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

PhD in ML and AI - two VC Scholarships
by Konstantin Nikolic 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

Two Vice-Chancellor Scholarship PhD positions in Machine Leaning are available in the “Learning and Intelligence” group of Prof Konstantin Nikolic at University of West London, UK. The group’s interests are mostly in modelling biological systems and AI/ML related to bio-inspired themes. Potential project topics include (but are not limited to, since these scholarships are not project linked): Learning in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), Neuromorphic robots controlled by SNNs (available are SpiNNaker boards, Dynamic Vision Sensors, etc, for example see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=135fH21QXtg) Data-driven ML algorithms based on information theory and their applications (such as medical diagnostics, video/image analysis, financial/economic or some other large dataset analysis), Neural microcircuits of learning and cognitive modelling, etc. We are also interested in developing ML algorithms for controlling neuromodulatory implants. Research related to Theoretical and Computational neuroscience could be also interesting, especially if exploring some new ideas related to learning in relatively simple biological systems. The researchers will be based in the School of Computing and Engineering at University of West London, with possible close collaboration with the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology at Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London. Informal enquires can be directed to konstantin.nikolic(a)uwl.ac.uk<mailto:konstantin.nikolic@uwl.ac.uk>. The School enjoys state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure and continues to invest heavily in its improvement. The UWL, sourcing its origins from the Lady Byron School in 1860, is a leading modern university in the UK, consistently progressing in the league tables for the past several years. The life on campus is enriched with frequent high-quality live performances and plays given by the students from our London College of Music and London School of Film, Media and Design, the two hubs of talent and creativity. The positions are advertised here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CCB695/phd-in-machine-learning-and-artificial-in…<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jobs.…> Konstantin Nikolic, PhD Professor in Computer Science (AI, ML, Data) at University of West London Viiting Professor at Imperial College London (Institute of Biomedical Engineering) School of Computing and Engineering University of West London Ealing campus St Mary’s Road London W5 5RF UK email: konstantin.nikolic(a)uwl.ac.uk<mailto:konstantin.nikolic@uwl.ac.uk>, k.nikolic(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:k.nikolic@imperial.ac.uk> web: https://www.uwl.ac.uk/users/konstantin-nikolic, https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.nikolic

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Job Opening in Juelich, Germany: Postdoc in Computational Neuroscience - Priority Program 2041Computational Connectomics
by Martina Reske 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

The Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM) at the Jülich Research Center in Germany investigates the structure and function of the brain. The subinstitute INM-6 consists of 6 groups that conduct research in the field of computational and systems neuroscience. The Priority Program "Computational Connectomics" is a Germany-wide collaboration aiming at comprehensive descriptions of neuronal network connectivity and insight into its relationships to brain dynamics and function. The candidate will strengthen our team in the project “Cellular, connectional and molecular heterogeneity in a large-scale computational model of the human cerebral cortex”, which is embedded in the context of the Priority Program. It will be supervised by Prof. Sacha van Albada and is a collaboration with Dr. Alexandros Goulas (UKE Hamburg) and Dr. Timo Dickscheid (INM-1, Jülich Research Center). This collaboration links cytoarchitecture (Dr. Dickscheid) to connectomics (Dr. Goulas) and finally cortical network dynamics (Prof. van Albada). Simulations using the neural network simulation tool NEST on the Jülich supercomputers provide the unique opportunity for investigating spiking cortical models at the full density of neurons and synapses. We are looking to recruit a Postdoc in Computational Neuroscience - Priority Program 2041 Computational Connectomics Your Job: * Extending and refining a large-scale spiking neural network model of human cerebral cortex * Investigating the origins of area- and layer-specific cortical timescales and oscillations * Supervising PhD and Master students * Maintaining active collaborations with project partners * Writing, documenting, and publishing high-quality simulation, analysis, and visualization scripts * Presenting project results at national and international conferences * Publishing project results in peer-reviewed international journals Your Profile: * Completed study (Master) in natural sciences, computer science or mathematics * PhD in computational neuroscience * Extensive experience with neural network simulations and analytical mean-field theory * Excellent knowledge of cortical anatomy and physiology * Structured and organized style of working * Fluent in English, spoken and written * Ability to work independently * Good social and student supervision skills * Willingness to travel Our Offer: We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with: * Comprehensive training courses and individual opportunities for personal and professional further development * Extensive company health management * Ideal conditions for balancing work and private life, as well as a family-friendly corporate policy * Full-time position with the option of slightly reduced working hours and 30 days of annual leave * Targeted services for international employees, e.g. through our International Advisory Service We offer you an exciting and varied role in an international and interdisciplinary working environment. The position is initially for a fixed term of 1 year, with possible long-term prospects. Salary and social benefits in conformity with the provisions of the Collective Agreement for the Civil Service (TVöD). Depending on the applicant`s qualifications and the precise nature of the tasks, salary grade 13 TVöD-Bund. Forschungszentrum Jülich promotes equal opportunities and diversity in its employment relations. We also welcome applications from disabled persons. Please apply via our online recruiting system<https://www.hrecruiting.de/obf2/bewerbermanagement.php?kunden_nr=t5ChjatkIf…>, quoting the reference number 2021-091. Martina Reske -- Dr. Martina Reske Scientific Coordinator Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neuroscience Jülich Research Centre and JARA Jülich, Germany Work +49.2461.611916 Work Cell +49.151.26156918 Fax +49.2461.619460 www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Volker Rieke Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[job] Postdoctoral Researcher on fMRI study of spontaneous thoughts and natural task
by Mingbo Cai 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

