Post Doctoral Associate-Schwerdt Lab

University of Pittsburgh • Pittsburgh, PA

3d

About The Position

The Schwerdt Lab is seeking a Postdoctoral Associate to lead computational analysis, data collection, and animal experiments to dissect dopamine's complex function in cognition, motivation, and learning. The Schwerdt Lab is focused on addressing questions about how dopamine and striatal circuits are involved in regulating movement, motivation, and decisions in health and in disease (e.g., Parkinson's disease). The lab applies multiple cutting-edge techniques (chronic electrochemistry, high-density electrophysiology such as Neuropixels, optical fiber photometry with fluorescent dopamine sensors) to measure neural activity in task-performing monkeys trained to perform eye or arm-reaching decision-making tasks to maximize rewards while learning the valence contingencies of various cues and contexts. The lab also works with neurosurgeons and clinicians to perform translational engineering and science to elaborate these dopamine functions in humans. Dopamine neurochemical recordings are done synchronously with electrophysiological neural recording (e.g., spikes and oscillations) to further elaborate the interactive dynamics between dopamine and neuronal activity and more accurately characterize behaviorally relevant neural activity patterns.
This position offers opportunities for growth and expansion of skills in advanced primate neurophysiology and brain activity mapping (e.g., electrochemistry, electrophysiology, microstimulation, neurosurgery, task design), microfabrication, and systems neuroscience. The individual is expected to work as a team with the principal investigator, other undergraduate and graduate students, and laboratory technicians. The individual is expected to prepare and write high-quality journal papers for peer-review and scientific dissemination, present significant research progress in scientific workshops and/or conferences, and participate in grant writing.

Requirements

• Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in a STEM field.
• The incumbent should have some background, ideally working with dynamical systems, machine learning, animal behavior, and/or other forms of computational work and data analysis.

Nice To Haves

• non-human primate electrophysiology
• neuroscience
• behavioral training and task design
• computational analysis, modeling, and programming in MATLAB
• data science, statistics, machine learning, or other advanced mathematical, computational, and analytic techniques to analyze neural data
• animal handling and surgeries
• grant writing

Responsibilities

• Lead computational analysis
• Lead data collection
• Lead animal experiments
• Prepare and write high-quality journal papers for peer-review and scientific dissemination
• Present significant research progress in scientific workshops and/or conferences
• Participate in grant writing

What This Job Offers

• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees