- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Bernstein Conference 2020 goes online
by a.dorrn＠fz-juelich.de 23 Apr '20

23 Apr '20

NEWS · Bernstein Conference 2020 goes online, scheduled from Sept 29 – Oct 1 · Program<https://www.bernstein-network.de/de/bernstein-conference/2020/program-online> will be adjusted in a timezone-friendly manner · Deadline for workshop proposals<https://www.bernstein-network.de/de/bernstein-conference/2020/copy_of_satel…> extended until May 15 · Detailed information on abstract submission will follow soon In the light of current developments regarding COVID-19 and the dynamics this entails, we decided to hold this year’s Bernstein Conference entirely online for the first time, keeping scientific exchange alive and fruitful. Going online is not only an emergency reaction to the current pandemic, but also a chance to seek new possibilities in order to keep scientific meetings climate-friendly and allow unrestricted participance from scientists who are challenged by traveling. We will adjust schedules and formats to allow participance from around the world while fostering the interaction, scientific debate and excellence that we all appreciate at our Bernstein Conference. <mailto:bernstein.conference@fz-juelich.de> We are excited to exploring this new format together with our community. We will inform you regularly about updates on our website www.bernstein-conference.de<https://bit.ly/BC_online> and via Twitter<https://twitter.com/NNCN_Germany>: #BernsteinConference<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BernsteinConference?src=hashtag_click&f=live>. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further questions: bernstein.conference(a)fz-juelich.de<mailto:bernstein.conference@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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Postdoctoral Position in Human Single Unit and Intracranial EEG to Study Human Memory
by Zaghloul, Kareem (NIH/NINDS) [E] 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Hi, I would like to post the following advertisement for an available post-doc position to the comp-neuro listserv. If you could help me with that, I would appreciate it. Please let me know if you need any more information. Thank you for your help, 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 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 and manipulating human intracranial electrophysiological signals, including single-unit activity, local field potentials, and electrocorticography (ECoG), captured from patients with medically refractory epilepsy and from patients receiving deep brain stimulation surgery. Post-doctoral fellows will join a laboratory aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie human episodic memory formation and decision making and at developing novel and innovative techniques to directly communicate with those circuits. 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> NIH, an agency of DHHS, is an equal opportunity employer. All employees are subject to background investigation.

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Three-year PhD in Cognitive-Computational Neuroscience at University College London in ERC project (PI Dominik Bach)
by Dominik R. Bach 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

TheInternational Max Planck Research School on Computational Methods in Psychiatry and Ageing Research <https://www.findaphd.com/common/clickCount.aspx?theid=3167&type=185&url=htt…>seeks applicants for a PhD fellowship to be based at University College London (UCL) under the supervision of Dr Dominik Bach (bachlab.org <https://www.findaphd.com/common/clickCount.aspx?theid=3167&type=185&url=htt…>). The fellowship is funded by the European Research Council within the project “Action selection under threat – the complex control of human defense”. The purpose of the project is to understand the cognitive-computational control of human motor behaviour under acute, immediate threat. We investigate this in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment, in which people can move to avoid various threats. In a series of behavioural and magnetoencephalography experiments, we seek to understand the algorithms that control this behaviour, and their neural implementation. The experimental research takes place at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and at the Department for Clinical and Movement Neuroscience at UCL. *Deadline: 20 May 2020. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in early June 2020 via Skype. ***Intake of students October 2020 (with the possibility for a later start date).** All infos on https://www.findaphd.com/phds/program/three-year-phd-in-cognitive-computati… Please circulate - apologies for multiple postings. -- ----------------------- Dominik R Bach MBBS PhD Principal Research Fellow MPCUCL & WCHN, University College London http://bachlab.org | @bachlab_cog

