November 2019 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Two PhD/Postdoc positions in theory of neuromorphic computing, Groningen, Netherland
by Herbert Jaeger 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

In the group of Herbert Jaeger two fully funded positions are open for PhD students (4 year contract) or Postdocs (3 year contract). Both positions are about formal, theoretical analyses and algorithmic models of „neuromorphic“ computing in non-digital hardware (analog, unclocked, spiking microchips or even unconventional material substrates exhibiting relevant nonlinear dyanmical phenomena). Herbert Jaeger’s group is embedded in the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron, https://www.rug.nl/research/fse/cognitive-systems-and-materials/?lang=en). CogniGron, founded in 2018, is an interdisciplinary initiative at the intersection of computer science, AI, machine learning, computational neuroscience and material science. With 10 new professorships and 30 PhD stipends, CogniGron stands out as one of the most visible scientific investments in the Netherlands in recent times. The *first position* is defined within the European H2020 project „Memory technologies with multi-scale time constants for neuromorphic architectures (MeM-Scales)“, whose central objective is to build (analog, spiking) neuromorphic microchips which can adapt to online input signals which display several or even many timescales. Since microchip physics will deliver only a few physical timescales, collective computational phenomena will have to be explored in order to realize the long-range memory timescales required by many tasks. Since at this point, numerous but hardly explored options are "in the air" for computational timescale management, this position offers much freedom to engage in original work. The *second position* is funded through university budgets and is independent of specific project demands. The position holder will enjoy unusual freedom, paired with intellectual risk, to contribute to the ultimate scientific goal of Jaeger’s group: a unifying formal theory of information processing in nonlinear dynamical systems - regardless of whether they are similar to biological brains, or rest on non-neural dynamical phenomena in novel material substrates. Obviously, such a unifying theory, which would play for neuromorphic computing a similarly central role as Turing computability theory plays for digital computing, is not in sight and may be even not possible. However, many mini-revolutions in mathematical description formats are possible, and needed. Each position will be filled by either a PhD student with a 4-year contract, or by a Postdoc with a 3-year contract. The only selection criterion is qualification (product of intellectual audacity, analytical thinking power, and relevant mathematical and factual knowledge). Groningen is a beautiful and welcoming city, the university sits in the top 100 in virtually all global ranking lists, and the salary is highly competitive. More detail can be found in the official job announcements on the website of the University of Groningen: First position: https://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-0… (PhD version) https://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-0… (Postdoc version) Second position: https://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-0… (PhD version) https://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-0… (Postdoc version) Please apply for at most one of these formal job announcements, following the instructions given at these weblinks. For pre-application inquiries please contact me directly by email (h.jaeger(a)rug.nl). Applications received before December 1 will be given full consideration; however, the positions will remain open until filled. The earliest (and desirable) starting date for both positions is January 1, 2020. -- Dr. Herbert Jaeger Professor of Computing in Cognitive Materials Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Faculty of Science and Engineering - CogniGron Bernoulliborg Nijenborgh 9, 9747 AG Groningen web: minds.jacobs-university.de

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Open position: MIT, Co-instructor and education support coordinator in computational neuroscience
by Ila Fiete 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

Dear Colleagues, I would appreciate if you would pass along to appropriate candidates the following advertisement for an open position for a Co-instructor and education support coordinator in computational neuroscience at MIT. Apologies if you receive multiple postings. Best wishes, Ila Fiete ------------------------------------------------ COMPUTATION COURSE CO-INSTRUCTOR AND EDUCATION SUPPORT COORDINATOR, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences, to support the development and instruction of computational courses (85%) and provide assistance to the department as a whole on enhancing and evaluating the quality of its undergraduate course offerings (15%). The goal will be to integrate computational thinking skills across the Course 9 curriculum and in the new Computation and Cognition (Course 6-9) curriculum, and provide innovative training in the areas of computational neuroscience, neuroengineering, and human and machine intelligence. The main responsibility will be to develop learning content for MIT students in these areas, including instructional videos, tutorials, problem sets, demonstrations of basic neuroscience and data analysis methods. Will hold office hours and give in-class lectures as appropriate and provide feedback and guidance before and after a course launches to ensure a high-quality learning experience. Will also provide support to the department in enhancing and evaluating the undergraduate program broadly, including assisting with website content (e.g., videotapes of classroom instruction, faculty/student interactions, etc.) and coordinating with the Teaching and Learning Laboratory to evaluate the efficacy of the department’s approaches to improving undergraduate education; and perform other duties as requested. Job Requirements REQUIRED: Ph.D. in neuroscience, bioengineering, computational cognitive science or related/equivalent area; at least one year of teaching experience; proficiency with MATLAB and Python; excellent communication skills; and a demonstrated commitment to undergraduate education. Web publishing experience a plus; as is knowledge of Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign, Fetch, and HTML coding. Job #17993. Link: https://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_mit/external/jobDetails/jo…

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Data Scientist Position at Boston University
by Chen, Jerry 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

