November 2021 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Call for Visiting Scholars in Theoretical Sciences at OIST (Application by August 15)
by Kenji Doya 21 Oct '23

21 Oct '23

We are pleased to announce Visiting Scholars in Theoretical Sciences at OIST for a flexible term of 1 to 12 months as below. ***** As part of an initiative to develop a vibrant program in theoretical sciences, OIST invites applications for Visiting Scholars in the Theoretical Sciences. The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) is a research institution with a Ph.D. program. Outstanding graduate students and faculty are being attracted internationally. OIST is beautifully situated on the tropical island of Okinawa, Japan. Applicants should have a Ph.D. in a relevant field and be independent researchers, i.e., should have an academic standing equivalent to senior postdoc, junior group leader, or faculty member at a research-intensive institution. The position has a flexible term of 1 to 12 months taken continuously starting between October 2021 and March 2022 with a preference for longer-term visitors. The appointment may be taken while on leave or sabbatical from another university and comes with housing, research funds, and moving allowance. Successful candidates will be eligible to apply for support with salary, where this is necessary to facilitate the visit. No teaching duties come with the position. OIST is an institution with no departments, aiming to eliminate barriers between people working in different fields. It provides a family-friendly working environment including the multilingual Child Development Center and has proactive policies designed to promote a culture of diversity. OIST is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator, and employer. Further details can be found at https://www.oist.jp/. Applicants should submit a CV including a list of publications, a brief description of their research to date and proposed research while visiting OIST, and the desired period of visit. All visits are subject to the availability of funding. Applications received by August 15, 2021, are guaranteed full consideration. If you have any questions, please send inquiries to: tsvp(a)oist.jp To apply, please go to our Interfolio page, http://apply.interfolio.com/88541 ---- Kenji Doya <doya(a)oist.jp> Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan Phone: +81-98-966-8594; Fax: +81-98-966-2891 https://groups.oist.jp/ncu

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Up to 6 PhD fellowships in Cognitive Neuroscience at SISSA, Trieste, Italy, to start Oct, 2020
by Alessandro Treves 12 Oct '22

12 Oct '22

SISSA is an elite postgraduate research institution located in Trieste, Italy, and focused on Maths, Physics and Neuroscience. It operates in English: many among its students and faculty are not Italian. The Cognitive Neuroscience Department hosts 6 research labs that study the neuronal bases of time and magnitude processing, visual perception, motivation and intelligence, language and reading, tactile perception and learning, and neural computation. The Department is very inter–disciplinary; our approaches include behavioural, psychophysics, and neurophysiological experiments with humans and animals, as well as computational and mathematical models. Students with diverse backgrounds (physics, math, medicine, psychology, biology) are most welcome to apply. The Department has an exceptional track record with highly competitive funds (recent funding includes 4 ERC and 3 Human Frontiers grants) and publication in top journals (Nature, Science, PNAS, Current Biology). Recent placements after PhD include Harvard, MIT, Columbia and Princeton in the US; the NTNU, Manchester and Radboud in Europe; and Sydney University, Australia. Our alumni have been awarded 4 ERC grants, the 2015 Kandel Young Neuroscientist Prize and the 2017 ICTP Prize. More information about the Department is available at our website https://phdcns.sissa.it. The selection procedure is now open; to learn how to apply, please visit https://phdcns.sissa.it/admission-procedure. Please contact the PhD Coordinator (davide.crepaldi(a)sissa.it) and/or your prospective supervisor for more information and informal enquiries. -- Alessandro Treves SISSA, Cognitive Neuroscience, http://people.sissa.it/~ale/limbo.html if in, rm 241, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy: +39-040-3787623

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Postdoc in neural data analysis
by Mark Humphries 26 Jun '22