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Postdoc Position in cognitive neuroscience / action recognition at CIMeC, University of Trento
by Moritz Wurm 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Postdoctoral Position in cognitive neuroscience / action recognition (Moritz Wurm, CIMeC, University of Trento) A 2-year postdoc position is available in Moritz Wurm's Action Recognition and Concepts Group (https://www.cimec.unitn.it/en/929/action-recognition-and-concepts-group <https://www.cimec.unitn.it/en/929/action-recognition-and-concepts-group>) at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Italy. The postdoctoral candidate will carry out neuroimaging experiments (MEG, with possible extension to fMRI) on action perception. The research project focuses on, but is not limited to, investigating neural representational dynamics during action recognition. Applicants should be interested in the study of higher-level vision and/or action recognition and have a Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, or related discipline, a promising track record of research in cognitive neuroimaging (preferably MEG and/or fMRI), and strong programming (preferably Matlab) and analysis skills (preferably MVPA, RSA). Gross salary is 2.600 € per month (non-negotiable). Start date is in summer 2020 but is flexible. The University of Trento consistently ranks as a top Italian university in both national Research Assessment Evaluations (RAE) and University Surveys, and CIMeC has been recently ranked as the leading Cognitive Neuroscience research unit in Italy. CIMeC is an interdisciplinary and international research center and is equipped with a large variety of neuroimaging facilities, including a 3T Siemens Trio fMRI scanner, an Elekta 306 channel MEG system, and TMS, EEG, eyetracking, kinematics, and psychophysics labs. Please submit applications electronically at https://www.unitn.it/en/ateneo/bando/62900/center-for-mindbrain-sciences-ci… <https://www.unitn.it/en/ateneo/bando/62900/center-for-mindbrain-sciences-ci…> For further information about this position, please contact Dr. Moritz Wurm at moritz.wurm(a)unitn.it <mailto:moritz.wurm@unitn.it>. -- Moritz Wurm Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento Corso Bettini 31, 38068 Rovereto (TN), Italy moritz.wurm(a)unitn.it <mailto:moritz.wurm@unitn.it> +39 0461-28 8632 https://sites.google.com/site/moritzfwurm <https://sites.google.com/site/moritzfwurm>

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Post-doc position at Oldenburg, Germany, deadline 28 April
by Jochem Rieger 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Dear colleagues, we have an open DFG-funded post-doc position for 3+2 years for the development of data infrastructure including storage, streaming and analysis tools for reproducible science based on the BIDS standard at our Neuroimaging Unit at University of Oldenburg, Germany. The position also includes user training and workshop organization. It is therefore complemented by a full time technician position for support. The initial duration is 3 years and can be extended by another 2 years. The announcement is below. The Neuroimaging Unit hosts a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI-scanner and a 306 channel Triux MED system equipped with state or the art interaction devices. In, addition research groups at the Dept. of Psychology use fNIRS, EEG, TMS and TACS equipment. We have a prestigious DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence in Hearing Research here and the Dept. of Psychology was recently evaluated as execellent with the highest third party funding rate among psychologies in Lower Saxony. The city of Oldenburg has a high standard of living, Hamburg, Bremen and the north sea are between 30 to 90 min distance. Best regards, Jochem The Neuroimaging Unit at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Oldenburg is seeking to fill the position of a *Postdoctoral Research Associate (m/f/d) * (Salary level E13 TVL, 100%) *for the development of research data management and analyses based on the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) in the field of human neuroimaging* The position is part of a DFG funded Core Facility project and is available *as soon as possible* for a duration of three years (with the possibility to extend another two years after successful project evaluation). The position is suitable for part-time work. The Neuroimaging Unit hosts a state of the art MEG (Elekta Triux) and an MRI (Siemens Prisma 3T) and is embedded in an excellent interdisciplinary scientific environment with a strong research focus on neurosensory, neurocognitive, and health related research. The Department of Psychology was recently evaluated as the best in the state of Lower Saxony. The goal of the DFG Core Facility project is to integrate the brain imaging data structure (BIDS) standard in the data management in the Neuroimaging Unit for reproducible neuroscience and open data. The successful candidate will implement data handling and storage conforming to the BIDS standard, develop standardized data processing pipelines for reproducible data analysis, tools to enable meta-analyses, organize workshops on the topics, and participate in the development of the BIDS standard. Successful candidates are expected to have an academic university degree (Master or equivalent) in the field of computer science, engineering, neuroscience or psychology and have shown their ability to perform excellent scientific work, demonstrated by the outstanding quality of their doctorate/PhD research and an excellent publication record. Prior experience with one or more of the following is required: strong programming skills, BIDS, data management, experience with a neuroimaging modality (MRI, MEG or EEG). Fluency in English is required, German is desirable. The candidate must be a team worker and have excellent communication abilities. The University of Oldenburg is dedicated to increase the percentage of female employees in the field of science. Therefore, female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. In accordance to § 21 Section 3 NHG, female candidates with equal qualifications will be preferentially considered. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference in case of equal qualification. Please send your application including a cover letter, CV, list of potential referees, links to recent publications and copies of certificates for academic grades to Prof. Jochem Rieger, Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany; (jochem.rieger(a)uni-oldenburg.de <mailto:jochem.rieger@uni-oldenburg.de>). Electronic applications (one pdf file) are preferred. The application deadline is *28th of April 2020*. -- Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Jochem Rieger Head of Applied Neurocognitive Psychology Faculty VI Carl-von-Ossietzky University 26111 Oldenburg Germany Phone: +49(0)4417984533 Fax: +49(0)4417983865

