COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE

The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Berlin and the TU Berlin invite applications for *7 Fellowships* of the Research Training Group "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" (GRK 1589/1).

Doctoral candidates will develop computational methods for the study of sensory computations, focusing on time and dynamics, and apply these in experiments. To this end, the training group brings machine learning and engineering together with neural and cognitive modeling as well as experimental approaches. Each student will be supervised by two investigators with complementary expertise and will be associated with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, http://www.bccn-berlin.de/, a well-known research center dedicated to the theoretical study of neural processing.

Candidates are expected to hold a Masters degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject (e.g., neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, physics, etc.) and have the required advanced mathematical background.

All applications received until November 15, 2010, are assured full consideration. Successful candidates will be invited for a short presentation and an interview, expected to take place in January 2011. Later applications may be considered if places are still available.

The fellowships of approximately 1500 Euro/month will be granted for up to three years.

For further information concerning the program and the application procedure, see http://www.bccn-berlin.de/Graduate+Programs/Doctoral+Program/ or e-mail graduateprograms@bccn-berlin.de .

COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE

at: Technische Universitaet Berlin, Department of EE and CS & Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience

The successful candidate is expected to join a German-US scientific collaboration between the Neural Information Processing Group at TU Berlin (Dr. Klaus Obermayer) and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT (Dr. Mrigangka Sur) on:

"Role of astrocytes in cortical information processing"

Goal of the "Berlin" part of the project is to construct and evaluate computational models of mouse and ferret visual cortical networks in order to understand the mechanisms through which astrocytes influence the response properties of neurons, guide the development of these properties during the critical period, and contribute to short-term plasticity with the release of "gliotransmitters". These activities will be pursued in close interaction with the MIT part of the project, in which properties of the neuron-astrocyte network will be investigated using electrophysiology and in-vivo two-photon microscopy in ferrets and transgenic mice.

• Starting date: October 1st, 2010
• Salary level: BAT IIa
• The position is for three years.
• Candidates should hold a recent PhD-degree (Postdoc position) or Diplom-/Master-degree (PhD position) and should have excellent mathematical and programming skills. Candidates with good knowledge and research experience in Computational Neuroscience / Models of Visual Cortex will be preferred.
• Application material (CV, list of publications, abstract of PhD thesis (if applicable), abstract of Diplom-/Master-Thesis, copies of certificates and two letters of reference) should be sent to:
  Prof. Dr. Klaus Obermayer,
  Technische Universität Berlin,
  FR 2-1, Franklinstrasse 28/29,
  10587 Berlin,
  email: oby@cs.tu-berlin.de,
  preferably by email.
  
• All applications received before September 15th, 2010, will be given full consideration, but applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
• For further information about the research groups see:
  http://ni.cs.tu-berlin.de/,
  http://www.bccn-berlin.de/,
  http://www.mit.edu/~msur/.

TUB seeks to increase the proportion of women and particularly encourages women to apply. Women will be preferred given equal qualification.

Disabled persons will be preferred given equal qualification.

COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE

at: Technische Universitaet Berlin, Department of EE and CS & Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience

The successful candidate is expected to join a scientific collaboration between the Neural Information Processing Group at TU Berlin (Dr. Klaus Obermayer) and the Department of Psychiatry at the Charite Medical School (Dr. Andreas Heinz) on:

"Reward-Motivated Learning and Memory across the Lifespan"

Goal of this project is to construct computational models of reward related learning and decision making and to use these computational methods for the quantitative description of behavioural, neuroimaging, and genetic data obtained from human subjects.

Brief project description:

Human adaptive behavior is characterized by the interplay between cognitive processes and reward-related learning. It changes across the life-span, differs in subjects suffering from psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia and Alzheimers disease), and is strongly linked to the functioning of the dopaminergic system. Here we investigate how altered dopaminergic functioning specifically affects human memory and whether training programs can be devised to counterbalance some of the observed detrimental effects. We apply a reward-related memory task to subject groups with expected differences in dopaminergic function before and after application of a training program in order to specifically target relevant brain structures. Data interpretation and the design of the training program crucially depend on computational models of coupled brain structures, which are used to quantify differences and changes in behavioral performance, brain activation (fMRI), and genetic variations in the dopaminergic system. We expect observed changes to be linked to differential changes of hippocampal activation during reward-related encoding.

• Starting date: Immediate
• Salary level: BAT IIa
• The position is for initially three years.
• Candidates should hold a recent PhD-degree (Postdoc position) or Diplom-/Master-degree (PhD position) and should have excellent mathematical and programming skills. Candidates with good knowledge and research experience in Computational Neuroscience / Models of Reward Related Learning will be preferred.
• Application material (CV, list of publications, abstract of PhD thesis (if applicable), abstract of Diplom-/Master-Thesis, copies of certificates and two letters of reference) should be sent to:
  Prof. Dr. Klaus Obermayer,
  Technische Universität Berlin,
  FR 2-1, Franklinstrasse 28/29,
  10587 Berlin,
  email: oby@cs.tu-berlin.de,
  preferably by email.
  
• All applications received before September 15th, 2010, will be given full consideration, but applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
• For further information about the research groups see:
  http://ni.cs.tu-berlin.de/,
  http://www.bccn-berlin.de/,
  http://www.charite.de/psychiatrie/home_en.html.

TUB seeks to increase the proportion of women and particularly encourages women to apply. Women will be preferred given equal qualification.

Disabled persons will be preferred given equal qualification.

Please contact Prof. Dr. Klaus Obermayer for information about other possible job openings:

 Prof. Dr. Klaus Obermayer
 Neural Information Processing Group
 FR 2-1, Franklinstrasse 28/29
 10587 Berlin, Germany
 email: oby(at)cs.tu-berlin.de