26 Jun '22

A 3 year postdoc post is available in the lab of Prof Mark Humphries, at the University of Nottingham (UK) In this project, our aim is to test the overarching hypothesis that movement transitions are encoded by the same neural population reconfiguring its joint activity, for both rhythmic and discrete movements. We will tackle this question using newly-available population recordings during rhythmic movement transitions in Aplysia and discrete arm movement transitions in monkeys, The Humphries’ group researches fundamental insights into how the joint activity of neurons encodes information about and actions in the world. For more see: https://www.humphries-lab.org Queries: mark.humphries(a)nottingham.ac.uk Deadline: 5th September Full details, and to apply: https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2 [http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/org/images/socialmedia.png]<https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2> Job Vacancy at the University of Nottingham: Research Associate/Fellow (Fixed term)<https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=27005&forced=2> Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research fellow to join the Humphries’ group on the MRC-funded project “Uncovering the neural basis of movement transitions”. The Humphries’ group researches fundamental... jobs.nottingham.ac.uk Professor Mark Humphries | MRC Senior non-Clinical Fellow | Chair in Computational Neuroscience Lab: humphries-lab.org<https://www.humphries-lab.org/> Twitter: @markdhumphries Public blog: https://medium.com/the-spike This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored where permitted by law.

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Explainable AI: Overcoming problems of Deep Learning problems with Adaptive Resonance
by Grossberg, Stephen 09 Apr '22

09 Apr '22

Dear Colleagues, There's currently a lot of interest in AI, notably Deep Learning, and in achieving autonomous adaptive intelligence. The following new article summarizes foundational problems of reliability and trustworthiness of Deep Learning, explains how Adaptive Resonance overcomes them, and outlines a blueprint for achieving autonomous adaptive intelligence: Grossberg, S. (2020). A path towards Explainable AI and autonomous adaptive intelligence: Deep Learning, Adaptive Resonance, and models of perception, emotion, and action. Frontiers in Neurobotics, June 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2020.00036 Best, Steve Grossberg

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3rd BCI-UC: Submission closes on Friday, December 3rd
by Philipp Raggam 30 Nov '21

30 Nov '21

Dear Colleagues, The *abstract submission* for the 3rd Brain-Computer Interface Un-Conference (BCI-UC) *closes on Friday, December 3rd*, *at 11:59 pm (CET)* and the *voting period on submitted abstracts begins on Monday, December 6th* [1]. Abstract submissions are text-only. The length and format of the submissions are up to the authors - use whatever format you consider best for attracting up-votes! Important dates: - *Submission deadline: *December 3rd, 2021 at 11:59 pm (CET) - *Voting period:* December 6th, 2021 - December 12th, 2021 at 11:59 pm (CET) - *BCI-UC event:* January 27th, 2022, from 03:00 pm to 09:00 pm (CET) We will invite the *authors of the top-voted abstracts to present* at the un-conference. The 3rd BCI-UC will feature *keynotes* by *Cynthia Chestek* (University of Michigan) [2] and *Thorsten Zander* (TU Brandenburg) [3]. BCI-UC is an online un-conference that provides rapid dissemination of novel research results in the BCI community. Participants can *submit abstracts* to apply for *20 minutes presentation* slots. Abstracts are not reviewed by a program committee. Rather, all registered participants can vote on which of the submitted abstracts they would like to see presented at the un-conference. Because the BCI-UC does not publish conference proceedings, submitted abstracts can report novel as well as already published work. *Registration and attendance are free of charge*. Presentations of the 1st and 2nd BCI-UC can be re-watched at [4] and [5]. *All presentations will be streamed via Crowdcast* [6] and can be accessed free of charge. Join us in supporting this novel community-driven dissemination of research results! The BCI-UC committee: Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Anja Meunier Philipp Raggam Jiachen Xu Links: [1] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/3rd-bci-uc/ [2] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=36sxAZEAAAAJ&hl=de [3] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=0E49HxYAAAAJ [4] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/past-events/1st-bci-uc/ [5] https://bciunconference.univie.ac.at/past-events/2nd-bci-uc/ [6] https://www.crowdcast.io/ -- DI Philipp Raggam, BSc Research Group Neuroinformatics Faculty of Computer Science University of Vienna Hörlgasse 6, A-1090 Wien, Austria

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Support open neuroscience this Giving Tuesday
by Heather Topple 30 Nov '21

