Job ID: 119281

PhD in Neuroscience

Position: Ph.D. Student

Deadline: 10 August 2024

Employment Start Date: 1 October 2024

Contract Length: 3 years

City: Paris

Country: France

Institution: CNRS

Department:

Description:

Exploring maturation and synchronization in spatial orientation circuits

A 3-year ANR funded PhD position is available to work in the Spatial Orientation Team, under the supervision of Dr. Desdemona Fricker, at the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, Paris, France). The successful candidate will be involved in a collaborative systems level project on spatial orientation, dedicated to studying the head direction circuit in the mouse brain.

The presubiculum, in the hippocampus, is crucial for head direction coding and the integration of vestibular and visual sensory signals. But the mechanisms for the synchronization and updating of the attractor network remain largely unknown. This project will investigate brain wide circuit dynamics and intrinsic properties of specific populations of head direction neurons, and the contribution of myelination to the coordinated functioning of the system. The appointee will examine single neurons, circuit interactions, and population activities in the spatial orientation system, in young and in adult wild-type mice and in a transgenic mouse model where myelination is arrested. The overall aim is to advance our understanding of multisensory integration, and coordinated head direction signaling.

Requirements
Applicants should hold a Masters degree with a background in neuroscience, biology, medicine, physics or engineering. The ideal candidate wishes to develop practical skills for ex vivo and in vivo experimental work, and has a desire to understand the principles underlying the functioning of the nervous system.

She/he will use high density electrophysiological recordings of single units in the awake animal (Neuropixels), and slice electrophysiology (patch clamp). Other techniques, including optogenetics, behavioral and anatomical analysis (microscopy), will complement this approach as needed. Programming skills (Python) and mathematical skills for electrophysiological data analysis will be helpful.

For applications we request:
(i) a cover letter including a statement of motivation for this project
(ii) a curriculum vitae
(iii) the names and addresses, including emails, of two references.
For enquiries, please contact Desdemona Fricker at desdemona.fricker@u-paris.fr. Applications will be evaluated until position is filled. Starting date is October 2024. The position is funded by a collaborative ANR grant with the laboratory of Dr Nathalie Sol-Foulon at the Paris Brain Institute. The candidate will be enrolled with the doctoral school Ed3C PhD program, Université Paris Cité.