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[meetings] [LM2020] Living Machines 2020 - COVID-19 update
by vvouloutsi＠ibecbarcelona.eu 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Dear colleagues, we are crossing uncharted territory. The outbreak of COVID-19 is having a significant impact on our life, health and economy but also on how our society communicates and the scientific communities are also affected by this terrible pandemic. On the one hand, we must act in complete observance of safety and ethical practices; on the other hand, we must maintain scientific research and knowledge exchange with new lockdown-proof methods and technologies. *Living Machines deadline is extended to May 1st 2020 and going online on * 28 – 30 July 2020*. Join us!* Apologies for cross-posting but please share this announcement with your colleagues. Looking forward to seeing you online! Stay safe and take good care. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— *Extended Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors* *Living Machines. The 9th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems* To be hosted online. Further details will be announced soon. Accepted papers will be published in *Springer Lecturer Notes in Artificial Intelligence* *Submission deadline extended: May 1st, 2020* http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2020 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— *ACTIVITIES* The main conference will take the form of a *two-day single-track oral* and *poster presentation program*, *28 - 30th July 2020*, and will be hosted by the Cluster of Excellence “Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)” at the University of Freiburg, Germany (www.livmats.uni-freiburg.de<http://www.livmats.uni-freiburg.de>). The conference program will include *4 plenary lectures* from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems, and the demonstrations of state-of-the-art living machine technologies. The full conference will be preceded by up to 1 day of *Workshops* hosted by the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg *SATELLITE EVENTS* Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to propose topics for full or 1/2 half-day *tutorials*, *symposia* or *workshops* on related themes to be hosted on the 28 of July by the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg Attendance at satellite events will attract a small fee intended to cover the online costs of the meeting. There is flexibility about the content, organization, and budgeting for these events. Please contact us if you are interested in organizing a satellite event! Best, V. -- Vicky Vouloutsi, PhD Postdoc Researcher at the laboratory for Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS<https://specs-lab.com/>) mail: vvouloutsi(a)ibecbarcelona.eu<https://vvouloutsi@ibecbarcelona.eu> linkedin<https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-vouloutsi-28496133/> researchgate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vasiliki_Vouloutsi> tel: +34 934011913 Aquest correu electrònic conté informació confidencial emparada pel secret professional. Qualsevol reproducció, distribució o divulgació del seu contingut estan estrictament prohibides. Si vostè no és el destinatari, li preguem no faci difusió ni copiï el seu contingut i ens ho notifiqui el més aviat possible a l'adreça dataprotection(a)ibecbarcelona.eu Este correo electrónico contiene información confidencial amparada por el secreto profesional. Cualquier reproducción, distribución o divulgación de su contenido están estrictamente prohibidas. Si usted no es el destinatario, le rogamos no difunda ni copie su contenido y nos lo notifique de inmediato a la dirección dataprotection(a)ibecbarcelona.eu This electronic transmission contains confidential information covered by professional secrecy. Any reproduction, distribution or disclosure of its contents is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, you are kindly requested not to disseminate nor to copy this transmission and to notify us as soon as possible by email to dataprotection(a)ibecbarcelona.eu .

