- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

In-vivo two-photon imaging of synaptic proteins_Postdoc opportunity in Australia

by Patricio Opazo Olavarria

Dear colleagues, There is an exciting postdoc opportunity to investigate the molecular basis of memory formation in the lab of Dr. Patricio Opazo and Dr. Victor Anggono at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, Australia. The project will involve implementing a visual discrimination go/no go task in awake mice under the two-photon microscope to visualize the dynamics of synaptic proteins during learning and memory in the visual cortex. For more information about this position please contact Dr Patricio Opazo on email p.opazo(a)uq.edu.au<mailto:p.opazo@uq.edu.au>. or Apply directly at the University of Queensland Jobs search here: http://search.jobs.uq.edu.au/caw/en/job/509656/postdoctoral-research-fellow Kind regards, Pato ********************************************************** Patricio Opazo, PhD Group Leader Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research Queensland Brain Institute The University of Queensland Building 79, Upland Rd Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia T +61 7 3443 2485 M +61 (0)428 311 510 E p.opazo(a)uq.edu.au W qbi.uq.edu.au/opazogroup CRICOS code: 00025B [signature_1643568986] The University of Queensland is embracing the Green Office philosophy. Please consider the environment before printing this email. This email (including any attached files) is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information of The University of Queensland. If you are not the addressee, you are notified that any transmission, distribution, printing or photocopying of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please delete and notify me. Unless explicitly stated, the opinions expressed in this email do not represent the official position of The University of Queensland.

March 2, 2020

Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience, Barcelona, Spain

by Alex Roxin

A. Roxin, Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain. Available immediately. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. We are looking for a highly motivated researcher to study the network mechanisms underlying episodic memory formation in hippocampus. The project involves modelling as well as the analysis of electrophysiological and Ca-imaging data from mice. The ideal candidate has a strong background in math, physics or similar field. Experience in neuroscience is highly desirable but not required. To apply please send a CV, letter of interest, and contact information for two references to Alex Roxin at aroxin(a)crm.cat. Pre-application inquiries can be sent to the same address. -- Alex Roxin Computational Neuroscience Group Centre de Recerca Matemàtica Campus de Bellaterra, Edifici C 08193, Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain https://sites.google.com/site/alexanderroxin/home

March 2, 2020

PhD Position in Multilingualism/Psycholinguistics

by Narly Golestani

With the launch of a new ‘NCCR Evolving Language’ (http://www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/nfs/Faktenblatt_NCCR_evolvinglang…) which involves nearly 40 different research groups from a large variety of disciplines across Switzerland, we seek to fill a PhD position for a four-year project starting in May 2020, or at the selected candidate’s convenience. Our goal is to make progress in understanding language giftedness from cognitive, psychological and neural perspectives. To this end, we plan to carry out a set of studies involving both behavioral measures of cognitive and language-related abilities (e.g. auditory/perceptual abilities, phonemic perception and production, inductive learning, working memory etc) and brain imaging measures (fMRI and sMRI). The research group involves two PIs (Golestani, Geneva; and Berthele, Fribourg) and a postdoc. Data will be collected with Francophone (mono- and multilingual) subjects. Applicants should hold an MA degree in psychology, linguistics or a related field (e.g. psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, multillingualism), have a good command French and English and have strong quantitative research and statistics skills. Additional mastery of German and experience with neuroimaging techniques would be a strong advantage. The NCCR places great emphasis on gender diversity and we particularly encourage women to apply. Applicants may send a pdf file including a cover letter, a CV, names and contact information of 2-3 references as well as any other relevant documents to Narly.Golestani(a)unige.ch<mailto:Narly.Golestani@unige.ch> and Raphael.berthele(a)unifr.ch<mailto:Raphael.berthele@unifr.ch>. Deadline for application: March 31 2020 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brain and Language Lab Prof. Narly GOLESTANI Department of Psychology Campus Biotech 9 Chemin des Mines, 1202 Genève +41 22 379 53 52 <https://outlook.unige.ch/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=5WTo-p-J-W9FrDydU-0WU4PdMytUGs…>http://www.brainandlanguagelab.org https://twitter.com/brain_lang_lab ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <https://outlook.unige.ch/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=5WTo-p-J-W9FrDydU-0WU4PdMytUGs…>

