Job ID: 122501
PhD student with experience in behavioral and molecular neurosciences
Position: Ph.D. Student
Deadline: 30 May 2025
Employment Start Date: 1 July 2025
Contract Length: 3 years
City: Magdeburg
Country: Germany
Institution: Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology
Department: Functional Architecture of Memory
Description:
The Functional Architecture of Memory department at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg (Germany; PI Magdalena Sauvage; https://www.lin-magdeburg.org/research/research-units/department-functional-architecture-of-memory) is seeking a highly motivated
PhD student with experience in behavioral and molecular neurosciences
for a 3-year project investigating circuit-specific improvements of spatial and non-spatial memory involving entorhino-hippocampal subnetworks. The project includes optogenetic manipulations, immediate-early gene (IEG) imaging based on in-situ hybridization, could involve in–vivo electrophysiology data analysis and is tightly linked to independent subprojects involving in-vivo electrophysiology and high resolution fMRI in awake rats and in humans. The position is available from the 01.01.2026 or earlier, flexible for the right candidate.
Qualification: The successful candidate will have experience in behavioral and molecular techniques (especially IEG imaging) and be highly motivated by interspecies/interdisciplinary studies. Programming skills are not necessary but would be an asset. The communication language of the lab is English. The group interacts tightly with the Cognitive Neurophysiology laboratory (PI M. Yoshida; in-vitro/in vivo electrophysiology & computational neurosciences) as well as with national and international partners including S. Tonegawa (Boston, USA), J. Csicsvari (IST, Austria), E. Düzel (DZNE Magdeburg, Germany) and M. Höhn (MPI Cologne, Germany). Candidates of all nationalities are encouraged to apply.
The department focuses on dissociating the contribution of different medial temporal lobe areas such as CA1, CA3, DG, MEC, LEC, PrC, POR to memory in health, aging and in animal models of amnesia. Memory for time, space and episodes as well as the consolidation and reconsolidation of memory are studied. Within this frame, The Dpt has recently identified new spatial and non-spatial subnetworks segregated along the proximodistal axis of the hippocampus (Nakamura et al, J. Neuroscience, 2013; Beer and Vavra et al, Plos biology, 2018; Ku et al, Cell Reports, 2024), hypothesized a network shift between the Trisynaptic loop and the Temporoamonic pathways for the retrieval of memories as they age (Lux et al, Elife, 2016; Atucha et al, Cell Reports, 2023) and depicted memory networks supporting memory reconsolidation (Lux et al, Cerebral cortex, 2017). Techniques include high-order standard or translational humans to rats memory tasks (Sauvage et al, Nature Neuroscience, 2008) combined with lesions, optogenetics, high-resolution molecular imaging based on the detection of IEG and in-vivo electrophysiology. fMRI studies in awake rodents (9.4T) and human behavioral studies are also conducted to a lesser extent.
The employment, salary and employee benefits comply with the collective pay agreement (German TV-L). Equal opportunities as well as compatibility of family and work are part of our HR policy. Severely disabled applicants with equivalent occupational aptitude will be considered preferentially.
We are looking forward to your application. Please send a single PDF file comprising a cover letter, a CV, a publication list, names and contact of 3 references and a brief statement of motivation and research interests to jessica.levin@lin-magdeburg.de. Review of the application starts immediately and will end when the position is filled.
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