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Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professor in Systems Neuroscience - Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
by Fleur Zeldenrust March 28, 2018

March 28, 2018

Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professor in Systems Neuroscience (0.8 - 1.0 FTE) Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Link: http://www.ru.nl/werken/details/details_vacature_0/?recid=600469 As a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor of Systems Neuroscience, your research programme will centre on bridging experimental and theoretical approaches to provide mechanistic insights in cognition and behaviour. Ideally, you have a focus on human neuroimaging using MEG, and potentially combine this with experimental approaches involving animal models for cognition and behaviour. You should be a well-trained academic with an internationally visible profile as evidenced by publications in top-ranked scientific journals. You should hold a PhD degree in systems neuroscience, neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience or a related discipline. We expect you will contribute to the training of undergraduate and graduate Science students and also students enrolled in the Research Master’s programme of Cognitive Neuroscience of the Donders Institute. Furthermore, you will supervise PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers and non-academic technical staff. The position is intended for a junior faculty member to be appointed at the Assistant Professor level, but if you are an experienced candidate with an established research programme, external funding and significant teaching experience, you may be considered for an appointment at the Associate Professor level. Work environment The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre housing more than 600 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes: 1. Language and communication, 2. Perception, action and control, 3. Plasticity and memory, and 4. Brain networks and neuronal communication. The Donders Institute was assessed by an international evaluation committee as ‘excellent’ and recognised as a ‘very stimulating environment, not only for top researchers but also for young talent’. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary, supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute. You will have your primary location at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging and will be embedded at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience of Radboud University’s Science Faculty. The Donders Institute has an MEG system (CTF, 275 channels), three 3T MRI systems, plus a 7T whole body system based in nearby Essen, EEG laboratories including a baby research lab, and NIRS and TMS laboratories. Scanning access to these facilities does not directly depend on the acquisition of third party funding. What we expect from you - several years of postdoctoral research experience; - the capability and proven ability to acquire research grants; - an aptitude for undergraduate and graduate teaching as evidenced by a university teaching qualification, or the willingness to acquire this certificate; - the proven ability to bridge experimental and more theoretical approaches; - a line of research that fits in with that of the Donders Institute; - a collaborative, open attitude and strong communication and management skills; - the qualities to become a successful research group leader. What we have to offer - employment: 0.8 - 1.0 FTE; - a maximum gross monthly salary of € 5,861 based on a 38-hour working week (salary scale 13); - in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus; - starting salary will depend on experience; - duration of the contract: 6 years; - your performance will be evaluated after 6 years. If the evaluation is positive, you will be given a permanent contract; - you will be classified as an Assistant Professor (UD) or Associate Professor (UHD) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO); - you will be able to make use of our Dual Career Service where our Dual Career Officer will assist with family related support, such as child care, and help your partner prepare for the local labour market and with finding an occupation. More information about our employment conditions: http://www.ru.nl/ english/working-at/why-work-at-radboud-university-0/terms-employment/ Radboud University is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and as such encourages applications from women and minorities. Further information on the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour: <http://www.ru.nl/donders>http://www.ru.nl/donders/ For more information about this vacancy, please contact: Prof. Richard van Wezel, Scientific Director DCN Telephone: +3124 361 42 47 E-mail: r.vanwezel(a)donders.ru.nl <R.vanWezel(a)donders.ru.nl> You should upload your application (attn. of prof. Richard van Wezel) exclusively using the link on the website (see below).Your application should include (and be limited to) the following attachment(s): - CV including contact details of three references - research statement Deadline for application: 20 May 2018. Interviews will take place in June 2018. Link for application: http://www.ru.nl/werken/details/details_ vacature_0/?recid=600469 -- Fleur Zeldenrust Assistant Professor Department of Neurophysiology Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour Faculty of Science, Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135, postvak 33, kamer 02.204 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands tel +31 24 36 53195

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Job opening in Artificial Intelligence at Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE)
by Tassos Gmail March 28, 2018

March 28, 2018

In the context of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Brain Sciences and Technology Initiative (AI@BRAIN), the Cognitive Engineering team of the Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) <http://www.sinapseinstitute.org/> will be launching new projects and opening job positions at the introductory level for Senior Research Fellow, Research Fellow and Research Assistant. We are inviting researchers with undergraduate/bachelor degree in Computer Sciences, Computer Engineering, Mathematics/Informatics or relevant Science (e.g. neuroscience) and Engineering (e.g. EE) fields with expertise in AI disciplines: machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine perception and reasoning. Priority will be given to candidates with experience in multimodal data processing and multi-agent learning (e.g. deep multimodal learning methods, multimodal data fusion (e.g. graph-theoretic models, multilayer network analysis and community analysis). SINAPSE is a University-level Institute where research on brain, machine, and humans converge for many cutting-edge projects on brain-machine interface, robotics/prosthetics, and AI+cognitive sciences, giving the candidates a unique research environment, mentoring, and career-building experience. Accepted candidates will be involved in the development of AI algorithms for brain signal processing and analysis, as well as brain decoding (including cognitive state recognition, cognitive modeling and brain state modeling). Those who are interested in the jobs are invited to send their CV with two to three referee names and motivation letter to prof. Nitish Thakor (sinapsedirector(a)gmail.com <mailto:sinapsedirector@gmail.com> ), director of SINAPSE or to prof. Anastasios Bezerianos (anastasios.bezerianos(a)gmail.com <mailto:anastasios.bezerianos@gmail.com>). General Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken English (relevant certifications for candidates with no studying or working experience in English speaking countries), as well as Excellent communication skills and team working capabilities in multicultural environment, and independent and proactive character. Specific Requirments: 1. Senior Research Fellow; 1.1 Four (4) to eight (8) years Postdoctoral and/or Faculty position experience. 1.2 Research experience in AI models and algorithms. 1.3 Strong skills in Python and MATLAB programming 1.4 Fifteen (15) publications in international journals (five (5) as first or last author) and 20 book chapters and conference proceedings publications combined. 2. Research Fellow; 2.1 PhD degree in AI theory, models and applications 2.2 Minimum three3) years AI-relevant research experience. 2.3 Strong skills in Python and MATLAB programming 2.4 Minimum three (3) publications in international journals (two (2) as first author ) and 6 book chapters and conference proceedings publications combined 3. Research Assistant; 3.1 Bachelor degree 3.2 Undergraduate experience in AI courses and projects 3.3 Basic skills in Python and MATLAB programming 3.4 Relevant research experience and publications are an advantage Best Regards Tassos anastasios.bezerianos(a)gmail.com

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Post-doc - Detailed Neuronal Modeling - Blue Brain Project, Geneva, Switzerland
by emuller March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