March 1, 2020

Postdoc position at the University of Melbourne, Australia

by Anthony Burkitt

Postdoctoral research fellow position in Neuroengineering / Computational Neuroscience at The University of Melbourne, Australia Applications close: 10 Mar 2020 11:55 PM Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC+11) http://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/caw/en/job/902247/research-fellow-in-neuroengine… We are seeking an emerging, self-motivated individual with the ability to work collaboratively with the team, as well as lead their own research activities, to contribute to a multidisciplinary project at the forefront between neuroscience, robotics and artificial intelligence. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to develop a career in research and apply their mathematical skills to neuroscience. This role will work in The Bionics, Biomedical Imaging and Neuroengineering group, comprised of leading internationally recognised researchers. You will work on a multidisciplinary project on perception, navigation and spatial awareness, in which the insights and mechanisms from neuroscience and the modelling of neural systems, particularly of vision and other sensory systems, can be analysed and used to inspire applications in autonomous robots and other artificial systems. Regards, Tony Burkitt Professor Anthony N. Burkitt BSc (Hons) PhD Chair of Bio-Signals and Bio-Systems NeuroEngineering Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering Melbourne School of Engineering The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia T: +61 3 90353552 І M: +61 422 960 880 І E: aburkitt(a)unimelb.edu.au<mailto:aburkitt@unimelb.edu.au> W: www.eng.unimelb.edu.au<http://www.eng.unimelb.edu.au> http://www.bme.unimelb.edu.au

March 1, 2020

Modellers Workshop for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox, 1-20 March 2020

by Stewart Heitmann

Modeller’s Workshop for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox Online Course Mar 1-20, 2020 The Brain Dynamics Toolbox is an open toolbox for simulating dynamical systems in neuroscience. This on-line course is for researchers, students and instructors who wish to use the toolbox to build their own dynamical models. Participants learn the art of programming differential equations in Matlab and how to use the toolbox to solve those equations interactively. Topics include programming Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Delay Differential Equations, Stochastic Differential Equations, Auxiliary Plot Functions and command-line tools. Example code is provided in all cases. Course Website https://bdtoolbox.org/p/modellers-workshop/ Important Dates Early-bird enrolments ($100) close Sunday 8th March, 2020. Late enrolments ($125) close Friday 20th March, 2020. Stewart Heitmann | Computational Scientist Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute | Lowy Packer Building | 405 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 Australia E: s.heitmann(a)victorchang.edu.au<mailto:s.heitmann@victorchang.edu.au> | @VictorChangInst Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and may have been automatically archived by Mimecast Ltd, an innovator in Software as a Service (SaaS) for business. Providing a safer and more useful place for your human generated data. Specializing in; Security, archiving and compliance. To find out more visit the Mimecast website.

