Job ID: 119855

Postdoctoral researcher electrophysiology and stimulus discrimination.

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 22 September 2024

Contract Length: 34 months

City: Nijmegen

Country: Netherlands

Institution: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour

Department: Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS)

Description:

Job description

Ever wanted to know what drives individual differences in environmental sensitivity? We are looking for a motivated postdoctoral researcher who wants to setup in-vivo electrophysiology in our department as part of project funded by the Dutch Research Council aimed to understand how individual variation in neuronal activity shapes individual variation in stimulus discrimination and attentional prioritization.

In this project, rats marked by different levels of serotonin will be exposed to operant boxes equipped with a touchscreen while brain-region-specific changes in local field potentials are recorded during various unique discrimination tasks.

As a postdoc you will develop, validate, and execute the above-mentioned animal studies. You will also be responsible for the processing and analysis of complex data sets. You will closely interact and collaborate with a recently hired PhD student combining similar touchscreen operant tasks with serotonin biosensing, as well as other relevant researchers and specialists in academia and/or industry (e.g. technical engineers, software developers and data analysts).

Your responsibilities may also include project management, mentoring (PhD, MSc and BSc students) and teaching-related tasks. At the end of the project, you are expected to participate in various (inter)national conferences and prepare a manuscript for publication. You will furthermore be encouraged to apply for funding for follow-up research.

Requirements

  • PhD in (cognitive) neuroscience, (medical) biology, or related field.
  • Track record in scientific research, as evidenced by publications in international peer-reviewed journals.
  • Good command of oral and written English.
  • Experience with electrophysiology and analysis of complex datasets.
  • Experience with animal work, or a strong desire to learn.
  • Technical insight and problem-solving skills.
  • Good social, communicational, and organizational skills.
  • Dutch (art 9) or European (FELASA) certificate to work with animals is a plus.

Department

 

The project is embedded within the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS) at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, which is a highly dynamic Dutch institute with a collaborative atmosphere, focusing on fundamental and applied neuroscience research at top level. The successful candidate will join both the Behavioural Neurogenetics, and the Behavioural Neuroscience groups led by Prof. Dr. J. Homberg and Prof. Dr. B. Roozendaal. For further information, please visit the following websites: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and Department of CNS.

Terms of employment

0.8 FTE (28.8 hours per week) for a period of 34 months. Salary between € 3.493 and € 5.504 (scale 10) gross per month (based on full-time employment). Your performance will be evaluated after 10 months. Should the evaluation be positive, the contract will be extended by 24 months. Additional terms of employment can be found at the Radboudumc website.

Application procedure

We would like to receive your application including a motivation letter and your CV before 23 September 2024. Please use the apply button on the Radboudumc vacancies website. 

Additional information

Dr. Ing. M. Verheij; Michel.Verheij@radboudumc.nl; phone: +31 24 3619565. The selection commitee will also include Prof. Dr. J. Homberg and Prof Dr. Roozendaal.

We are recruiting for this vacancy ourselves. We only accept applications directly from the applicants.