Dear comp-neuro community, I wish to draw your attention to an opening for a post-doctoral researcher in "Detailed Neuron Modeling" (full advert below), at the Blue Brain Project, EPFL Biotech Campus, Geneva, Switzerland. For more details, and instructions how to apply, see: https://recruitingapp-2863.umantis.com/Vacancies/524/Description/2 Best regards, Eilif ------------- Dr. Eilif Muller Section Manager - Simulation Neuroscience - Cells & Circuits Task Leader - Community Engagement - HBP Brain Simulation SP EPFL - Blue Brain Project Biotech Campus Chemin des Mines 9 1202 Geneva Switzerland Tel: +41 21 693 0698 Fax: +41 21 693 5350 www: http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page-77926-en.html www: http://neuralensemble.org/people/eilifmuller ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBP - Post-doctoral Researcher in Detailed Neuron Modeling Your mission : The EPFL Blue Brain Project (BBP), situated on the Campus Biotech in Geneva, Switzerland, applies advanced neuroinformatics, data analytics, high-performance computing and simulation-based approaches to the challenge of understanding the structure and function of the mammalian brain in health and disease. The BBP provides the community with regular releases of data, models and tools to accelerate neuroscience discovery and clinical translation through open science and global collaboration. Within the Cells & Circuits division we are looking for a Post-doctoral Researcher in Detailed Neuron Modeling Main duties and responsibilities include : The primary objectives for this position are to strengthen on-going large-scale detailed neuron modeling, model validation efforts in the project, and to undertake original scientific research to characterize the role of intrinsic cellular mechanisms in computation and dynamics at the network level. Scientific leadership is expected to supervise computational neuroscience students, as is an intimate knowledge of the employed software in order to interface with engineering teams. The position is in close contact with an electrophysiology lab and modeling will go hand in hand with available and newly acquired experimental data. Your profile : * PhD in neuroscience, computational neuroscience, physics or related field * Expert in NEURON and multi-compartment conductance-based modeling as demonstrated by strong publication record * Expert in scientific computing (python, scipy, numpy, hdf5, gsl, Linux, etc.) * Knowledge of whole cell electrophysiology, ion channel experiments * Experience in automated neuron model optimization techniques * Experience in other programming languages (C++), parallel computing and software development (unit testing, continuous integration, version control, debugging and documentation) is of advantage * Experience in supervision of students and teaching * Strong team player and fluent English in speech and writing We offer : * An internationally visible project in simulation-based research in neuroscience having a leading role in the EU FET flagship “Human Brain Project” * A young, dynamic, inter-disciplinary, and international working environment * Very competitive salary Start date : Until position is filled Term of employment : Fixed-term (CDD) Work rate : 100% Duration : 1 year (renewable) Contact : Applicants should submit a cover letter and a detailed CV in PDF format only, with file name “Surname_position _Cover Letter” and “Surname_positon _CV” electronically to jobs.bbp(a)epfl.ch Please refer to the position title in the “subject” field.

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Call for three 2-year postdoc positions at Aix-Marseille/Avignon on Language, Communication and the Brain
by Demian Battaglia March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

The Center of Excellence on Brain and Language (BLRI, www.blri.fr/) and the Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain (ILCB, http://www.ilcb.fr/ ) offer: Three 2-year postdoc positions on any topic that falls within the area of language, communication, brain and modelling, including computational modelling and advanced data analyses. The BLRI-ILCB is located in Aix-en-Provence, Avignon and Marseille and regroups several research centers in linguistics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, medicine, computer science, and mathematics. The scientific project, ideally interdisciplinary, should be supervised by at least one member of the BLRI/ILCB (see http://www.blri.fr/members.html) and should, if possible, involve two different laboratories of the institute. . Duration: 2 years (1 year, extendable for another year) . Monthly salary: ~2000 € net (depending on experience) HOW TO APPLY Candidates should first contact potential supervisor(s) among the members of the ILCB/BLRI. Below, you will find a list of projects and supervisors, with a potential computational neuroscience content, that will be given priority for this call: Olivier Coulon, Adrien Megerditchian "Nested cortical models for human and non-human primate inter-species comparisons" Andrea Brovelli, Demian Battaglia "Functional Connectivity Dynamics of the Language Network" Sylvain Takerkart, Hachem Kadri "Multi-modal averaging of neuroimaging data using multi-view machine learning. Methods and applications" Benjamin Morillon , Kristof Strijkers "Time as a functional mechanism of sensorimotor integration in speech and language?" Magalie Ochs "Human-Machine Interaction, Artificial agent, Affective computing, Social signal processing" Eric Castet "Efficiency of a Virtual Reality Headset to improve reading in low vision persons" etc. However, you can also apply to any subject, under the supervision of any ILCB/BLRI member (more info can be found here: http://www.blri.fr/members.html.) When the research project is finalized and approved by the supervisor(s), the application must be sent to nadera.bureau(a)blri.fr.

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Deep learning for video analysis | Postdoc / RA positions available
by Thomas Serre March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

The computational vision research group, headed by Dr. Thomas Serre at Brown University, has an opening for a research assistant and/or a postdoctoral fellow to work in the area of computer vision and deep learning. The applicant will have the opportunity to develop state-of-the-art machine vision algorithms and join various multi-disciplinary projects ranging from evolutionary biology to behavioral and developmental science. Candidates are expected to have a strong background in modern computer vision and machine learning methods and a solid experience with modern deep learning libraries (tensorflow). An interest in biology and applications of computer vision to the biological sciences would also be a plus but is not a requirement for the position. The start date is negotiable though an early start is strongly preferred. Salary is commensurate with experience and is competitive. Research group: Information about Dr. Serre and his research group can be found at http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu. Through Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (https://www.ccv.brown.edu) our group has access to a state-of-the-art computing facility with includes over 300K GPU cores and over 500 Teraflops of GPU computing power. Application: Please send your applications by email to thomas_serre(a)correct_university_name.edu where ‘correct_university_name’ should be replaced by ‘brown’. Please include a brief statement of interests and a curriculum vita (no letters of reference required at this stage). There is no deadline for the application but applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as the position will be filled as soon as a suitable applicant is found. -- Thomas Serre | GMT -5:00 EDT | T: +1 401-484-0750 Associate Professor of Cog Ling & Psych Sciences | Brown University URL: goo.gl/G69SaF <http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu> | Google Talk: tserre | Skype: thomas.serre

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Postdoc position available
by Berends, A.C. (Sander) March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

Dear all, The Dutch research consortium 'Language in Interaction' is currently recruiting for a 3.5-year postdoctoral researcher position in the field of machine learning. The goal of this project “New Advances in Neural Networks for Coding of Neural Representations” is to advance the state of the art in both encoding and decoding of linguistic and semantic representations using advanced neural network architectures. Your responsibility will be to develop a general computational framework for encoding and decoding neural representations. The framework will make extensive use of state-of-the-art neural networks and other machine-learning techniques, which you will develop throughout this project. The models to be developed will be based on novel and efficient deep, generative and/or recurrent neural network architectures that aim to capture biologically plausible human cognitive processing at an unprecedented level of detail. You will help develop this new research line and assist in teaching and supervising Master’s and PhD students in the ACS lab. This position provides an opportunity to conduct world-class research as a key member of an interdisciplinary team operating at the interface between artificial intelligence and cognitive neuroscience. For more information, please visit: http://www.ru.nl/werken/details/details_vacature_0/?recid=600899 Best regards, Sander Berends Programme Manager - Gravitation Consortium "Language in Interaction" T: +31 (0)24 36 19838 | Radboud University Nijmegen | Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour | Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging | Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen | P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |

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2nd International Workshop on Neurodynamics (Ndy’18), September 26-29, 2018 Castro-Urdiales, Spain
by ROBERTO BARRIO March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

2nd International Workshop on Neurodynamics (Ndy’18) September 26-29, 2018 Castro-Urdiales, Spain http://cody.unizar.es/events/neurodynamics18/ https://www.ciem.unican.es/2nd-international-workshop-neurodynamics *** Scientific committee *** Peter Ashwin, University of Exeter, UK. Roberto Barrio, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. Silvia Daun, University of Cologne, Germany. Mathieu Desroches, Inria, Sophia Antipolis, France. Toni Guillamon, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Spain. Serafim Rodrigues, Basque Center of Applied Mathematics, Spain. Neuroscience is nowadays one of the most collaborative and active scientific research fields as it has been increasingly involving the participation of experts from other disciplines. In particular, computational and mathematical aspects of neuroscience are currently playing an important role both in modeling and replicating experimental findings and in explaining the underlying mechanisms of neurophysiological or cognitive processes. Differential equations are ubiquitous in the modeling of such phenomena and, consequently, nonlinear dynamics and dynamical systems techniques become fundamental sources of new mathematical and computational tools to study neuroscience models. The aim of this Second Workshop on Neurodynamics, NDy'18 (first edition was NDy'14) is to present an overview of successful achievements in this rapidly developing collaborative field by putting together different types of applications of nonlinear dynamics (geometrical tools in dynamical systems, numerical methods, computational schemes, dynamical measures,...) to different problems in neuroscience (mononeuronal dynamics, network activity, cognitive problems,...). Additional emphasis will be put on experimental findings seeking for theoretical explanations, and therefore this meeting is focussed on using mathematics as the primary tool for elucidating the fundamental mechanisms responsible for experimentally observed behavior in the applied neurosciences. Importantly, it will draw attention to those pieces of mathematical theory which are likely to be relevant to future studies of the brain. The final goal is spreading together mathematical methodology and neuroscience challenges and stimulating future cross-collaborations among participants, being Mathematical Neuroscience the generic topic for NDy'18. The workshop length will be 4 days, distributed in special sessions and talks, with several round tables on different topics. --------------------------------------------------------------------- *** IMPORTANT DATES *** Short abstract/Title submission deadline 14th May 2018 Acceptance notification 31st May 2018 Payment deadline (reduced fee, 220 Euros) 30th June 2018 Payment deadline (complete fee, 270 Euros) 6th September 2018 The registration includes the coffee-breaks, lunches and social dinner. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your abstract as soon as possible (always before May 14th) by e-mail to cody(a)unizar.es *************************************************** Prof. Roberto Barrio Computational Dynamics Group (CoDy) Departamento de Matematica Aplicada University of Zaragoza Edificio de Matematicas, planta tercera. c/ Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009-Zaragoza SPAIN email: rbarrio(a)unizar.es web: http://cody.unizar.es Tel: (34) 976762480 ***************************************************

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Public Lists of Open Science Resources + Open Computational Neuroscience Resources
by Austin Soplata March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

Hello, On GitHub, I've just put up some rather large public lists of: Open Science Resources https://github.com/asoplata/open-science-resources , and Open Computational Neuroscience Resources https://github.com/asoplata/ open-computational-neuroscience-resources That I think could be helpful. Contributions are very welcome! Best, Austin Soplata -- Austin E Soplata Doctoral Candidate in Computational Neuroscience, Boston University L - linkedin.com/in/*austinsoplata* <http://www.linkedin.com/in/austinsoplata> P - 901 486 9833 T - @austinsoplata <https://twitter.com/austinsoplata>

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Software engineer position
by Tomislav Milekovic March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

The lab of Prof. Michel at the University of Geneva is offering a software engineer position to work on development and advancement of brain-computer interfaces - devices that link persons' neural activity with computers, robotic limbs or implanted stimulators - with the aim of restoring communication and independence of people with paralysis. The successful candidate will work on several well-funded projects and is expected to transition to other projects in the future as those are initiated. The ideal candidate will have: 1. Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering 2. Successfully developed real-life project(s) in C/C++ 3. Experience in interfacing with hardware APIs 4. Experience in development of modular and multithreaded software frameworks that can be easily extended to work with other hardware and other software packages 5. Experience in the development of GUI (Qt, wxWidgets.) 6. Excellent coding standards, following industry best practices regarding code commenting, code documentation, version control, unit and integration tests. The following will also be a plus: 1. Knowledge of linear algebra and related C libraries (LAPAC, BLAS, etc.) 2. Some experience in development of Matlab software 3. Knowledge of real-time operating systems 4. The ability to manage multiple development projects The qualified candidate will benefit from joining a very dynamic and multidisciplinary group working at the interface of software development, engineering, neuroscience, and prosthetics. They will collaborate with several labs and companies of the newly founded Campus Biotech in Geneva. University of Geneva provides state-of-the-art facilities and is one of the leading technical universities worldwide. In addition, University of Geneva offers competitive salaries ranking amongst the highest in the world. Applications including a CV, short motivation letter, and the names and full contact details of two referees should be sent to tomislav.milekovic(a)unige.ch <mailto:tomislav.milekovic@unige.ch> . Link to the job add: https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/s/OHxsPGEDyS6mFYx

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Clinical neuroengineering postdoc
by Tomislav Milekovic March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

The lab of Prof. Michel at the University of Geneva is offering a postdoctoral position financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation for up to two years to work on clinical neuroengineering projects aimed at restoring communication and independence of people with tetraplegia and locked-in syndrome using brain-controlled assistive devices and prostheses. The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Tomislav Milekovic, a junior group leader under the senior supervision of Prof. Christoph Michel. They will work to develop and advance brain-computer interfaces based on electroencephalography (EEG) and intracortical microelectrode array recordings. These brain-computer interfaces will utilize adaptive decoders in order to restore independence of people with locked-in syndrome. The ideal candidate will have: 1. Background in computational/theoretical neuroscience, physics or mathematics 2. Experience in the quantitative analysis of electrophysiological neural signals (EEG, ECoG, LFP, spikes) 3. Experience in assembling and maintaining brain-computer interface systems 4. Leading brain-computer interface experiments with human or animal subjects 5. Experience in developing and using neural decoders 6. Experience in C/C++ software development The qualified candidate will benefit from joining a very dynamic and multidisciplinary group working at the interface of neuroscience, engineering and prosthetics. They will collaborate with several labs of the newly founded Campus Biotech in Geneva, and be strongly supported by the Wyss center for Bio and Neuroengineering led by Prof. John Donoghue. University of Geneva provides state-of-the-art facilities is one of the leading technical universities worldwide. In addition, University of Geneva offers competitive postdoctoral salaries ranking amongst the highest in the world. Applications including a CV, statement of research interests, and the names and full contact details of two referees should be sent to <mailto:tomislav.milekovic@unige.ch> tomislav.milekovic(a)unige.ch. Link to the job add: https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/s/GUmf8l7fkYUXCyh