Feb. 29, 2020

COSYNE 2020: Live streaming

by Tomas Hromadka

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2020 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING 27 February - 01 March 2020 Denver, Colorado WORKSHOPS 02 March - 03 March 2020 Breckenridge, Colorado www.cosyne.org ==================================================== ---------------------------------------------------- LIVE STREAMING ---------------------------------------------------- Please note that tutorials and *selected* talks from Cosyne 2020 are streamed live on Cosyne youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzOTbZTHTubFNjANAR33AAg) ---------------------------------------------------- COSYNE ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks is selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. For details on workshop proposals please see below or visit Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural basis of behavior, sensory and motor systems, circuitry, learning, neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. This year we would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. COSYNE INVITED SPEAKERS Matthew Botvinick (Deepmind/Princeton) Megan Carey (Champalimaud) John Cunningham (Columbia) Gul Dolen (Hopkins) Rainer Friedrich (FMI Basel) Sam Gershman (Harvard) Lisa Giocomo (Stanford) Christopher Harvey (Harvard) Mehrdad Jazayeri (MIT) Wei Ji Ma (NYU) Hendrikje Nienborg (Tuebingen/NIH) Linda Wilbrecht (Berkeley) Marta Zlatic (Janelia) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Eugenia Chiappe (Champalimaud) and Christian Machens (Champalimaud) Program Chairs: Anne-Marie Oswald (U Pittsburgh) and Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris) Workshop Chairs: Catherine Hartley (NYU) and Blake Richards (McGill) Undergraduate Travel Chairs: Angela Langdon (Princeton) and Robert Wilson (U Arizona) Diversity Chairs: Eva Dyer (Georgia Tech, Emory) and Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Publicity Chair: Adam Calhoun (Princeton) Development Chair: Michael Long (NYU) Tutorial Chair: Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org ---------------------------------------------------- COSYNE MAILING LISTS ---------------------------------------------------- Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

Feb. 29, 2020

PhD position in numerical methods for uncertainty quantification in large-scale brain activity

by Avitabile, D.

The Department of Mathematics of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam welcomes applications for a fully-funded, 4-year PhD student position in Computational Mathematics. In this project you will work on uncertainty quantification for large-scale brain dynamics under the supervision of Daniele Avitabile. The project lies at the intersection between mathematical neuroscience and computational mathematics. You will study and implement methods for spatio-temporal patterns in a novel class of neural field models, which are relevant to understand epileptic seizures, visual hallucinations and short-term working memory. You will be based in the Department of Mathematics at VU Amsterdam, and collaborate closely with Gabriel Lord, at Radboud University. The application deadline is the 19th of April 2020, and the starting date is the 1 September 2020, or earlier. Applications should be sent using the following link, which also contains further details on the advertised position workingat.vu.nl/ad/phd-position-in-uncertainty-quantification-for-large-scale-brain-dynamics/i462jk Informal enquires can be directed to Daniele Avitabile (d.avitabile(a)vu.nl) Daniele Avitabile Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam www.danieleavitabile.com

Feb. 28, 2020

Postdoctoral position at Karolinska Institute

by Konstantina Kilteni

We are excited to announce an opening postdoctoral position at our lab in Karolinska Institute, to work on touch and tickle perception during voluntary movements! The main research focus of our lab ( https://ki.se/en/neuro/kilteni-laboratory) concerns how we distinguish self-generated from externally generated sensations. To address this question, we combine psychophysics, neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG) and neurostimulation (TMS) techniques. *What we offer:* - Access to research-dedicated 3T MR scanner, TMS and EEG. - Access to multiple robotic setups to study force, touch and tickle perception, as well as to EMG and motion tracking devices. - A dynamic, interdisciplinary, and international research environment, full of expertise and curiosity. *Requirements:* - A PhD in neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, biomedical engineering, computer science or a related discipline. - Experience in any of the project’s techniques (psychophysics, fMRI, TMS, EEG). - Keen interest in experimental approaches to study touch perception. - Motivation to work independently as well as in a team environment. Candidates will contribute to all steps of the research from literature review to implementation of study design, data collection, data analysis and preparation of manuscripts. The position is available for 1 year with the possibility for continuation for 1 more year, starting in May 2020 (with some flexibility on the starting date). An application should include a CV, a list of publications, a summary of current work and references. For further information, please follow the link: https://ki.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:320274/ Deadline of applications: *March 19th.* We are very curious and very excited about our research. *Join us!* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Konstantina Kilteni | Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Neuroscience | Karolinska Institutet Solnavägen 9 | 17165 Stockholm | Sweden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6887-6434