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Data Science Master's programme at the University of Vienna
by Moritz Grosse-Wentrup 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Dear all, The University of Vienna offers a new Master's programme in Data Science. The programme is taught by internationally renowned scientists from an interdisciplinary range of faculties, including Computer Science, Mathematics, Business, Economics and Statistics, Historical and Cultural Studies, and Philological and Cultural Studies. All courses are taught in English. For further information on the programme, please visit https://datascience.univie.ac.at/masters/master-data-science/ To explore Vienna, consistently ranked as the most livable city in the world, visit https://www.wien.info/en The application deadline for the winter term is *April 30th*. Best regards, Moritz Grosse-Wentrup -- Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Research Group Neuroinformaticst Faculty of Computer Science University of Vienna Hörlgasse 6, A-1090 Wien, Austria moritz.grosse-wentrup(a)univie.ac.at +43-1-4277-79610 http://neural.engineering/

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CNS*2020 Online Meeting: abstract submission deadline approaching
by Martin Zapotocky 21 Apr '20

21 Apr '20

Organization for Computational Neurosciences 2885 Sanford Ave SW #15359 Grandville, MI 49418 USA* * *Meeting Update* *29th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2020)* July 18--22, 2020 Due to the continuing restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, *the CNS*2020 Meeting in Melbourne* will be *replaced by an **online meeting of the CNS community*. For the format of the meeting and further updates, please follow https://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2020-quick Registration for the meeting is open and *free of charge*. * The deadline for submission of abstracts* remains as follows: *April 29 *in case a *plenary oral presentation *is requested, **May 6 **in case a **poster-type presentation** is requested. Please see https://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2020-abstract-submission The *call for workshops* currently remains open: https://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2020-call-for-workshops We are glad to announce that the online meeting will feature *keynote presentations* by the speakers originally scheduled to appear in Melbourne: Matt Botvinick <http://clicks.memberclicks-mail.net/ls/click?upn=0q9n39ErOfD80mnaMiQulqGfCi…> Zhaoping Li <http://clicks.memberclicks-mail.net/ls/click?upn=0q9n39ErOfD80mnaMiQulswYUA…> Geoff Goodhill <http://clicks.memberclicks-mail.net/ls/click?upn=0q9n39ErOfD80mnaMiQuluw3UK…> Daniel Polani <http://clicks.memberclicks-mail.net/ls/click?upn=WlHEp4SFVCdIhPrNLw-2BOWTkz…> Upozorneni: Neni-li v teto zprave vyslovne uvedeno jinak, ma tato E-mailova zprava nebo jeji prilohy pouze informativni charakter. Tato zprava ani jeji prilohy v zadnem ohledu ustavy AV CR, v.v.i. k nicemu nezavazuji. Text teto zpravy nebo jejich priloh neni navrhem na uzavreni smlouvy, ani prijetim pripadneho navrhu na uzavreni smlouvy, ani jinym pravnim jednanim smerujicim k uzavreni jakekoliv smlouvy a nezaklada predsmluvni odpovednost ustavu AV CR, v.v.i. Disclaimer: If not expressly stated otherwise, this e-mail message (including any attached files) is intended purely for informational purposes and does not represent a binding agreement on the part of Institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The text of this message and its attachments cannot be considered as a proposal to conclude a contract, neither the acceptance of a proposal to conclude a contract, nor any other legal act leading to concluding any contract; nor does it create any pre-contractual liability on the part of Institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

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[Conferences] CFP: IEEE RO-MAN 2020 Special Session on Applied Emotion/Mind-Aware Neuroimaging in Real-world Human-Robot Symbiosis with Heart, Mind, and Soul
by Ker-Jiun Wang 20 Apr '20

