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

Recent research article

by Osva Velarde

Dear Colleagues, We are happy to share with you our work about the mechanisms of phase-amplitude cross frequency coupling (PAC) in models of biologically plausible neural networks. We think this work opens a new and valuable connection between theory of dynamical systems and the field of signal processing in neural networks and other biophysical systems. In particular, one of the proposed tools, the Time Locked Index (TLI), is suitable to efficiently quantify the harmonic content of experimental recordings. Hope you find this useful. Feedback is most welcome. "Bifurcation structure determines different phase-amplitude coupling patterns in the activity of biologically plausible neural networks" O M Velarde, E Urdapilleta, G Mato, and D Dellavale. NeuroImage https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116031 The paper is freely available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334582958_Bifurcation_structure_de… Source code for TLI computation:https://github.com/damian-dellavale/Time-Locked-Index With kind regards, Osvaldo Matías Velarde Departamento de Física Médica Instituto Balseiro - Centro Atómico Bariloche R8402AGP Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentinaosva_velarde@yahoo.com.arosva.m.velarde@gmail.com https://fisica.cab.cnea.gov.ar/fisicamedica/

July 31, 2019

Opening for Group Leader of Bio Data Science group

by Romuald Janik

Dear Colleagues, Starting from Fall 2019, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland will host a 4-year interdisciplinary project Bio-Inspired Artificial Neural Networks The broad aim of the project is to put together Neuroscience and Machine Learning research and gather insight from the brain analyzed over a wide range of scales in order to develop novel machine learning architectures and algorithms. The project comprises Machine Learning, Cognitive and Physics groups and in addition three new groups will be formed: a low level neuroscience group, a Bio Data Science group and a more technical computer science group. We are looking in particular for candidates for a Group Leader of the Bio Data Science group. The main aims of the Bio Data Science group located at the Faculty of Physics is to perform extensive analyses of massive fMRI data (both in-house and publicly available), possibly also of other modalities like diffusive MRI or MEG/EEG. These analyses will be targeted at i) developing machine learning based diagnostic algorithms, ii) extracting insights from data on connectivity/dynamical properties of neuronal networks, iii) comparisons with artificial neural networks. In addition, the group is expected to closely cooperate with the Physics group of the project on testing physics motivated hypothesis and implementing machine learning architectures. Of course, the group is very much welcome to pursue also other goals related to the project "Bio-Inspired Artificial Neural Networks". The Leader of the Bio Data Science group should therefore have expertise in machine learning as well as experience/knowledge on dealing with the specific peculiarities of the fMRI datasets like preprocessing requirements/artifacts as well as general knowledge about other modalities. The position is for 3 years. Deadline for application is 23rd August. The call with details is on the website http://bionn.matinf.uj.edu.pl/. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me (romuald.janik(a)gmail.com) Best regards, Romuald Janik

July 31, 2019

Fully funded PhD position in neuroscience about cone photoreceptor signal transduction at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris

by Juergen Reingruber

Please forward this offer among potentially interested students. Thanks. Jürgen Reingruber Topic: Development of a Mathematical Model of Signal Transduction and Adaptation in Mammalian Cone Photoreceptors Field: Computational Neuroscience, Sensory Transduction Location: Institute of Biology École Normale Supérieure, Paris Supervision: Jürgen Reingruber, IBENS Collaboration: G. Fain and A. P. Sampath from UCLA Funding: 42 months by ANR, starting earliest in October 2019 Project description: We are looking for a PhD student for an interdisciplinary project between physics, mathematics computer science and neuroscience. Cone photoreceptors are the fundamental retinal neurons underlying our daylight vision. In spite of their importance for our visual perception, a comprehensive biophysical model showing how cones convert light into an electrical signal has not yet been developed. In close partnership with our experimental collaborators from UCLA, the student will analyze new (and worldwide unique) electrophysiological recordings to develop the first molecular model for the light response in cones. He will use asymptotic analysis and simulations to obtain a precise understanding of how cones respond and adapt during daylight. He will perform simulations with molecularly modified models to study how sensory transduction is altered in a diseased photoreceptor, which is important for understanding and treatment of photoreceptor dysfunctions. More details about the project can be found here: http://www.biologie.ens.fr/~reingrub/content/PhDDescription.pdf Lab and Environment: The lab where the research will be conducted is located in the Institute of Biology at École Normale Supérieure in the Latin Quarter in Paris. The ENS is a leading multidisciplinary research center and part of the PSL university. It is located in the heart of Paris right next Collège de France, Institute Curie, EPSCI (school of engineering), Sorbonne and other universities. The lab provides high speed internet, a powerful workstation (iMac) and access to Bioclust, the IBENS computing cluster. The lab comprises PhD students and postdocs with background in physics, applied mathematics and computer science. Candidate: The candidate should have a solid background in physics, applied mathematics, computer science or equivalent. Her/he should be highly motivated and interested in neuroscience and biology. Ideally the candidate should have skills and experience in modeling, analysis of dynamical systems, stochastic processes as well as programming and running simulations using either Matlab, C/C++, Comsol or Python. To apply, please send a CV and a motivation letter to Jürgen Reingruber (reingrub(a)ens.fr) -- Jürgen Reingruber, PhD Institute of Biology (IBENS) École Normale Supérieure 46 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France Tel: +33 (0)1 4432 3662 Fax: +33 (0)1 4432 8887

