Please find an open position for a PhD in signal processing
/ computational & clinical neuroscience
Project title:
NeuroCog – Parkinson action
(
https://neurocog.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr)
Funding body: UGA Contract duration: 3 years Starting date:
From September 2017 on.
Job description:
The successful candidate will develop new TMS/EEG methods
(acquisition and processing) for early Parkinson’s disease
diagnosis that will quantify the impairment of cortical
excitability.
Requested expertise:
Computer science / Signal processing / Parkinson’s disease
/ Neuroimaging / Brain stimulation
Project scientific summary:
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequent
neurodegenerative disorder. Unfortunately, there is no cure
for PD and no neuroprotective treatment and about 95% of
patients will become demented within 25 years after the
diagnosis. The presentation and evolution of PD is highly
heterogeneous between patients and some PD phenotypes are more
at risk of having a more severe
and progressive course of the disease. In particular, although
cognitive deficits are very frequent in old patients, in
younger patients it is difficult to predict whether they will
develop early cognitive disturbances. For this PhD project, we
assume that in PD patients with a subtype characterized by
prevalent cognitive issues, the impairment of cortical
excitability in the fronto-parietal networks would be a new
biomarker detectable at an early disease stage. We will thus
study the cortical excitability using innovative methodologies
that will be first developed in healthy subjects (Harquel et
al, 2016; in press) and then longitudinally tested in a cohort
of de novo PD patients. Overall, this project investigates PD
phenotypes under a neurophysiological perspective that is
highly innovative.
Host research groups:
The main goal of the primary host research group (Brain
Stimulation & Systems Neuroscience, PI: Olivier David) is
to study large-scale brain networks in order to develop new
applications of brain stimulation in the field of psychiatry,
movement disorders and epilepsy using a translational approach
based on clinical and preclinical research. The secondary host
lab (Laboratory of Psychology and
Neurocognition, PhD co-director: Dr A. Chauvin) is a Cognitive
Science Research Unit affiliated to the CNRS (National
Institute of Biological Sciences, section 26) and to two
universities (University Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble and
University of Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambery). Members of the
LPNC who compose the TMS group have an interdisciplinary
approach which encompasses engineering,
experimental psychology; computational and mathematical
modelling; neuropsychology; cognitive psychiatry; and
neuroimaging. In addition, the PhD fellow will be in constant
interaction with the Movement Disorder Unit of CHUGA (PI: Pr E
Moro) and other research groups within the NeuroCog
project working on the same cohort of PD patients. Very close
interactions between experimentalists, methodologists and
clinicians, will offer an optimal environment to develop
skills of young scientists.
Contacts:
Dr Olivier David, Research Director, Inserm,
Olivier.David@inserm.fr.
Dr Alan Chauvin, Assistant Professor, UGA,
Alan.Chauvin@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr.
Please send application including CV, statement of research
interests, and the names and full contact details of at
least two referees.
References:
Harquel, S., Bacle, T., Beynel, L., Marendaz, C., Chauvin, A.,
& David, O. (2016). Mapping dynamical properties of
cortical microcircuits using robotized TMS and EEG: Towards
functional cytoarchitectonics. NeuroImage, 135, 115–124.
Harquel, S., Diard, J., Raffin, E., Passera, B., DallIgna, G.,
Marendaz, C., et al. (In press). Automatized set-up procedure
for transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols. NeuroImage