30 Nov '21

[image: Giving Tuesday.png] Support INCF’s mission to push global neuroscience further and faster Scientific progress is critical for providing our global community with cures and treatments for illnesses that cause pain and disability in so many lives. Neurological diseases are the leading cause of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide, and mental health issues are increasing every year. While neuroscience has made significant progress in the last couple of decades, there is still much to do. A major barrier is that neuroscience is time-consuming and expensive. One way to remedy this is through the reuse and pooling of data and sharing of tools, which speeds discovery and increases sensitivity to the subtleties of brain function and disease. INCF facilitates this process by endorsing practical approaches and solutions for the application of open, FAIR, and citable neuroscience, and ensures impact through advocacy and efforts in training the next generation of neuroscientists in FAIR research management approaches. You can support our efforts by making a direct donation, or by sponsoring a membership for a student or colleague. Your gift will enable us to support open science for the global neuroscience community! *DONATE <https://incf.org/donate>* [image: GivingTuesday logo.png] ---------------------------- Heather Topple, BSc *Project Assistant* *Development and Communications* International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility Secretariat Karolinska Institutet. Nobels väg 15A, SE-171 77 Stockholm. Sweden <https://www.google.com/maps/search/Nobels+v%C3%A4g+15A,+SE-171+77+Stockholm…> Email: heather(a)incf.org Phone: +46 085 248 70 65 incf.org neuroinformatics.incf.org

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Apply Now: Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Allen/UW at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience
by Adrienne L Fairhall 29 Nov '21

29 Nov '21

***Please forward** particularly to data scientists with a Ph.D. in quantitative fields such as computer science, statistics, electrical engineering, physics, mathematics* Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience Overview The *Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience* is a three-year fellowship program that aims to: · Integrate data scientists in neuroscience research · Challenge traditional approaches to neuroscience · Provide multidisciplinary, multi-organizational co-mentorship · Provide a network and community · Support career development in data science The fellowship is co-hosted by the Allen Institute and the University of Washington (through the eScience Institute and the Computational Neuroscience Center) and is directed by Dr. Christof Koch at the Allen Institute. *Neuroscience needs data scientists.* The brain represents one of the most complex challenges facing science today. And now with advances in our methods to study the brain—Neuropixel probes that can record from 1000 neurons at once, growing consensus on data standards across laboratories—the field is flooded with data that needs interpretation. The skills of data scientists are essential to springboard the field to the next stage of discoveries. Towards that end, the Shanahan Foundation Fellowship was created to bring fresh perspectives into the field, encouraging data scientists from outside neuroscience to come and work with leading investigators at the Allen Institute and UW. The Allen Institute is unique in its infrastructure and pipeline that enables the production of standardized, reproducible data on the brain (as evidenced by our vast *data banks* <http://www.brain-map.org/>*)*. Together with our collaborators at the UW computational Neuroscience Center and eScience Institute, we provide data scientists with the ideal opportunity and resources to mine for novel insights and discoveries. Details *You do not need experience in neuroscience to apply. *The goal of the fellowship is to provide opportunities to non-traditional applicants who would not typically be funded by the typical postdoctoral fellowships in neuroscience. The fellowship has been purposefully designed to give fellows the time and mentorship to get up to speed in a new field and new data collection techniques and methods*.* Fellows will be employed by the Allen Institute as either a Scientist I or a Scientist II (with a matching salary) and will receive an affiliate postdoctoral appointment at UW. During the three-year fellowship, fellows will identify a mentor at the Allen Institute, where the fellows will be based. Fellows will select a co-mentor at the University of Washington who will provide additional guidance on a project designed by the fellow, focused on quantitative analysis of neuroscience data available through the Allen Institute’s vast data banks <http://www.brain-map.org/> – ranging from molecular, genomic, transcriptional, physiological, morphological, anatomical and functional whole-brain level in the brains of mice, non-human primates and humans – or through ongoing laboratory work. Each fellow will have the opportunity to mentor a fully-funded UW undergraduate or postbaccalaureate research assistant who helps with their research for 3-12 months. Fellows will participate in the postdoctoral career development program at the University’s *e-Science Institute* and the *UW Computational Neuroscience Center*. The eSciences Institute offers regular workshops on key topics including cloud computing, python and reproducibility. New fellows will attend the annual Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain <https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/events-training/summer-…> where they will learn how to apply data science skills to neuroscience data and questions. Throughout the three years, fellows will be supported in developing a network in the neuroscience field and sharing their progress with peers at conferences. Up to three fellows will be selected to begin in Fall 2022. Eligibility Requirements Applicants must be data scientists in a broad sense, with a Ph.D. in a quantitative field such as computer science, statistics, electrical engineering, physics, mathematics or biology with a background in statistical, computational and machine learning methods. Ph.D.’s should have been awarded in the last 3 years. One goal of the fellowship is to build a network of collaborators, as such, priority will be given to applicants who are not currently postdoctoral fellows or scientists at the University of Washington or the Allen Institute. We believe high-quality science can only be produced when it includes different perspectives. We are building an environment of diversity and inclusion and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for this fellowship. Application Instructions For full consideration, please submit your application by February 1, 2022. Applications may continue to be considered after this deadline on a rolling basis until positions are filled. Learn more and apply on the Shanahan Fellowship Website <https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/careers/shanahan-founda…> . Applications must include: · A curriculum vitae from the applicant · Two letters of support from advisors and other mentors · A one-page personal statement from the applicant describing their history, activities, and interests as an individual (especially those outside of science) which may give the committee a greater sense of you as a person and your ability to simultaneously interact with and challenge traditional scientific fields. · A two- to three-page research statement from the applicant describing their prior research, interests in applying data science to the field of neuroscience, potential research interests (including tools they are familiar with) and how this fellowship aligns with their career goals. · The choice of the final advisor/co-advisor will be accomplished during the first year of this fellowship. Questions? Email: shanahan.fellow(a)alleninstitute.org -- Sarah A. Stone, PhD Executive Director | eScience Institute Campus Box 351570 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 _______________________________________________ Escience_bbl mailing list Escience_bbl(a)u.washington.edu http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/escience_bbl

