Research Scientist I
About The Position
The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene is seeking a qualified candidate to fill a full-time position of Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The role of this Research Scientist will be to perform research in a systems neuroscience laboratory investigating how early-life adversity produces lasting changes in reward processing, and the ventral pallidal-accumbal circuit mechanisms that underlie them. The laboratory combines developmental stress models in mice with quantitative behavioral assays of reward sensitivity, in vivo electrophysiology, optogenetic circuit manipulation, viral tracing, and computational analysis, with the goal of identifying the circuit changes that link early adversity to motivational and affective dysfunction in psychiatric illness. This is a 100% full-time position.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree and (2) years of professional research experience in an appropriate field
- Master's degree in an appropriate field may substitute for one year of experience
- Ph.D.
Nice To Haves
- Doctoral training in neuroscience or a related field, with postdoctoral research experience.
- Rodent stress or developmental adversity models; longitudinal, ethological and sex-inclusive behavioral phenotyping.
- Stereotaxic surgery, viral delivery and tracing, transgenic colonies, activity-dependent tagging, chemogenetics, whole-brain mapping.
- Atlas registration and quantitative microscopy; programming in Python, R or MATLAB, with mixed-effects, trajectory or network analysis.
- Peer-reviewed publications, trainee mentoring, and grant or fellowship writing.
- Interest in learning optogenetics, fiber photometry and in vivo electrophysiology; training provided.
Responsibilities
- Designing and running longitudinal behavioral experiments, including developmental stress paradigms and reward-sensitivity assays
- Performing stereotaxic surgery, viral vector delivery, and implantation of optical fibers and recording devices, with recovery care
- Breeding and maintaining transgenic mouse colonies, including genotyping and records
- Conducting in vivo optogenetic, fiber photometry and electrophysiological experiments in awake behaving mice
- Performing histology, immunohistochemistry, whole-brain activity mapping, microscopy and atlas registration
- Building analysis pipelines for behavioral, imaging and electrophysiological data in Python, R or MATLAB
- Preparing figures and text for manuscripts, grants and progress reports; presenting at lab meetings and conferences
- Supervising and training research technicians, undergraduate students and PhD students, including day-to-day direction of their experimental work
- Maintaining IACUC and safety compliance and accurate experimental records
Benefits
- Excellent Benefits Package
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