Postdoctoral Researcher on fMRI study of spontaneous thoughts and natural tasks We seek a talented neuroscientist with extensive experience in the areas of advanced fMRI analysis, (such as encoding or decoding models) and the design of experiments using naturalistic tasks and assessing spontaneous thoughts. A 3-year postdoctoral position is available at Dr. Mingbo Cai’s lab at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo. You will work on an exciting international collaboration project co-funded by AMED of Japan and DFG of Germany directed by both Dr. Cai <https://cailab-ircn.org/> and Dr. Nicolas Schuck <https://schucklab.gitlab.io/> at Max Planck Institute for Human Development. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate remotely with Dr. Quentin Huys <https://quentinhuys.com/> at the University College London. The project will focus on understanding the contents and dynamics of spontaneous thoughts using fMRI decoding and natural tasks. In the later stage of the project, we also plan to examine the clinical implication of differences in spontaneous thoughts. Applicants with experience working on populations with mental disorders are also highly encouraged to apply. The working language is English. The working location is at The University of Tokyo, Japan. Contract duration: renewed annually up for 3 years, with a probation period of 6 months. Starting date: On or after April 1, 2021. *Requirements* (1) Applicants must hold, or be expected to hold by the time of appointment, a PhD, M.D. or equivalent degree in Neuroscience, Psychology, Psychiatry, Machine Learning, Statistics or related fields. (2) Experience in conducting fMRI experiments and data analysis (evidenced by publications, conference presentations or writing samples). (3) Familiar with at least one of the following tools: AFNI, FSL, nilearn, BrainIAK. (4) Good speaking and scientific writing skills in English. (5) Good programming skills. (6) Willing to collaborate and help colleagues. Requirements 2 and 3 may be replaced by two or three of the preferred skills below: *Preferred skills:* (1) Research experience with fMRI experiments involving natural tasks and multivariate pattern analysis. (2) Experience with experiments investigating spontaneous thoughts. (3) Research experience with investigations of psychiatric disorders. (4) Knowledge of and experience with deep learning. *Application procedure:* Please send an email with title “[Postdoc Application] + your name” to mingbo.cai(a)ircn.jp. Please include a cover letter describing your background and research interest, a curriculum vitae, and contact information for 2-3 recommendation letters (ideally you can also request your referees to send their letters directly to the above email address). To increase the chance of being considered, we suggest you include writing samples or a copy of a poster. Informal inquiry can also be sent to Dr. Cai. *Application deadline:* The first deadline is March 31. The position will remain open until filled. We encourage early application as the review can start before the deadline. Mingbo Cai Principal Investigator International Research Center for Neurointelligence The University of Tokyo https://cailab-ircn.org/ Mingbo Cai

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WorldWideNeuRise online seminar series on inter-areal communication
by William Podlaski 01 Mar '21