July 31, 2019

[jobs] Postdoc on “Understanding of Visually Mediated Social Signs in Humans and Robots” at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT)

by Giulio Sandini

Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Research Line at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Erzelli, Genoa, is seeking to appoint one postdoctoral position focusing on the use of the iCub humanoid robot to investigate the role of body-mediated (embodied) social signals in human-robot collaborative interaction and to identify the minimum subset of signals enabling mutual understanding in human-robot communication in realistic, application oriented, scenarios. The research activities will be carry out under the supervision of Dr. Francesco Rea and Prof. Giulio Sandini (https://www.iit.it/careers/openings/opening/969-postdoctoral-position-in-th… ) The activity will be carried out within a Joint Lab recently established between IIT and a major produrre in the automotive sector, dedicated scientific and technical activities, including training, in the field of signs-based social communication mediated by robots. The research for this Postdoctoral position will involve: a) the development of methods and relative software to generate robot behaviors for natural mutual understanding, b) the design and implementation of novel models of immediate perception of the human partner state, and c) the design of experiments, testing and analysis/validation in human-robot interaction experiments. The first goal of the research is modelling how the robot could adapt its perception and behaviour to the individual needs of the partner during an interaction, with potential implications for communicative technology. The second goal of the research is to exploit how these models can be transferred to novel robotic designs. -- Prof. Giulio Sandini Founding Director - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Center for Human Technologies Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Unit Via Enrico Melen 83 - Building B - 16152 GENOVA Phone: +39 010 2897 227 https://www.iit.it/giulio-sandini https://www.iit.it/rbcs

July 31, 2019

Abstract submission extension to the next 15th Granada Seminar on Stochastic and Collective Effects in Neural Systems

by Prof. Dr. Joaquín J. Torres

Dear Computational Neuroscience community This is a kind reminder that the deadline for abstract submission to the next "15th Granada Seminar on Computational and Statistical Physics" that will be held in Granada Spain, next September 17-20, 2019 in the Science Faculty of the University of Granada, Spain, has been extended to the next August 31th, 2019. The Granada Seminar is a topical conference whose pedagogical power is especially channelled towards young researchers. In fact, one interesting aspect of this meeting is the opportunity given to young researchers to present their results and to discuss their problems with leading specialists. The Granada Seminar is Organized by the "Institute Carlos I for Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Granada, and it is Sponsored by: - Institute Carlos I, for theoretical and computational physics, University of Granada: http://ic1.ugr.es/home/ - European Physical Society This year edition the main topic of the conference is "Stochastic and Collective Effects in Neural Systems" including Biological aspects, Modeling, Dynamics, Networks, Function and Applications. The aim of this meeting is to bring together scientists interested in Neural Systems and their statistical and collective effects from real experiments, theoretical and computational models to applications. Confirmed Main Speakers: Roberto Barrio, Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain): Insect movement gaits: neuron model, CPG and patterns Ginestra Bianconi, Queen Mary University of London (UK) Jesús Cortés, Ikerbasque (Spain) Lucilla de Arcangelis, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (Italy) Jose Maria Delgado, Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Spain): Learning as a functional state of the brain Andrea Gabrielli, Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi (Italy): Brain Network Topology Maps Schizophrenia Dysfunctional Substrates Andre Longtin, University of Ottawa (Canada): Detecting and Learning in Noisy Neurons: From Dendrites to Spontaneous Movements Joaquin Marro, Universidad de Granada (Spain):Is the Mind just an assembly of Phase Transitions? Jorge F. Mejías, University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Geza Odor MTA EK-MFA (Hungary) Cyriel Pennartz, University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands): Predictive representations and population coding in visual and multisensory systems Dietmar Plenz, NIH National Institute of Mental Health (USA) Ander Ramos, Tecnalia (Spain) Alex Roxin, CRM Barcelona (Spain):A network model of place-cell turnover in CA1 Mavi Sánchez-Vives, Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques (Spain) Samir Suweis, Universita di Padova (Italy): Simple (but not too simple) models to investigate complex brain dynamics Yuhai Tu, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (USA): Optimal coding strategies in the periferal olfactory systems: Compressed sensing for an array of nonlinear olfactory receptor neurons with and without spontaneous activity Pablo Varona, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain) Pau Vilimelis Aceituno Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciencies (Germany) Marius Yamakou Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (Germany) People interested to attend the conference and present their contributions please follow the link below for further information: http://ergodic.ugr.es/cp/index.php Contributions to the conference will be invited to submit an original manuscript for a forthcomming "Special Issue on Emergent Effects in Stochastic Neural Networks with Application to Learning and Information Processing", in the Elsevier Journal "Neurocomputing" (Impact Factor: 4.072, being Q1 in the ISI JCR) -- Prof. Dr. Joaquín J. Torres Department of Electromagnetism and Physics of the Matter. Institute "Carlos I" for Theoretical and Computational Physics. University of Granada.