20 Apr '20

29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication(IEEE RO-MAN2020) *SPECIAL SESSION* *Applied Emotion/Mind-Aware Neuroimaging in Real-world Human-Robot Symbiosis with Heart, Mind, and Soul* *(Website: **http://ro-man2020.unina.it/special-sessions.php* <http://ro-man2020.unina.it/special-sessions.php>*)* *CALL FOR PAPERS* *(Download CFP: **https://tinyurl.com/tgvhue5* <https://tinyurl.com/tgvhue5> *)* *Title* *Applied Emotion/Mind-Aware Neuroimaging in Real-world Human-Robot Symbiosis with Heart, Mind, and Soul* *Motivation and goals* Wearable technologies that connect human with the surrounding smart environment could potentially replace the cellphone and other cumbersome tablet/laptops to become the next generation human-computer interface. It opens a new frontier of using stretchable, sticky and flexible body sensors, galvanic skin response (GSR), photoplethysmogram (PPG), inertial measurement unit (IMUs), and neurophysiological electrodes, such as EEG/EMG/ECG/EKG to measure various brain and body activity signals, and decode meaningful information for multi-modal interactions. Such dramatic shift of paradigm can be manifested in many technology development from big companies/startups, like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Samsung and Neuralink (Elon Musk), etc., to build more mobile, invisible, ubiquitous, compact computing platforms, such as smart watches, smart glasses, smart headphones, VR/AR headsets, and state-of-the-art Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), in which the devices embed various kinds of sensors and electrodes to directly/indirectly interpret human body states, intentions, emotions and/or even high level motivations from neural signals, while other “out-of-body” sensors, like cameras, could not observe. Along with the scientific and practical implementation challenges of such technology, the personal big data collection also brings a lot of social norms, privacy and ethical issues as well. In this Special Session, we want to solicit impactful paper contributions to push the boundary to the limit, in order to explore the most critical issues in applying this futuristic technology to the real-world environment. Since our human have complex behaviors, which involve multiple disciplinary explanations, the technologies that closely-interact and solve the human-related problems should also reflect such complex multidisciplinary nature. As part of purely theoretical findings, we will also create a multidisciplinary educational and discussion forum, in which we will have industrial applications, art and design, consumer electronics, embedded system and mobile computing, Human-Robot Neural Interaction (HRNI) user experience/interface (UX/UI) design, and social norm and ethical paper presentations to discuss the emotion/mind-aware data collection and the use of AI to fully release the potential of this promising technology. Hopefully our dedicated effort of organizing this Special Session focusing on Emotion/Mind-Aware Neuroimaging could make such futuristic promising technology more human-centered, with more human-like heart, mind, and soul to interact with the people, the robot, and all other smart IoT devices, to enable a seamless Human-Robot Symbiotic society. Areas of interest include but are not limited to: *List of Topics* - Affective Computing - Wearable Platform and Wearable Device Form Factor Design - Soft Robotics - AI, Big Data, IoT, Deep Learning - Machine Learning and Biosignal Processing - Brain-Computer Interface and Physiological Signal Measurement - Invasive and Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interface - Wearable Computing and Embedded System, IC/SoC design - Consumer Electronics Applications - Cloud/Edge Computing - Human-Robot/Computer Interaction - Neuroprosthesis, Exoskeleton, Rehabilitation robot - Biofeedback/Neurofeedback Training - Human-Robot Neural Interaction (HRNI) User Experience/Interface Design - Human-Centered Natural Interaction Design - Social Norms and Ethical issues of Using Emotion-Aware Big Data *PAPER SUBMISSIONS* Authors are invited to submit a *6~8-page (regular) Special Session paper* via RO-Man 2020 portal in *Papercept* (https://ras.papercept.net/) using *Special Session code* (Code: gxf38). Manuscripts are in double-column IEEE format following the official IEEE Manuscript Formatting guidelines. Review will be single-blind, so please retain all authors information in the submissions. Also consider the IEEE policies for publications. The conference proceedings will be included in the *IEEE Xplore Digital Library* . *Submission link* https://ras.papercept.net/ *Submission Code* *"gxf38"* *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* *Due to COVID-19, we are now accepting "Video Live Streaming" and/or "Video Recording" presentations, so the accepted papers can be presented remotely! **The paper submission deadline has been extended to the 29th of April to provide authors of the time to produce their best work, despite the many additional challenges we are facing at the moment. We are considering alternatives to allow for remote participation to both the main conference and workshops should disruptions still occur in September. All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings and uploaded to IEEE Xplore, regardless of whether a physical or virtual presentation will be given.* *IMPORTANT DATES* - *Submission deadline for full papers: April 29, 2020 (extended)* - Notifications: June 15, 2020 - Final camera ready deadline: June 30, 2020 - Conference: August 31 - September 4, 2020 *ORGANIZERS* Ker-Jiun Wang (University of Pittsburgh) Mohammad Shidujaman (Tsinghua University) Caroline Yan Zheng (Royal College of Art) Maitreyee Wairagkar (Imperial College of London) Midori Sugaya (Shibaura Institute of Technology) Zhi-Hong Mao (University of Pittsburgh) Kai-Tai Song (National Chiao Tung University) Kindest regards, *Ker-Jiun Wang, PhD* Department of Bioengineering University of Pittsburgh On Behalf of Organizing Committees of Applied Emotion/Mind-Aware Neuroimaging in Real-world Human-Robot Symbiosis with Heart, Mind, and Soul