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Software Engineer position for International Brain Laboratory
by Hannah M Bayer 29 Nov '21

29 Nov '21

The International Brain Laboratory SOFTWARE ENGINEER <https://academic.careers.columbia.edu/#/85586> will work closely with our scientists to develop and deploy software and electronic hardware for experiment control, collection, storage, and data analysis. The experiments make use of complex control systems including video, audio, and fluidics, the data are processed by sophisticated algorithms including GPU-based deep networks, and then transferred automatically to a central database. The successful candidate will interface with scientists in our member laboratories (located in London, Lisbon, Geneva, Paris, New York City, Long Island, Princeton, San Francisco, and Ashburn VA) and with the core software development team based in Lisbon, to support experiments and ensure data is of high quality. The ideal candidate would have extensive experience with Linux, Python, Arduino systems, electronics, team programming, quality assurance, web design, and system administration. A flexible attitude, the ability to quickly adapt to new situations and learn new systems, and to work independently as part of a geographically distributed team, are essential. Experience with scientific research, networking, parallel computing, or relational databases would also be desirable. As this is a distributed collaboration, the candidate should be prepared to travel to all partner sites, with a home base in Lisbon, London or New York. RESPONSIBILITIES: - To develop and support software and hardware to collect and analyse neurophysiology recordings at worldwide partner sites - To help apply these algorithms to petabyte-scale data, to draw scientific conclusions about brain function. - To support the use of the resulting algorithms and software by laboratory members and by the worldwide scientific community. - To write online documentation and help author scientific publications describing the algorithms and discoveries made with them. Any questions prior to applying, please contact info(a)internationalbrainlab.org To apply: https://academic.careers.columbia.edu/#/85586 -- Hannah M. Bayer, PhD Executive Director International Brain Laboratory

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SCGB Virtual Postdoc/Student Meeting: Wednesday, December 1 by Olivia Gozel
by Laura Long 29 Nov '21

