A brief resume of the workshop organizer along with a short list of workshop-relevant publications (about half a page total). FULL PROPOSALS should include the list of confirmed speakers in addition to components required for a pre-proposal. Workshop organizer responsibilities include coordinating workshop participation and content, scheduling all speakers and submitting a final schedule for the workshop program, and moderating the discussion. Organizers can be speakers but need not speak depending on scheduling constraints. SUGGESTIONS Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. We recommend fewer than 10 talks. WORKSHOP COSTS Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. All workshop speakers are expected to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One complementary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. COSYNE WORKSHOP QUESTIONS workshops [at] cosyne.org COSYNE MAILING LISTS Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

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High performance computing workshop at SFN 2017
by Ted Carnevale 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

Seats are still available in the workshop Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) for Parallel Simulations Saturday, Nov. 11 from 9 AM to noon which we are presenting in downtown Washington, DC as a satellite to this year's SFN meeting. NSG eliminates most technical and adminstrative barriers to using high performance computing resources, and even gives away free CPU time on parallel supercomputers. Software currently installed on NSG includes BluePyOpt, Brian, CARLsim, Freesurfer, GENESIS, MATLAB, MOOSE, NEST, NEURON, PyNN, and the Virtual Personalized Multimodal Connectome Pipeline. At this workshop you will learn how to use this NSF-supported resource in your computationally-intensive modeling and data analysis projects. You will also hear presentations from several research teams about how they are using NSG in their own research. For a description of the workshop and its application form, see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2017/nsg2017.html The registration deadline is Friday Oct. 28. --Ted

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