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PhD position at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland)
by Milekovic Tomislav 20 Apr '20

20 Apr '20

PhD position in the lab of Prof. Gregoire Courtine at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) A computational approach to personalize and optimize clinical treatments for restoring locomotion to people paralyzed by spinal cord injury Location: The laboratory of Prof. Gregoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, is looking to fill a fully funded PhD position. The qualified candidate will benefit from joining a very dynamic and multidisciplinary group working at the interface of computational neuroscience, neuroengineering, prosthetics and biology. EPFL provides state-of-the-art facilities and is one of the leading technical universities worldwide. In addition, PhD salaries at EPFL rank the highest in the world. Description: A therapy based on epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord can restore the ability to walk to people paralyzed by spinal cord injury. EES does this by recruiting sensory axons within dorsal spinal roots that enter the spinal cord between the vertebrae. Yet, clinically available electrode arrays used to deliver the EES were not designed to target individual spinal roots. Data driven design of the electrode arrays has the potential to substantially improve the specificity of spinal EES and, therefore, dramatically improve the recovery of people with spinal cord injury. The efficacy of EES could be further enhanced through computational algorithms capable of designing EES protocols that fully utilize the interaction between the electrode array and patient's anatomy. These two developments are critical for deployment of the EES-based therapy to clinics around the world to help millions of people suffering from spinal cord injury. We have created a computational pipeline capable of creating detailed computational models of individual persons' spinal columns from MRI scans and fMRI recordings. These hybrid models are composed of 3D finite element models (FEM) to characterize the electric current and potential in the spinal cord of individuals, and various abstractions of compartmental cable models and network models of spinal cord neuronal populations and their connections to calculate the effects of EES on the spinal networks and, in turn, the activation of muscles. This computational approach has the potential to optimize the efficacy of EES on a personalized basis, lead to novel superior electrode array designs, and further our understanding of the mechanisms by which spinal cord controls movement. The successful candidate will work to automatize our computational pipeline in order to make the described approaches useful in applied clinical practice. They will work on the development of efficient and robust computer vision algorithms to automatically segment medical imaging datasets. They will also further develop our computational pipeline to enable automatic definition of personalized EES stimulation protocols. Furthermore, they will implement a computational framework around our pipeline that can perform a large-scale and diverse sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. This framework will be critical to enhance the efficacy and explore possible novel applications of spinal cord EES. Prerequisites: - Master's Degree in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Microengineering, Electrical Engineering or related - Proficiency in Python, Matlab and C++ - Experience with Finite Element Models, compartmental cable models, neurobiomechanical models and Machine Learning Contact: Applications including a CV and a cover letter should be sent to andreas.rowald(a)epfl.ch

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