The Lab of Jerry Chen at Boston University is hiring a Data Scientist to be involved in several multi-year BRAIN Initiative related NIH and NSF funded projects. These projects focus on understanding cortical computation during behavior by combining large-scale population recordings, anatomical reconstructions, and transcriptional profiling as well as developing tools for large-scale and high-speed imaging of neuronal populations. This person will be involved in help to analyze experimental data, developing software tools to aid in the data analysis, and helping with data infrastructure and management. Specific Projects include: 1. Analysis of dense electron microscope reconstructions of neuronal connectivity (ie. Connectomics) 2. Establishing pipeline for image analysis for in situ sequencing of gene expression 3. Establishing pipeline for automated behavioral training and analysis. 4. Visualization and analysis of population imaging data across multiple brain areas during behavior. This person will be jointly involved and mentored by personnel from the Hariri Institute's Software & Application Innovation Lab (SAIL), a center with expertise in cutting-edge computational and data-driven research with tangible and direct impacts on academic research, public service, and industry partners in healthcare, finance, and technology. Qualifications: BA/BS degree (MA or PhD preferred) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Neuroscience or related technical field. One to three years of academic or professional experience. Programming experience in MATLAB is required. Additional experience in Python, C++, or LABView is preferred. Extensive background in either computational neuroscience, image analysis, computer vision, or machine learning is preferred. If interested in applying, please submit a CV along with 3 references to jerry(a)chen-lab.org<mailto:jerry@chen-lab.org>.

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Post-doc on modeling neural circuit dynamics and homeostasis
by Jochen Triesch 04 Nov '19

04 Nov '19

A 2-year post-doc position on modeling neural circuit dynamics and homeostasis is available at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (https://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/en/). The project aims at better understanding how different plasticity mechanisms maintain neural circuits in healthy activity regimes suitable for information processing and how these mechanisms may break down in certain network disorders. We are also interested the role of non-neuronal cell types in the process. The project is jointly lead by Prof. Jochen Triesch and Prof. Peter Jedlicka. The successful candidate will have the possibility to work closely together with experimental labs from Frankfurt’s vibrant Neuroscience community. The project is funded through Frankfurt’s new Center for Personalized Translational Epilepsy Research (CePTER). Applications (single pdf file including CV, list of publications, statement of research interests and names and email addresses of three references) should be sent to jedlicka(a)em.uni-frankfurt.de and triesch(a)fias.uni-frankfurt.de. The ideal candidate will have obtained a PhD/Master Degree in Computational Neuroscience or closely related field and have a strong interest in applying their knowledge to problems of medical relevance. A strong background in either neural mass models or spiking neural network models or compartmental modeling is expected. Experience in modeling epilepsy, neural plasticity and neuroimmune interactions is a plus. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position has been filled. -- Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch Johanna Quandt Research Professor Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/ Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611

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Ten Years Reproducibility Challenge / ReScience special issue
by Nicolas Rougier 04 Nov '19

04 Nov '19

Dear all, We’ve just launched the "Ten Years Reproducibility Challenge” whose goal is to try to compile & run your old code (> 10 years) that accompanied one of your published article or preprint (details below). More information at: https://github.com/ReScience/ten-years/ Deadline for submission: 01/04/2020 Nicolas Rougier --- Did you ever try to run an old code that you wrote for a scientific article you published years ago? Did you encounter any problems? Were you successful? We are curious to hear your story. This is the reason why we are editing a special issue of ReScience to collect these stories. The ten years reproducibility challenge is an invitation for researchers to try to run the code they've created for a scientific publication that was published more than ten years ago. This code can be anything (statistical analysis, numerical simulation, data processing, etc.), can be written in any language and can address any scientific domain. The only mandatory condition to enter the challenge is to have published a scientific article before 2010, in a journal or a conference with proceedings, which contains results produced by code, irrespectively of whether this code was published in some form at the time or not. Note that we do not ask you to write a new version of your old code. We ask you instead to try to make your old code to run on modern hardware/software (with minimal modifications) in order to check if you can obtain the exact same results that were publised at least ten years ago. Sounds easy? We have good reasons to think this might be more difficult than you think. And maybe the first problem you'll have to solve is to find your own source code. More information at: https://github.com/ReScience/ten-years/

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COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE MODELER FOR PAIN PROJECT
by Hugo-Geerts＠In-Silico-Biosciences.com 03 Nov '19

03 Nov '19

Do you want to make a difference in the life of patients suffering from chronic pain? Are you motivated to help solving the opioid epidemic? In Silico Biosciences (www.in-silico-biosciences.com), a pioneer in Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) for R&D in CNS diseases has openings for computational neuroscientists. The fully funded European Pain project (duration 3.5 years with start in early 2020) aims to develop an actionable biophysically realistic computer model of the relevant human neuronal circuits for analgesia, sedation, cognitive impairment, and substance abuse liability for opioids. These models will be integrated in an existing QSP platform for the introduction of approved therapeutic medications based on their pharmacological properties for combination therapy. The models will be developed based on preclinical knowledge combined with human neurophysiology and imaging studies of relevant neuronal circuits, will be calibrated using biomarkers and therapeutic interventions in human patients and predictions will be tested in preclinical models and in clinical studies. This is an unique opportunity to work in a world-class multi-disciplinary consortium ranging from preclinical studies over computer modeling of pharmacological interventions to clinical studies and at the same time pursuing a meaningful outcome for patients. The platform is based on NEURON software. The positions are at both post-doc and graduate student level, with the opportunity to pursue a PhD and can be embedded in the Leiden-Amsterdam Center for Drug Research in Leiden, the Netherlands. However, alternative locations and flexible remote working arrangements can be considered depending on individual circumstances. Salary is commensurate with experience. Please send your CV, covering letter and the names of two references to Hugo-Geerts(a)In-Silico-Biosciences.com

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