Feb. 28, 2020

BCAM course on Statistical Physics of Neural Networks, Bilbao, Spain, May 11-15, 2020

by Maurizio De Pittà

Dear colleagues, The Basque Center of Applied Mathematics (BCAM) in Bilbao, Spain, is hosting a 1-week course on "Statistical Physics of Neural Networks" by Yonatan Aljadeff (The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), during May 11-15, 2020. The course will consist of five lessons of 2-hour each in the morning, with the possibility to deepen the material taught in the class by frontal meetings with Dr. Aljadeff during the rest of the day. This is an excellent occasion to learn about some of the most advanced material in computational neuroscience. The course is tailored to students with a strong background in mathematics and physics, who are either at advanced undergraduate or graduate levels, as well as to students who are strongly interested in pursuing doctoral research in computational neuroscience. The program of the course is as follows: 1. Random matrices (RMT). The circular and elliptic laws. A statistical physics derivation of Girko’s circular law–the spectral density of an asymmetric random matrix; and the elliptic law–the spectral density for a random matrix with correlations. 2. Transition to chaos in random networks. Dynamic mean-field analysis (DMFT) of a neural network model with random synaptic weights. 3. Random networks with structure. Extension of the RMT and DMFT to partially random and partially structured systems, e.g. systems with cell-type dependent interactions, distance-dependent interactions, heterogeneous and correlated degree distributions, etc. 4. The classical perceptron. Gardner's calculation by Replica method of the capacity of a classical perceptron. 5. Perceptrons in neuroscience. Modern applications of perceptron theory: relating predictions of the synaptic weight distribution to empirical distributions; robustness to noise via excitation-inhibition balance; learning. Attendance to the course is free, but online registration is mandatory before May 8, 2020. There is also limited support available for Spanish and International students (outside of The Basque Country). Students who are willing to apply for financial support must register to the course before March 6, 2020, and indicate their will to apply for funding during the registration process. Registration and further information on the course may be retrieved from the link below: http://www.bcamath.org/en/courses/2020-05-11-bcam-course Thank you for your consideration. ----- Maurizio De Pitta' Research Fellow Research Line in Mathematical, Computational and Experimental Neuroscience BCAM -- Basque Center of Applied Mathematics https://sites.google.com/site/mauriziodepitta/home

Feb. 28, 2020

[Jobs] Early Stage Researchers (ERS) Positions in the EU-Marie Sklodowska-Curie ETN COBRA (COnversational BRAins)