July 30, 2019

NEURON course at SFN 2019 meeting

by Carnevale, Nicholas

Space is still available for the NEURON course that will be held at a location on the campus of the Feinberg School of Medicine in downtown Chicago, as a satellite session to the 2019 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. This course is for you if you're * a lab director trying to decide whether to add computational modeling to your research program * a grad student or postdoc who is just getting started in modeling * an established NEURON user who wants to find out about NEURON's latest features It starts with a practical introduction that reviews basic concepts, presents a workflow for building and using mechanistic models of cells and networks, and moves on to topics that include: * how to speed up simulations * how to use Python with NEURON (while still taking advantage of NEURON's GUI!) * how to model reaction-diffusion with the RxD class For more information and the registration form, see https://neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/chi2019/chi2019.html --Ted -- This message was composed in plain text and may contain plain text formatting of source code, tables, and lists. Reading it in a client that ignores "excess" whitespace characters or line breaks may destroy that formatting, making this message unreadable. Outlook does that by default; learn how to disable the "Auto Remove Line Breaks" ""feature"" at support.microsoft.com

July 29, 2019

Associate professor in theoretical neuroscience position at Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

by Paul Tiesinga

Dear colleagues Were are recruiting a new faculty in the general area of theoretical (and/or computational) neuroscience at the associate professor level. The position is based in the Neuroinformatics department at the Faculty of Science at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and embedded in the Donders Institute. We are especially encouraging female candidates to apply. Detailed information about the position, as well as instructions of how to apply are found at https://www.academictransfer.com/nl/284454/associate-professor-of-theoretic… . Informal enquiries can be directed to Paul Tiesinga (p.tiesinga(a)science.ru.nl, Head of department) or Bert Kappen (b.kappen(a)donders.ru.nl, Chair of the search committee). Should you know of excellent candidates that may not have been reached by this advertisement, please feel free to forward this email to them or to forward their contact information to us at the aforementioned email addresses. Best regards, Paul Tiesinga, on behalf of the search committee.

July 29, 2019

search for neuro faculty at Northwestern University

by Sara A. Solla

The Department of Physiology at Northwestern University, where I work, seeks a full-time tenure track Investigator at the rank of Assistant, Associate or full Professor. Applications from the circuit, systems, and computational neuroscience community would be welcomed. Northwestern has a large neuroscience community consisting of over 150 faculty members, located on both Chicago and Evanston campuses, providing many opportunities for collaboration. The scientific environment is collegial, collaborative, and rich with core facilities, robust cross-disciplinary graduate training programs, and diverse expertise. Candidates should have a PhD, MD/PhD or MD degree, significant research experience, and evidence of sustainable extramural funding. Those seeking appointment at the associate or full professor level should have a record of outstanding research productivity and sustained grant support. When applying, please upload a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a two-page description of research accomplishments/plans, and a completed list of references form to suggest the names of individuals who could write letters of reference on your behalf. See https://www.nature.com/naturecareers/job/faculty-position-in-neuroscience-f…