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Applied computational neurophysiology postdoc
by Tomislav Milekovic March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

The lab of Prof. Michel at the University of Geneva is offering a postdoctoral position financed by the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering for up to two years. The successfully candidate will work on: 1. Analysis of intracortical microelectrode and ECoG recordings of people with paralysis and non-human primate models of neurological injuries and disorders. 2. Leveraging the gained knowledge to develop and advance methods for brain-controlled neuroprostheses. The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Tomislav Milekovic, a junior group leader under the senior supervision of Prof. Christoph Michel. The ideal candidate will have: 1. Background in computational/theoretical neuroscience, physics or mathematics 2. Experience in the quantitative analysis of electrophysiological neural signals (EEG, ECoG, LFP, spikes) 3. Expertise in development and testing of data processing and decoding computational algorithms for brain-computer interfaces 4. Experience in using computer clusters 5. Experience in Matlab The qualified candidate will benefit from joining a very dynamic and multidisciplinary group working at the interface of neuroscience, engineering and prosthetics. They will collaborate with several labs of the newly founded Campus Biotech in Geneva, and be strongly supported by the Wyss center for Bio and Neuroengineering led by Prof. John Donoghue. University of Geneva provides state-of-the-art facilities is one of the leading technical universities worldwide. In addition, University of Geneva offers competitive postdoctoral salaries ranking amongst the highest in the world. Applications including a CV, statement of research interests, and the names and full contact details of two referees should be sent to <mailto:tomislav.milekovic@unige.ch> tomislav.milekovic(a)unige.ch. Link to the job add: https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/s/gxTk2BjEd2rovZc

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[meetings] [LM2018] last week for submission!
by Vicky Vouloutsi March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

Dear colleagues, Please find below the second call for participation to the 7th edition of Living Machines. Apologies for cross-posting but please share this announcement with your colleagues. *Deadline extended: March 30* Looking forward to seeing you in Paris! ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ *third Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors* *Living Machines VII: The 7th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems* *16 – 19 July 2018* To be hosted at the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle, Grand Amphitéâtre du Museum, and UPMC, Paris, France, EU Accepted papers will be published in Springer *Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence* Submission deadline: March 30th, 2018 http://livingmachinesconference.eu/2018 ____________________________________________________________ _________________ *ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2018* The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems. *Biomimetics* is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering. *Biohybrid* systems are formed by combining at least one biological component—an existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The theme of the conference also encompasses biomimetic methods for manufacture, repair and recycling inspired by natural processes such as reproduction, digestion, morphogenesis and metamorphosis. The following are some examples of “Living Machines” as featured at past conferences: • Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can interact with their physical and social environments. • Biomimetic computers and architectures —neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for complex adaptive behaviour. • Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair. • Nature-based designs and manufacturing processes. • Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neuronal implants and neuroprosthetics. • Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and advanced prostheses and cyber-physical systems. • Organism-level biohybrids and symbiosis such as robot-animal or robot-human systems. *ACTIVITIES* The main conference will take the form of a *three-day single-track oral * and* poster presentation programme*, 17th to 19th July 2018, Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle, Grand Amphitéâtre du Museum, and UPMC, Paris, France, EU. The conference programme will include *five 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 two days of *Satellite Events* hosted at École Normale Supérieure, Paris. *SUBMITTING TO LIVING MACHINES 2018* We invite both *full papers* and *extended abstracts *in areas related to the conference themes. All contributions will be refereed, and accepted papers will appear in the Living Machines Proceedings, published in the* Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence.* Full papers (minimum 8 pages, up to 12 pages) are invited from researchers at any stage in their career and should present significant findings and advances in biomimetic or biohybrid research. More preliminary work is better suited for short paper submission (minimum 4 pages, with a maximum of ten references and no more than three self-citations). Full papers will be accepted for either oral presentation (single track) or poster presentation with a short podium preview. Extended abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation only. Authors of the best full papers will be invited to submitted extended versions of their paper for publication in a special issue of the Taylor & Francis journal *Connection Science*. *Satellite events* Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to propose topics for full or half-day* tutorials, symposia *or *workshops *on related themes to be held on the 16th July at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (Http://www.ens.fr/en) Attendance at satellite events will attract a small fee intended to cover the costs of the meeting. There is flexibility about the content, organisation, and budgeting for these events. Please contact us if you are interested in organising a satellite event! *EXPECTED DEADLINES* March 30th, 2018 Paper submission deadline April 28th, 2018 Notification of acceptance May 15th, 2018 Camera-ready copy July 16th – 19th, 2018 Workshops and Conference *SPONSORSHIP* Organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products through conference publications, conference events, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We also offer a number of attractive options to potential sponsors. *VENUE* Consistent with the Living Machines’ tradition of choosing historical venues at the crossroads between life and human sciences, this year the conference will take place at the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle ( http://www.mnhn.fr) a historical museum located in the heart of Paris that for almost 400 years has focused on nature and its relationship with humans. The museum is immersed in history, yet at the heart of current affairs, and is also working to be projected towards the future. Poster sessions will be organized at UPMC. *Organising Committee:* *Jose Halloy*, Université Paris Diderot (Local Organizing Chair) *Paul Verschure*, IBEC-BIST (Co-Chair) *Tony Prescott*, University of Sheffield (Steering Committee) *Vicky Vouloutsi,* IBEC-BIST, Barcelona (Programme Chair) *Michael Mangan*, University of Lincoln (Programme Co-Chair) *Nathan Lepora*, University of Bristol (Communications) *Anna Mura*, IBEC-BIST, Barcelona (Web and Communications) *Local* *Organising Committee:* *Stéphane Doncieux*, Prof. UMPC, ISIR *Benoît Girard*, DR CNRS, UPMC, ISIR *Emmanuelle Pouydebat*, DR CNRS, Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle *Vincent Bels*, Prof. Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle -- Vicky Vouloutsi, PhD Postdoc Researcher at the laboratory for Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS)

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Post-doc positions in Neuromorphic Engineering - SINAPSE/NUS/Singapore
by Andrei Nakagawa March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

