Postdoctoral Positions: Neural Engineering, Systems Neuroscience Full-time

Minneapolis, MN      ·       Full time

The Biosensing and Biorobotics Laboratory (www.bsbrl.org) at the University of Minnesota is seeking two post-doctoral researchers to join our research team. Positions are funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and McKnight Foundation.

Our laboratory is focused on developing and applying multi-scale neural recording platforms for large-scale brain recordings from 10’s of thousands of neurons during free, naturalistic behaviors. Over the last few years, we have engineering a suite of neurotechnologies including automated platforms for cranial microsurgeries [1-2], technologies for large-scale imaging for much of the dorsal cortex [3] and miniaturized instrumentation for large-scale neural imaging in freely behaving mice [4].

Current and future focus in the lab is on pushing these robotic, electrophysiological and imaging technologies to further enhance the spatio-temporal precision of neural recordings. Within our lab and in collaboration with partner labs, we are also applying these neurotechnologies to study large scale neural dynamics mediating complex cognitive behaviors such a spatial navigation.

We are welcoming applications from candidates interested in pursuing projects based on their own ideas and expertise or within existing lines of work in the lab in either of the above areas. Candidates will be working with a highly interdisciplinary research team with backgrounds and expertise in neuroscience, neural-engineering, optics, physics, materials science, robotics, computer vision, machine learning, biochemistry and genetics.

POSITION 1: Studying large-scale cortical activity during behavior driven brain-wide state changes

Required qualifications:

Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Biomedical Engineering or a closely related field (e.g. Mechanical Engineering, Neuroscience, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Material Science, Mathematics, Physics)

Preferred qualifications and experience:

• Behavioral neuroscience
• Neural device, imaging windows implantation, virus injection surgeries in mice/rats
• In vivo, in vitro calcium imaging (miniscopes, fiber photometry)
• In vivo, in vitro electrophysiology
• Analyzing neural and behavioral data
• Computational modeling
• Matlab, Python and R programming.

POSITION 2: Engineering, next generation large scale neural interfaces

Required qualifications:

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering or a closely related field (e.g. Mechanical Engineering, Neuroscience, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Material Science, Mathematics, Physics)

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience in one or more of the domains is prefer

• Robotics
• Neural engineering
• Rapid prototyping, Computer aided design
• Wireless electronics and integrated electronics
• Designing and constructing optical measurement setups and instruments
• Micro/nano fabrication, 2D materials, soft materials
• Experience working with pre-clinical small animal models (mice, rats) a plus

Interested candidates can contact Prof. Suhasa Kodandaramaiah (suhasabk@umn.edu) to learn more about the position. Please include the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae
• Complete contact information of three professional references
• Statement of research experience

• [1] Ghanbari* Rynes* et al Scientific Reports 2019
• [2] Rynes et al Nature Protocols 2020
• [3] Ghanbari et al Nature Communications 2019
• [4] Rynes*, Surinach* et al Nature Methods 2021

Tagged as: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physics