01 Mar '21

WorldWideNeuRise is an online seminar series affiliated with WorldWideNeuro and eLife which aims to give early career researchers a chance to share their work. We will have several talks throughout March-April on the topic of inter-areal communication from the following speakers: Wednesday, 3 March, 5pm CET Arseny Finkelstein (Svododa lab, Janelia HHMI) Wednesday, 10 March, 5pm CET Aleena Garner (Keller lab, Friedrich Miescher Institute) Kelly Clancy (Mrsic-Flogel lab, University College London) Wednesday, 24 March, 5pm CET Matthew Perich (Rajan lab, Mount Sinai) Evren Gokcen (Yu lab, Carnegie Mellon University) Wednesday, 7 April, 5pm CET Monique Smith (Malenka lab, Stanford University) Adi Kol (Goshen lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Wednesday, 21 April, 5pm CET David Tingley (Buzsáki lab, New York University) Javad Karimi Abadchi (Mohajerani & McNaughton labs, University of Lethbridge) For more information, please visit our website (https://neurise.github.io/) find us on WorldWideNeuro (https://www.world-wide.org/Neuro/WWNeuRise/) or follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/WWNeuRise) We are looking forward to seeing you there! The organising committee, Ellen Boven (Apps lab, U Bristol) Christina Buetfering (Häusser lab, U College London) Lucie Descamps (Kentros lab, NTNU) Gily Ginosar (Ulanovsky lab, Weizmann Institute) Loreen Hertäg (Sprekeler lab, TU Berlin) Joram Keijser (Sprekeler lab, TU Berlin) Bill Podlaski (Machens lab, Champalimaud)

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Registration open for the second Canadian Computational Neuroscience Spotlight (CCNSv2)
by Scott Rich 01 Mar '21

01 Mar '21

Dear Comp-Neuro Mailing List, Last year, the Canadian Computational Neuroscience Spotlight <https://www.crowdcast.io/e/CCNS/register> (CCNS) was one of the first neuroscience conferences to successfully transition into the virtual space <https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008…> due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 450 registrants from across the globe. Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from this first meeting, we are excited to announce a “v2” of the conference will take place this coming May 17-18, and registration is now open <https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ccnsv2/register>. We are hoping that you will not only register for the meeting, but advertise it via email listservs, social media, and any other avenues you deem appropriate. CCNSv2 will feature four sessions chaired by internationally recognized computational neuroscientists on topics that bridge the multiple scales at which neuroscience research, both computationally and experimentally, is performed. Three of our four chairs are currently confirmed: *Dr. Etay Hay* of the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, *Dr. Maurizio de Pitta *of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, and *Dr. Bratislav Misic* of McGill University. As CCNS was designed as a “trainee focused” meeting, each session will begin with a tutorial talk in which a topic of importance will be introduced for a broad audience. We also will host two panel discussions, one with experienced computational neuroscience researchers and the other with ECRs and current trainees, to provide a forum for trainees to ask questions of scientists at various stages of their careers. We invite all trainees to submit an abstract <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCRPkDuPdoS3M7PISDITXfB__rWDiFEi9…> to give a “trainee talk” at the meeting. We anticipate accepting all applications that reasonably fall under the broad banner of computational neuroscience unless the demand far exceeds our expectations. We will also provide an additional spotlight to four talks that are both the most meritorious and best fit with the focused themes of the meeting. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions regarding this meeting or manners of advertising it. We look forward to seeing you at CCNSv2! Sincerely, The CCNS Organizing Committee Scott Rich <http://scottrich.strikingly.com/>, Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Krembil Research Institute Andreea Diaconescu <https://cognemo.com/>, Ph.D.: Independent Scientist, Krembil Center for Neuroinformatics at CAMH John Griffiths <https://t.co/AlUQymEUae?amp=1>, Ph.D.: Independent Scientist, Krembil Center for Neuroinformatics at CAMH Milad Lankarany <https://sites.google.com/view/lnsbsp/home>, Ph.D.: Scientist, Krembil Research Institute

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Computational Brain Reimagined
by Aurel A. Lazar 01 Mar '21

01 Mar '21

In recent years, the growing wealth of Drosophila neuroscience data have become available including cell type and connectome/synaptome datasets for both the larva and adult fly. To facilitate integration across data modalities and to accelerate the understanding of the functional logic of the fruit fly brain, we have developed FlyBrainLab, a unique open-source computing platform that integrates 3D exploration and visualization of diverse datasets with interactive exploration of the functional logic of modeled executable brain circuits. For a brief description, see the eLIFE paper: "Accelerating with FlyBrainLab the Discovery of the Functional Logic of the Drosophila Brain in the Connectomic Era”, February 2021, https://elifesciences.org/articles/62362 Further details are available on the Fruit Fly Brain Observatory website at https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/ <https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/> Here you will find guides to a wealth of fruit fly brain datasets and libraries to interactively explore circuit models. Check out "Exploring the Fruit Fly Brain Observatory” at https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/posts/explore_ffbo <https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/posts/explore_ffbo> and the links to open source code posted on Github: https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/posts/resources <https://www.fruitflybrain.org/#/posts/resources> Best, Aurel http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu

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