Dear all, On behalf of the* Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE)*, I would like to present an opportunity for Postdoctoral Researchers. The Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) ( www.sinapseinstitute.org) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) is looking to hire *two* Postdoctoral Research Associates to enhance their research efforts in *neuromorphic engineering,* *neuromorphic sensing, robotics and prosthetics. * The areas of expertise and experience include: - Integrating multi-modal sensing to improve navigation, manipulation or movement; - Deploying machine learning architectures on robotic/prosthetic devices. - Designing novel mechanisms, for hands and grippers, integrating visual, tactile and haptic sensing; - Implementing bimanual object manipulation algorithms; - Designing spike-based machine learning algorithms. Candidates should have a PhD in engineering, science or related field, have experience in designing complex hardware software systems and developing and applying machine learning architectures for tasks such as object detection (visual/tactile), object tracking and object manipulation. In addition, candidates should have good collaborative and communication skills and be able to work in an interdisciplinary team. We are seeking for creative and imaginative people that are passionate about integrating hardware and software to build biologically inspired systems that perceive, act, and interact with the environment; deploying state-of-the-art machine learning on devices in the real world. We are offering competitive salaries contract and relocation assistance. These are positions without teaching obligations, however applicants with academic aspirations will have the opportunity to supervise undergraduate and graduate students, organize and take part in workshops, and electively get involved in research grants or industry partnerships. To indicate interest, please send a CV to: *Dr. Alcimar Soares* *email: alcimar.soares(a)gmail.com <alcimar.soares(a)gmail.com>.* *Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.* *Environment* SINAPSE is a very exciting place to develop high level and novel research. The lab brings together engineers, scientists and clinical researchers with a common goal of making an impact on society, focused on Neurotechnologies for basic science, clinical application and commercialization. Here, you would find an array of advanced technology: microelectronics for building neural interfaces, imaging tools and technologies for studying function and dysfunction of brain, optical methods for manipulating the nervous system, cognitive and computational methods for assessing neural/brain function, robotics for rehabilitation and neuromorphic systems for modeling the nervous system to inspire the next generation of robots and intelligent machines. The National University of Singapore (NUS) is the leading engineering and scientific institution in Asia centered upon education and basic research. Kind regards, *Andrei Nakagawa Silva, MSc* Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology - SINAPSE National University of Singapore - NUS URL: http://www.sinapseinstitute.org Biomedical Engineering Lab Federal University of Uberlandia URL: http://www.biolab.eletrica.ufu.br/en Contact Skype: andrei.nakagawa1 Phone: +65 9397-7263

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[jobs] Start-up in Berlin seeks biologists for multiple open positions (senior and junior)
by Arnab Chakrabarty March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

Start-up in Berlin seeks biologists for multiple open positions (senior and junior) neuraltrain GmbH is a newly founded digital health start-up based in Berlin developing innovative, digital mental health solutions. We are looking for biologist(s)/neuroscientist(s) for one of the current projects on a digital therapy solution in depression and affective disorders. Start dates are as soon as possible. RESPONSIBILITIES: * Design, conduct, analyse and present experimental research from the project * In-depth literature review and meta-analyses; in particular, brain oscillations, psychophysics, perceptual learning, depression, internet-based therapy interventions are topics of relevance * Identification and establishment of scientific collaboration with academic partners * Writing reports, grants, publications in English WE DESIRE: * PhD in Neurosciences/ Psychology/ Biology; fresh graduates and post-docs are particularly encouraged to apply * Expertise in the following areas: neuronal oscillations, affective sciences, psychophysics, perceptual learning, EEG, EMG, skin conductance experiments and Depression. * Programming and some app development experience is a strong plus * Experience as an independent researcher in any of the above areas * Knowledge of Python and/or willingness to learn, strong statistical and analytical skills * Entrepreneurial mentality and an ownership/stakeholder attitude to get things done * Knowledge of 'key opinion leaders' in depression and psychiatry, psychology, brain oscillations is a plus You do not have to match all the criteria to apply. We will assess your fit on a case by case basis. We are an equal opportunities employer and favour diversity. We offer a young and dynamic working environment in a hip and exciting co-working space called MINDSPACE right in the heart of Berlin. We are a small, but growing team and are very well-connected in the Digital Health ecosystem. We offer enough flexibility to grow personally and professionally. Location: Berlin Position: Full-time If you feel addressed by this job description, feel encouraged to get in touch at chakrabarty(a)neuraltrain.de<mailto:chakrabarty@neuraltrain.de> with your CV and cover letter describing your motivation for the project and digital health. Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty Founder and CEO, neuraltrain GmbH --- Contact Details: Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty CEO, neuraltrain GmbH Phone: +49 (0)160 97041155 Email: chakrabarty(a)neuraltrain.de<mailto:chakrabarty@neuraltrain.de> --- Company Details: Address: neuraltrain GmbH, c/o F.H. Incubator GmbH, Friedrichstr. 68, 10117 Berlin, Germany Registered at Handelsregister des Registergerichts Charlottenburg; Registernummer: HRB 191630 B UStID: Pending Managing Director: Dr. Arnab Chakrabarty --- This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to company privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Thank you.

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Faculty jobs in brain stimulation at Stanford University
by Wei Wu March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

To whom it may concern, I wanted to share a link to this job posting for those who are interested: http://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/psychiatry/documents/ about_us/FacultyJobs/BrainStimulation.pdf

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11ᵗʰ Advanced Scientific Programming in Python in Camerino, Italy, 3—8 September, 2018
by Jakob Jordan March 25, 2018

March 25, 2018

11ᵗʰ Advanced Scientific Programming in Python ============================================== a Summer School by the G-Node and the University of Camerino https://python.g-node.org Scientists spend more and more time writing, maintaining, and debugging software. While techniques for doing this efficiently have evolved, only few scientists have been trained to use them. As a result, instead of doing their research, they spend far too much time writing deficient code and reinventing the wheel. In this course we will present a selection of advanced programming techniques and best practices which are standard in the industry, but especially tailored to the needs of a programming scientist. Lectures are devised to be interactive and to give the students enough time to acquire direct hands-on experience with the materials. Students will work in pairs throughout the school and will team up to practice the newly learned skills in a real programming project — an entertaining computer game. We use the Python programming language for the entire course. Python works as a simple programming language for beginners, but more importantly, it also works great in scientific simulations and data analysis. We show how clean language design, ease of extensibility, and the great wealth of open source libraries for scientific computing and data visualization are driving Python to become a standard tool for the programming scientist. This school is targeted at Master or PhD students and Post-docs from all areas of science. Competence in Python or in another language such as Java, C/C++, MATLAB, or Mathematica is absolutely required. Basic knowledge of Python and of a version control system such as git, subversion, mercurial, or bazaar is assumed. Participants without any prior experience with Python and/or git should work through the proposed introductory material before the course. We are striving hard to get a pool of students which is international and gender-balanced: see how far we got in previous years <https://python.g-node.org/wiki/archives#stats>! Date & Location =============== 3–8 September, 2018. Camerino, Italy. Application =========== You can apply online: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/applications Application deadline: 23:59 UTC, 31 May, 2018. There will be no deadline extension, so be sure to apply on time. Be sure to read the FAQ before applying: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/faq Participation is for free, i.e. no fee is charged! Participants however should take care of travel, living, and accommodation expenses by themselves. Program ======= • Version control with git and how to contribute to open source projects with GitHub • Best practices in data visualization • Organizing, documenting, and distributing scientific code • Testing scientific code • Profiling scientific code • Advanced NumPy • Advanced scientific Python: decorators, context managers, generators, and elements of object oriented programming • Writing parallel applications in Python • Speeding up scientific code with Cython and numba • Memory-bound computations and the memory hierarchy • Programming in teams Also see the detailed day-by-day schedule: https://python.g-node.org/wiki/schedule Faculty ======= • Ashwin Trikuta Srinath, Cyberinfrastructure Technology Integration, Clemson University, SC USA • Jenni Rinker, Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde Denmark • Juan Nunez-Iglesias, Melbourne Bioinformatics, University of Melbourne Australia • Nicolas P. Rougier, Inria Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, Institute of Neurodegenerative Disease, University of Bordeaux France • Pietro Berkes, NAGRA Kudelski, Lausanne Switzerland • Rike-Benjamin Schuppner, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany • Tiziano Zito, freelance consultant, Berlin Germany • Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek, Red Hat Inc., Warsaw Poland Organizers ========== For the German Neuroinformatics Node of the INCF (G-Node) Germany: • Tiziano Zito, freelance consultant, Berlin Germany • Caterina Buizza, Personal Robotics Lab, Imperial College London UK • Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek, Red Hat Inc., Warsaw Poland • Jakob Jordan, Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Switzerland Switzerland For the University of Camerino Italy: • Flavio Corradini, Computer Science Division, School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino Italy • Barbara Re, Computer Science Division, School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino Italy Website: https://python.g-node.org Contact: python-info(a)g-node.org -- Jakob Jordan 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 tel.: +49 2461 61-96450 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 Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience
by Obermayer, Klaus, Prof. Dr. March 25, 2018