by Alessandro D'Ausilio

Applicants are invited for two Early Stage Researchers (ESR) of EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) to be hosted at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The positions are for a fixed-term of 3 years and the successful applicants are expected to register for PhD at the University of Ferrara, in Translational Neurosciences and Neurotechnologies. The two Early Stage Researchers (ESR) of COBRA H2020 project (G.A. N. 859588), an EU Innovative Training Network of MSCA involving 9 partners, which will train a group of 15 researchers that will be the next generation of researchers to accurately characterize and model the linguistic, cognitive and brain mechanisms deployed by human speakers in conversational interactions with human interlocutors as well as artificial dialog systems. ERS2 Objectives: When people are engaged in meaningful social interaction, they automatically and implicitly adjust their speech, vocal patterns and gestures to accommodate to others. Although these processes have extensively been explored at the behavioral level, very little is known about their neural underpinnings. Prior investigations have shown that suppression of alpha oscillations, overlaying sensorimotor regions, are a possible marker of action-perception coupling during non-speech (Tognoli & Kelso, 2015) and speech based (Mukherjee et al., 2019) interactive tasks. The project, by running dual-EEG recordings, will investigate if behavioral speech alignment translates into identifiable brain oscillatory markers. Key objectives are (i) to develop and validate metrics to quantify phonetic accommodation during natural speech interactions and (ii) to identify electrophysiological markers of between-speaker convergence. Expected results: - A computational pipeline, based on deep-learning methods, to extract phonetic accommodation patterns of speakers engaged in a meaningful social interaction; - A significant contribution to the field of hyper-scanning by exploring the neurophysiological correlates of phonetic convergence during conversations. Based in Ferrara, Italy Full-time three-year contract, starting September 2020 PhD enrolment at: University of Ferrara Main supervisor’s institution: Italian Institute of Technology Main supervisor: Prof. Alessandro D’Ausilio, Prof. Luciano Fadiga Secondments: - AMU (Aix-Marseille Universitè, France): making-up of linguistic material in both Italian and French, contribution to design of experimental set-up and to phonetic analyses (5,5 months); - HU-ZAS (Humboldt-Universität, Germany): Assessment of a repertoire of metrics for measuring phonetic convergence in conversational speech (5 months). Contact: alessandro.dausilio(a)iit.it <mailto:alessandro.dausilio@iit.it> ERS10 Objectives: For adults, mastering the segmental and supra-segmental aspects of a second language (L2) is particularly challenging. Although we know that such a capability is partially maintained during adulthood, we do not know yet how to facilitate effective and long-lasting L2 learning. This project is based on the hypothesis that when people engage in meaningful social interactions, they automatically and implicitly align at multiple levels (Pickering, Garrod, 2013), including the phonetic (Mukherjee et al., 2019) and the facial expression ones. ESR10 will tackle the fundamental scientific question of speech alignment in L2 and whether it drives long-lasting improvements in L2 skills. Key objectives are (i) to investigate the dynamics of alignment in L2 (English) and (ii) to quantify improvements when participants are engaged in a conversation with native speakers. Expected results: - Validation of a set of game-like tools to quantify L2 speech and facial movements alignment; - Exhaustive investigation of alignment in L2, its relation with L2 proficiency before training and long term retention of L2 improvements. Based in Ferrara, Italy Full-time three-year contract, starting September 2020 PhD enrolment at: University of Ferrara Main supervisor’s institution: Italian Institute of Technology Main supervisor: Prof. Alessandro D’Ausilio, Prof. Luciano Fadiga Secondments: - IISAS (Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia): training on methods for analyzing acoustic-prosodic alignment in dialogues (5 months); - DAVI (DAVI, France): training on how to explore facial movement alignment in L2 (5,5 months). Contact: alessandro.dausilio(a)iit.it <mailto:alessandro.dausilio@iit.it> Contract The ESR will be contractually employed for 36 months by the main institution, and will be covered under the social security scheme of the enrolling country. The contract will be compliant with the applicable EC Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions-ITN general conditions. Experience eligibility requirement: Eligible applicants must be in the first 4 years of their research careers (full-time equivalent research experience) at the date of the recruitment (measured from the time the Master’s degree has been obtained). Eligible applicants must not hold a Doctoral Degree yet. Mobility eligibility requirement: The fellow must not have resided and not have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment date,. Selection process Applications must contain the following: • An up-to-date CV, without gaps, in order for the selection committee to easily check the mobility and experience requirements. CVs that either do not clearly show the applicant’s past experience, or have gaps, will be considered ineligible; • A letter exposing her/his motivation for a COBRA PhD fellowship, and her preference for two of the fifteen PhD projects proposed in COBRA; • At least 1 reference letter (in English) from one former supervisor and/or professor; • The scan of the degree (usually the master’s degree) which would formally entitles her/him to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained, or in the country in which the researcher will be recruited. If the degree has not been obtained yet, the applicant will have to provide a declaration of her/his university stating that the degree will be obtained before the expected starting date; • Transcripts of records (document indicating the applicant’s ranking and marks within her/his master’s degree as well as the courses/modules she/he has followed). • The complete application should be provided in the form of one single pdf file, named as follows: lastname-firstname.pdf. THE APPLICATION IS DONE VIA THE COBRA WEBPAGE: https://www.cobra-network.eu/ <https://www.cobra-network.eu/> DEADLINE: MARCH 31st 2020

Feb. 28, 2020