At least one postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Goldman in the University of California at Davis Center for Neuroscience. UC Davis is a top-ten public research university (US News & World Report) located 1 hour east from the San Francisco Bay Area and 20 minutes from the state capital of Sacramento. The laboratory works on a broad range of problems in computational neuroscience, ranging from neural coding to dynamics and plasticity of single neurons and networks.  Current work has focused especially upon issues related to working memory, neural integration, motor learning, and synaptic plasticity as described below.  Projects include but are not limited to:

1) Dissecting the function of a biological neural integrator circuit.  Work will be modeling the oculomotor neural integrator, a classic model system for working memory and neural integration that is amenable to in vivo whole-circuit optical recording, dendritic imaging, optogenetic perturbation, pharmacology, and connectomic reconstruction.  The goal is to identify the cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying neural integration and continuous attractor formation, from subcellular processes to circuits and behavior, as well as to develop optimal experimental design methods for dissecting circuit function.  Project in collaboration with the experiments of Dr. Emre Aksay (Weill/Cornell Medical) and connectomic reconstructions of Dr. Sebastian Seung (Princeton University). 

2) Mechanisms of analog working memory and neural integration. The goal is to identify novel mechanisms of working memory and neural integration across a range of systems, including mechanisms for context-dependent memory function. 

3) Cerebellar mechanisms of motor control and motor learning in the oculomotor system. The goal is to use the oculomotor system as a model system for understanding cerebellar-mediated motor learning. Theory and computational analysis will be used to dissect the circuit mechanisms, sites of plasticity, and broader computational principles underlying oculomotor learning.  Theoretical work will provide predictions for, and be conducted in close collaboration with, the experimental laboratories of Dr. Emre Aksay (Weill/Cornell Medical) and Dr. Jennifer Raymond (Stanford University).

Candidates are expected to have training in a quantitatively rigorous discipline such as math, physics, engineering, computer science, statistics, or computational neuroscience.  Interested candidates should send a CV, brief statement of previous research and future research interests, and contact information for 3 references to:  Mark Goldman, msgoldman@ucdavis.edu.