March 25, 2018

PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience & Machine Learning Neural Information Processing Group, Fakultät IV, Technische Universität Berlin and Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany Salary grade E13 (TV-L Berliner Hochschulen) Duration: max. 5 years Starting date: October 1st, 2018 Working field: The successful candidate is expected to join collaborative research projects at the interface of computational neuroscience and machine learning. The position is also affiliated with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (https://www.bccn-berlin.de/) and the candidate is welcome to participate in its scientific and training activities. Teaching responsibilities include the supervision of two tutorials per week during the semester associated with the courses taught by the Neural Information Processing Group. For more information about our current research projects see: http://www.ni.tu-berlin.de/. Requirements: Successfully completed university degree (Master, Diplom or equivalent) in Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science or another MINT subject; very good knowledge of machine learning and Computational Neuroscience; experience in teaching (supervision of tutorials) is desirable; very good German and English skills. How to apply: Please send your written application with the reference number (IV-158/18) and the usual documents to Technische Universität Berlin - Der Präsident - Fakultät IV, Institut für Softwaretechnik und Theoretische Informatik, FG Neuronale Informationsverarbeitung, Prof. Dr. Obermayer, Sekr. MAR 5-6, Marchstr. 23, 10587 Berlin or - preferably - by e-mail to klaus.obermayer(a)tu-berlin.de. Closing date: April 20th, 2018 To ensure equal opportunities between women and men, applications by women with the required qualifications are explicitly desired. Qualified individuals with disabilities will be favored. The TU Berlin values the diversity of its members and is committed to the goals of equal opportunities. Please send copies only. Original documents will not be returned.

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Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) 2018 Computational Summer School
by Matthijs van der Meer March 23, 2018

March 23, 2018

Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) 2018 Computational Summer School https://summer-mind.github.io/ July 30th - August 7th, 2018 Application Deadline: April 29th, 2018 We are delighted to welcome applications for the second annual Methods in Neuroscience at Dartmouth (MIND) Computational Summer School. The theme of this year’s summer school is Narratives and Natural Contexts. There has been renewed interest in extending the study of neural and psychological phenomena in highly controlled laboratory settings to more naturalistic paradigms that more closely reflect the rich spatiotemporal structure of the real world. Bridging this divide requires developing new experiments and analytic methods. The goal of our summer school is to provide a forum for gaining hands-on experience with some of the latest computational tools that can help gain insight into understanding how our brains process naturalistic stimuli and contexts. We will offer a mix of expertise at a broad range of spatiotemporal scales and domains (e.g. behavioral, cognitive, social; circuit, whole-brain, and social networks; etc.). In addition, we will maintain our special focus on training students to use and contribute to open-source tools, data sharing, and other “best practices” for open science. For more information, and/or to apply, please visit our website, https://summer-mind.github.io/. Please note that this year’s application deadline is April 29, 2018. You may also find information about last year’s summer school (theme: multiscale network dynamics) along with all course materials here, https://summer-mind.github.io/2017.html. We anticipate a diverse and talented mix of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty will participate in the summer school, and we hope to see you this summer in Hanover! Kind regards, Luke Chang, Jeremy Manning, and Matt van der Meer Directors Jim Haxby, Thalia Wheatley, and Dan Rockmore Advisory Committee This event is sponsored by the Center for Social Brain Sciences, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth Research Computing, and Neukom Institute for Computational Sciences at Dartmouth.

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Job openings at Jülich Supercomputing Centre
by Jochen Martin Eppler March 23, 2018

March 23, 2018

Dear all, at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, we currently have two open positions in the context of the Human Brain Project: * Scientific programmer in computational neuroscience<http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2018-061-EN…> * Senior scientific developer in computational neuroscience<http://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2018-062-EN…> For details about the institute and the positions, please follow the links. Best regards, Jochen! -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49(2461)61-96653 ---------------------------------- Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience Jülich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Brain Dynamics Toolbox for Matlab
by Stewart Heitmann March 23, 2018

March 23, 2018

Dear all, The Brain Dynamics Toolbox (http://www.bdtoolbox.org <http://www.bdtoolbox.org/>) is open-source software for simulating dynamical systems in neuroscience. It is for researchers and students who wish to explore mathematical models of brain function using Matlab. It includes a graphical tool for simulating dynamical systems in real-time as well as command-line tools for scripting large-scale simulations. Custom systems of differential equations can typically be defined in less than 100 lines of standard matlab code. The graphical interface is designed to be used as both a research tool and a teaching tool. Its hub-and-spoke architecture allows new combinations of numerical solvers and interactive plots (time plots, phase plots, bifurcation diagrams, space-time plots, etc) to be applied to any model with no additional programming effort. Version 2018a of the Brain Dynamics Toolbox has just been released and is available from http://www.bdtoolbox.org <http://www.bdtoolbox.org/> The Handbook for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox is available from https://www.amazon.com/dp/198057250X <https://www.amazon.com/dp/198057250X> The toolbox will be featured at the at the Australian Connectomics School (ACS-2018) in Melbourne, 30 May to 1 June 2018. Best Regards Stewart Heitmann & Michael Breakspear QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Systems Neuroscience Group

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Now hiring: The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, CAMH - Toronto, Canada
by Sean Hill March 22, 2018