29 Nov '21

The Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB) hosts postdoc/student meetings to bring together trainees interested in neural coding and dynamics to discuss ideas and data. In addition to regional meetings in New York, Boston, and the Bay Area, SCGB holds a virtual series to connect systems and computational neuroscientists independent of geography. We would love to see you at our next meeting! Please see event details and the Zoom link below. SCGB Virtual Postdoc/Student Meeting: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scgb-global-postdocstudent-meeting-tickets-209… Wednesday, December 1st, 12pm Eastern Time https://simonsfoundation.zoom.us/j/94767192583?pwd=TXBKNXJQYzdGTmRUZTFlUUYz… Passcode: 429535 *Olivia Gozel* Postdoctoral Researcher, Doiron Laboratory The University of Chicago *Between-area communication through the lens of within-area neuronal dynamics* Neuronal dynamics range from asynchronous spiking to richly patterned spatio-temporal activity and are modulated by external and internal sources. Numerous experimental datasets show that the shared variability can be well described by a small number of latent variables, indicating coordinated trial-to-trial fluctuations within the population. Besides, cortical areas are connected through long-range excitatory projections, and it has been shown that there exists a communication subspace between connected but distinct brain areas that predicts spiking activity in a downstream area using upstream activity. However, little is known about the effect of neuronal dynamics on interactions between brain areas. Using a layered spiking network with within- and between-layer spatially structured connectivity, we show that pattern formation decreases within-area dimensionality similarly when spatio-temporal patterns emerge within a population or when they are inherited from a connected population. Yet, the fidelity of communication from an upstream to a downstream area, as estimated by a linear reduced-rank regression measure, is affected by the origin of pattern formation. Specifically, downstream activity is poorly predicted by upstream activity when spatio-temporal patterns emerge downstream, while it is particularly well predicted when shared fluctuations are mostly inherited from the upstream area. Interestingly, examination of spiking activity reveals that, even in the scenario with apparent disrupted communication, the downstream area is effectively driven by upstream activity, as expected from the strong feedforward connection strengths between layers. A mismatch in within-area dimensionality between upstream and downstream areas appears to underlie the seemingly weak communication. These results expose the limitations of linear measures when analyzing the flow of information in brain circuits with diverse neuronal dynamics. *Please note that this meeting is open to all neuroscience postdocs and PhD students, regardless of location or SCGB affiliation (sorry, no PIs). *After Q&A with the speaker, we will open breakout rooms for anyone interested in staying to chat, network, or further discuss the talk. In addition to these breakouts, SCGB Scientific Staff will be available for "office hours" to chat and answer questions about SCGB programs and support. Registration on EventBrite is encouraged but not required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scgb-global-postdocstudent-meeting-tickets-209… Please contact Laura Long at llong(a)simonsfoundation.org with any questions.

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Post-doctoral position advertisement
by Zaghloul, Kareem (NIH/NINDS) [E] 29 Nov '21

29 Nov '21

Hi, I would like to post the following ad to the comp-neuro listserv. Would this be possible? I've attached a copy of the ad below. Thank you, Kareem Kareem A. Zaghloul, MD, PhD Surgical Neurology Branch National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH Bldg 10, Rm. 3D20 10 Center Drive Bethesda, MD 20892-1414 O: 301-594-8114 F: 301-402-0380 Position Type Postdoctoral Position at the NIH Position Title Human memory and sequences of single unit spiking activity Position Description The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is seeking a full-time post-doctoral position focused on understanding the neural correlates of human memory. This position involves studies focused on analyzing recordings of population spiking activity captured from the human cortex in awake participants with drug resistant epilepsy who are receiving intracranial EEG (iEEG) electrodes to monitor seizure activity. Single unit spiking activity from populations of neurons are captured through implanted microelectrode arrays. Post-doctoral fellows will join a laboratory aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie human episodic memory formation and decision making. We are specifically seeking a candidate who has a strong interest in understanding neural coding as represented by sequences of single unit spiking activity in the human cortex. We are seeking candidates that are highly creative, motivated, and independent with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, or a related field. Candidates must have a strong research background, with a record of relevant publications. Candidates will be encouraged and expected to participate in independent laboratory research, and will be expected to write scholarly manuscripts. Candidates must be able to lead and work well in a team. Candidates should have strong computational, quantitative, and/or engineering skills, with proficiency in developing custom code (Matlab, Python, etc.) for data analysis preferred. Past medical research is not required, but candidates must be willing to perform experiments in a clinical setting. Candidates will interact with clinical staff, graduate students, research fellows, and must have excellent spoken and written English skills. Applicants should submit a brief statement of research activities and interests, a current CV, and names and contact information of at least three references. Salary will be commensurate with experience and accomplishments. To arrange a meeting with the PI and to send materials required for consideration for this appointment please contact Dr. Zaghloul at: zaghloulka(a)mail.nih.gov<mailto:zaghloulka@mail.nih.gov>. Employer Name Kareem A. Zaghloul, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Position Location Bethesda, MD Disclaimer NIH, an agency of DHHS, is an equal opportunity employer. All employees are subject to background investigation. The NIH is dedicated to building a diverse community in its training and employment programs.

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