July 26, 2019

Three-year postdoc position in auditory neuroengineering at Imperial College London

by Reichenbach, Johann D T

Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) Duration: Three years, with possibility of extension Sensory Neuroengineering group Imperial College London PI: Dr. Tobias Reichenbach http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/reichenbach/ Imperial College London is a science-based institution with the greatest concentration of high-impact research of any major UK university. The Faculty of Engineering, consistently rated among the best in the world, is made up of 10 academic departments and is committed to increasing its research activity by focusing on engineering-led multidisciplinary growth areas that target a number of global challenges. All of our academic departments are located on a single campus in South Kensington, giving a concentration of talent that creates a stimulating and vibrant research community. You can find out more about our staff benefits, including generous annual leave entitlements and our excellent professional development opportunities, here: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/job-applicants/staff-benefits/. This project is part of a recently funded EPSRC fellowship with the project partners Google and Oticon as well as further academic partners in Aachen, Paris and London. It tackles multisensory integration, one of the main issues in real-world speech comprehension. Multisensory speech perception such as through lip reading can indeed help to better understand a talker in background noise. However, the neural mechanisms behind this multisensory integration remain poorly understood This research project will tackle this challenge through experimental and mathematical techniques. Neuroimaging data acquisition will focus on EEG recordings, which will be analysed using advanced statistical models including deep neural networks. The project will also explore computational models of multisensory integration in cortical networks. Applicants should have an undergraduate degree/ MSc (or equivalent) in engineering, mathematics, physics or neuroscience with experience in signal processing, machine learning as well as human neuroscience. More information and a link to the application form can be found here: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/description/ENG00933/research-assistantassoc… Application deadline is 29 September 2019. ------------------------------------------- Tobias Reichenbach Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) Department of Bioengineering Imperial College London South Kensington Campus SW7 2AZ London, UK http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/reichenbach/

July 26, 2019

Post-Doc position (Neuronal Rhythms in Movement unit, OIST, Okinawa)

by Marylka Yoe Uusisaari

OIST is a young, fast-growing research-oriented interdisciplinary graduate university, located on the tropical paradise island of Okinawa ( https://www.visitokinawa.jp/) OIST relies on a cross-disciplinary approach, with an emphasis on creativity and exchange, to offer unique, individualized graduate training. Despite being a newcomer in the academic world, OIST was recently ranked as #10 in the world on Normalized Nature Index ( https://www.natureindex.com/annual-tables/2019/institution/academic-normali… ). The Neuronal Rhythms in Movement (nRIM; https://groups.oist.jp/nrim) unit at OIST is looking for an inspired applicant with a PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, neuromechanics, biophysics or similar related field to lead a collaborative, generously-funded project exploring how abstract patterns of neuronal activity are translated into precisely-timed motor actions using rodents. Our main focus is on natural movements such as running on uneven surface, climbing and jumping that require continuous modulation of behavioral programs. The successful applicant will be combining our novel, high-resolution 3D motion capture system with deep-brain imaging (Inscopix nVoke system) and optical/pharmacological manipulation to disentangle the circuitry mechanisms underlying fine motor control. The work will be conducted in tight collaboration with in vitro physiologists and anatomists, and complemented with computational approaches from our collaborators. Working with nRIM at OIST offers access to impressive research infrastructure including state-of-the-art imaging as well as scientific computing facilities. Importantly, we are dedicated to training early-career scientists for their best possible future and offer high-level professional and career development in form of personalized counseling, workshops and seminars, in addition to extensive opportunities for travel and networking within academia and industry as well as coaching in grant-writing. nRIM is a tight group of extraordinary individuals, and to ensure perfect fit to the group, shortlisted applicants will be invited to visit OIST for a 3-day interview meeting before any decisions are made. Qualifications: - A PhD (obtained within last 5 years) in relevant disciplines, such as biosciences, neuroscience, bioengineering, physics or computer science - Experience in building and programming (MATLAB) experimental systems - A record of first-author, high-impact publications is not required as we do not believe that scientific excellence necessarily correlates with them. However, a record of research and publication activity is required. - Prior experience with animal handling, olivo-cerebellar systems or calcium imaging is greatly appreciated even if not necessarily required; however, motivation and capability to learn new approaches such as these is a must. - nRIM is a team endeavor; thus, ability to work effectively with a group is a must - Capabilities related to managing complex data, record-keeping, and planning experimental schedules are indispensable. In accordance of OIST regulations, salary and benefits, including paid leave and summer holidays, health care and relocation support to Okinawa, will be offered at a competitive rate based on age and experience. Furthermore, as a part of OIST strategies for Good Research Environment, dedicated mentoring will be provided to ascertain best possible career development for researchers at all stages. The working language at all operational levels is English, and Japanese language classes are offered on-site free of charge. OIST is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer implementing progressive workplace policies and strongly encourages applications from women and other under-represented groups. Whenever possible, OIST will attempt to help in finding employment for the employee’s partner. To apply, please send a cover letter describing your motivation for this position, CV & publications list, as well as contact information for 2 referees to uusisaari(a)oist.jp by September 30th, 2019. Informal queries are also welcomed.

July 26, 2019