March 22, 2018

The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics (www.krembilneuroinformatics.ca<http://www.krembilneuroinformatics.ca>) based at CAMH (www.camh.ca<http://www.camh.ca>), and fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Canada, is hiring world-leading specialists to transform our understanding of mental health by organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and modelling data across all levels of the brain —from genes to circuits to behaviour. This multimodal data is gathered across the clinical environment including genetic, epigenetic, MRI, DTI, fMRI, hd-EEG, actigraphy and electronic medical record data. Teams will employ state-of-the-art techniques including topological data analysis, machine learning and multiscale computational modeling to accelerate identification and treatment of mental health disorders. Research is performed in an open, team science environment, with an emphasis on reproducible data-driven research and a patient-centric approach. A focus on global collaboration is key to transforming our understanding of mental health and its treatment. The centre will operate as an incubator for medical technologies to identify, manage and treat mental illness, while shaping policy at national and global levels. The centre is expanding with the following openings (see http://krembilneuroinformatics.ca/apply for full details and to apply): *Independent Scientist for Computational Genomics The Independent Scientist for Computational Genomics will build and lead a team of talented bioinformatics researchers, computational biologists, and computer scientists who employ and develop state-of-the-art genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic analyses and predictive models to provide new insights into mental health and brain disorders in a data driven way, making outcome predictors and identifying optimal intervention opportunities. *Independent Scientist for Brain Circuit Modelling The Independent Scientist for Brain Circuit Modelling will build and lead a team responsible for the development, simulation and analysis of dynamic and perturbable computational models of biophysically detailed brain circuitry (for both preclinical and human brains), integrating genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic data, and ion channel, cellular and synaptic biophysics. The team will work in close collaboration with other groups involved in detailed biophysical modeling, e.g. the Blue Brain Project and Allen Institute for Brain Science. The team will also be responsible for curating and maintaining data, literature and models to enable data-driven modeling of brain circuitry in health and disease, in addition to the concurrent construction of atlases, development of analysis approaches and identification of biomarkers to define mental health and brain disorders in a data driven way, such as aberrant dynamical processes. *Independent Scientist for Whole Brain Modelling The Independent Scientist for Whole Brain Modelling will build and lead a team responsible for the development of dynamic and perturbable causal models of the human brain, in health and in the context of mental illness, incorporating multi-modal neuroimaging and expression data including, but not limited to, structural, functional, diffusion and spectrometry MRI, PET/CT and EEG. The team will also be responsible for the concurrent construction of atlases, development of analysis approaches and identification of biomarkers to define mental health and brain disorders in a data driven manner. *Independent Scientist for Whole Person Modelling The Independent Scientist for Whole Person Modeling will build and lead a team responsible for the development and application of predictive modeling approaches for individual citizen, patient and population trajectories and outcomes. This includes tools, pipelines and approaches for the exploration, visualization and analysis of complex high-dimensional data, with the aim of the data-driven definition of mental health and brain disorders, and the establishment of outcome predictors and identification of optimal intervention opportunities. *Independent Scientist for Brain and Health Knowledge Management The Independent Scientist for Brain and Health Knowledge Management will build and lead a team responsible for organizing and disseminating data, models and literature related to the definition and treatment of mental health disorders to support both researchers and clinicians. This team will maintain and curate ontologies of brain disorders and link to data, analyses, visualizations, literature and models supporting their definition. This clinical support platform will support reasoning and inference across definitions and datasets to bridge psychiatric and neurological disorders. *Knowledge Engineering Lead The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics is launching a knowledge engineering initiative to structure and map vast quantities of clinical and research data into a unified schema and develop a knowledge graph. This initiative will lay the technical foundation to support supervised and unsupervised content discovery, enable data mining, and facilitate interactive modes of engagement with our data corpus. A new Knowledge Engineering team is being established to spearhead the implementation of this initiative. This is a unique opportunity to partner with world-class researchers in the creation of unprecedented knowledge discovery tools. *Brain Imaging Data Engineer The Brain Imaging Data Engineer role will be accountable for managing and enhancing the solution for collecting, storing, curating and integrating brain imaging data sets across the organization, including, but not limited to the following modalities: MRI, PET and EEG. You will work closely with the senior architects on the technology team as well as collaborating with scientific leads. You will be accountable to evolve the technology solution to keep up with industry changes to ensure the solution remains optimal. *Molecular Data Engineer The Molecular Data Engineer role will be accountable for managing and enhancing the solution for collecting, storing, curating and integrating molecular data sets across the organization. You will work closely with the senior architects on the technology team as well as collaborating with scientific leads. You will be accountable to evolve the technology solution to keep up with industry changes to ensure the solution remains optimal. *Senior Project Manager – BrainHealth Databank The Senior Project Manager will work with multiple stakeholders both internal and external to CAMH and be responsible for the hands-on leadership and oversight for the development and execution of work plans, accountabilities, and timelines associated with the BrainHealth Databank initiative. The BrainHealth Databank platform will be specifically designed to support multidimensional phenotyping studies that combine digital phenotyping and laboratory-based data across existing and future clinical studies at CAMH. All data will be organized within the knowledge graph of the BrainHealth Databank. The platform will support configuration of studies that integrate common data elements and CRFs, wearable and mobile devices, voice samples, electronic medical record (EMR) extracts, outcome assessments and health care system usage. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. AVIS DE CONFIDENTIALITÉ : Ce message électronique, ainsi que tout fichier qui y est joint, est reserve à l'usage exclusif du destinataire visé et peut contenir des renseignements confidentiels et privilégiés. Toute lecture, utilisation, divulgation ou distribution non autorisée est interdite. Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire visé, veuillez en aviser l'expéditeur par retour de courriel et détruire toutes les copies du message original.

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CFP, Special session - Hybrid Life: Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systems, ALife 2018
by Manuel Baltieri March 21, 2018

March 21, 2018

[Apologies for cross-posting] ********** Call for Papers ********** Special session - Hybrid Life: Approaches to integrate biological, artificial and cognitive systems https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/ <https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/> 2018 Artificial Life conference (ALife) Tokyo, JAPAN, 23-27 July 2018 - http://2018.alife.org/ <http://2018.alife.org/> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION: The main focus of ALife research is the study of natural systems with the goal of understanding what life is. More concretely, ALife defines ways to investigate processes that contribute to the formation and proliferation of living organisms. In this session we focus on three common approaches to tackle this investigation, proposing ways to integrate, extend and possibly improve them. More specifically we refer to: 1) the formalisation of the necessary properties for the definition of life, 2) the implementation of artificial agents, and 3) the study of the relation between life and cognition. For this special session we propose to start from these well-established Alife methodologies, and extend them through: a unified formal language for the description and modelling of living, as well as artificial and cognitive systems, e.g. control theory, Bayesian inference, dynamical systems theory, etc., the exploration of biological creatures enhanced by artificial systems (or artificial systems augmented with organic parts) in order to investigate the boundaries between living and nonliving organisms, and the evaluation of coupled biological-artificial systems that could shed light on the importance of interactions among systems for the study of living and cognitive organisms. This special sessions aims to invite contributions from the fields of psychology, computational neuroscience, HCI, theoretical biology, artificial intelligence, robotics and cognitive science to discuss current research on the formalisation, combination and interaction of artificial/living/cognitive systems from theoretical, modelling and implementational perspectives. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: Formalisation of life and cognition (e.g. dynamical systems theory, stochastic optimal control, Bayesian inference, etc.) Cognitive robotics Autopoiesis Life-mind continuity thesis Systems biology Origins-of-life theories with relationships to artificial and cognitive systems Animal-robot interaction Bio-inspired robotics Bio-integrated robotics Human-machine interaction Augmented cognition Sensory substitution Interactive evolutionary computation Artificial perception Important Dates 19th March 2018 – Paper submission deadline 23rd April 2018 – Paper acceptance notification 21st May 2018 – Camera-ready version 23-27th July 2018 – Artificial Life conference (ALife), Tokyo, Japan Paper Submission Papers and abstracts submitted to this special sessions will be reviewed by a selected group of experts from the a-life community as well as from other areas key to our proposal, specifically chosen for this review process. If you are submitting to a special session you will be given the opportunity to select it during the submission process. Submissions to special sessions follow the same format, instructions and deadlines of regular ALife papers. Organizers Manuel Baltieri, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. m.baltieri(a)sussex.ac.uk <mailto:m.baltieri@sussex.ac.uk> Keisuke Suzuki, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. k.suzuki(a)sussex.ac.uk <mailto:filippo.m.bianchi@uit.no> Hiryuki IIzuka, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan hiroyukiiizuka(a)gmail.com <mailto:hiroyukiiizuka@gmail.com> Contacts For questions, enquiries and more information please check our website https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/ <https://sites.google.com/view/hybrid-life/> or get in touch with m.baltieri(a)sussex.ac.uk <mailto:m.baltieri@sussex.ac.uk>. All the best, -- Manuel Baltieri, EASy group Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, UK Twitter: @manuelbaltieri

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Abstract submission for Neuroinformatics 2018 in Montréal, Canada is open!
by congress March 21, 2018

March 21, 2018

Dear all, Abstract submission for Neuroinformatics 2018 in Montréal, Canada on August 9-10 is now open! The annual INCF Congress provides a meeting place for researchers in all fields related to neuroinformatics. Join us for keynotes from top neuroscientists, community sessions and poster- and demo sessions. Neuroinformatics 2018 will be a great opportunity to introduce new participants to the field of neuroinformatics and highlight new and innovative tools and approaches. Providing a forum for infrastructure providers and developers of tools, standards, and best practices to help define the capabilities of the global network, receive training on how to participate in the Open, FAIR and Citable global network and learn how to provide better services to their constituents. *Abstract submission deadline is April 30: **neuroinformatics2018.org/abstracts <http://neuroinformatics2018.org/abstracts>* Registration will open shortly. More information: *neuroinformatics2018.org <http://www.neuroinformatics2018.org>* Please spread this information to anyone you feel would be interested in attending. *The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) is an international non-profit organization devoted to advancing the field of neuroinformatics and global collaborative brain research. Learn more about INCF www.incf.org <http://www.incf.org/>* *We look forward to seeing you in Montréal!* Best Regards The INCF Secretariat <http://www.neuroinformatics2018.org> <http://www.neuroinformatics2018.org>

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DynaSim: A MATLAB/GNU Octave Toolbox for Neural Modeling and Simulation
by Jason Sherfey March 20, 2018

March 20, 2018

Dear Colleagues, We are happy to announce the release of DynaSim, an open-source MATLAB/GNU Octave toolbox for rapid prototyping of neural models and batch simulation management. It was designed to speed up and simplify the process of generating, sharing, and exploring network models of neurons with one or more compartments; it is the first, comprehensive neural modeling and simulation platform developed in MATLAB. It provides C compilation, optimized vector calculations, multi-core processing, and support for compute clusters to overcome the traditionally slow simulation speeds of MATLAB. It is also available for high performance computing via the Neuroscience Gateway web portal. A paper introducing DynaSim was recently published in Frontiers in Neuroinformatics: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fninf.2018.00010/full. Documentation is available online at http://dynasimtoolbox.org. We hope this tool reduces barriers for investigating dynamics in neural models, facilitates collaborative modeling, and complements other tools being developed in the neuroinformatics community. Most of all, we hope you find this toolbox useful! Please direct questions to the lead developer, Jason Sherfey < sherfey(a)mit.edu> or the user mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/dynasim-users. Best regards, Jason Dr. Jason Sherfey Postdoctoral Research Fellow Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Picower Institute for Learning & Memory http://JasonSherfey.com

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PhD/postdoc in Sensory and Behavioral Neuroscience, Gjorgjieva and Grunwald Kadow Labs in Frankfurt/Munich
by Gjorgjieva, Julijana March 20, 2018

March 20, 2018

Reminder and deadline extension: The labs of Julijana Gjorgjieva (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany) and Ilona Grunwald Kadow at the TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Germany invite applications for a fully-funded position (Postdoc or PhD student). We are looking for highly-motivated individuals with a strong quantitative background (in mathematics, physics, engineering, computer science, or related fields), experience in programming and data analysis, and a desire to develop cutting-edge experimental techniques. Previous background in neuroscience, imaging or behavioral analysis is a plus! The project will examine the neural basis of need and effort-based decision-making in a collaboration between the Gjorgjieva lab, which develops theoretical models of neural circuit processing, and the Grunwald Kadow lab, which studies neural circuits underlying sensory processing and decision making in animal models. The project aims to uncover circuit principles and behavioral readouts of motivation, persistence, and value perception as a function of internal state or experience (e.g. hunger). In particular, the Grunwald Kadow lab is collecting rich data sets of behavioral trajectories of single Drosophila flies as well as functional imaging data (i.e. multiphoton and light-sheet) of neuronal populations (e.g. modulatory neurons). The project will aim to develop advanced analysis techniques that extract key statistical features of the behavioral trajectories and imaging data, and build mathematical models that reproduce the data and make new predictions to be further tested experimentally. By combining behaviour, genetics and imaging, we will also develop neural circuit models that involve several brain areas, including sensory brain areas and higher cognitive regions of the fly brain (i.e. mushroom body). References: S. Sayin J. Gjorgjieva, I. C. Grunwald Kadow (2018). A neural circuit arbitrates between perseverance and reward in hungry Drosophila. BioRxiv doi.org/10.1101/259119<http://doi.org/10.1101/259119> J. Gjorgjieva, G. Drion and E. Marder (2016). Computational implications of biophysical diversity and multiple timescales in neurons and synapses for circuit performance. Curr Opin Neurobiol 37:44-52. Lewis L, Siju KP, Aso Y, Friedrich AB, Bulteel AJB, Rubin GM, Grunwald Kadow IC (2015). A higher brain circuit for immediate integration of conflicting sensory information in Drosophila. Current Biology PMID: 26299514, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.015 Application: The position will be based at the Technical University of Munich, with frequent visits to the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, two of the most exciting and international cities in Germany. The application deadline has been extended to: April 15, 2018. Applicants will be considered until the position is filled. For further information please visit: http://www.cns.wzw.tum.de and http://www.neuro.wzw.tum.de or email gjorgjieva(a)brain.mpg.de and ilona.grunwald(a)tum.de. To apply, please email the following to: neuro(a)wzw.tum.de (ref. GGK application) 1. A curriculum vitae 2. A letter of motivation explaining your scientific interests, your strengths when working on a problem, why us etc. 3. Contact details for 2 referees 4. A written sample of scientific research, e.g. a manuscript, thesis, or code etc. ----------------------------------------- Julijana Gjorgjieva, PhD Research Group Leader Max Planck Institute for Brain Research Max-von-Laue-Str. 4, Frankfurt Assistant Professor of Computational Neuroscience Technical University of Munich, WZW Freising office: +49 69 850033 3600 http://cns.wzw.tum.de

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