Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Scholar Position in Brain-Machine Interfaces NHP Lab

A postdoctoral scholar position is available immediately in the Neurorobotics Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California Davis, led by Professor Karen Moxon.

The project focuses on the development of neuroprosthetics for paraplegia and using brain-machine interface technology to understand sensorimotor processing in the brain using the macaque monkey model. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to advance optogenetic techniques, further develop multiple, single-neuron Ca++ imaging, and apply cutting edge electrophysiology techniques to the awake behaving monkey. Moreover, opportunities will be provided to build on the new neuroengineering initiative at UC Davis and to collaborate with the many neuroscience strengths at UC Davis, including the Center for Neuroscience, Center for Comparative Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and the California National Primate Center.

The selected individual is expected to be a highly motivated, interdisciplinary scientist that has the passion to study neural encoding in humans and NHP models and/or develop new technologies to aid those with spinal cord injury. He or she will be responsible for 1) optimizing and refining experimental protocols, 2) large scale (500+ channel) single-neuron data collection from behaving NHP, and 3) analysis of data using information theoretic and neuroscience tools from existing software in the lab as well as the development of new approaches. The candidate will be supported to present data at conferences, publish manuscripts, and write grants.

The selected individual must have a Ph.D. in one or more of the following - neuroscience, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, or biomedical engineering with a strong background in electrophysiology. Furthermore, previous experience training and working with monkeys is required. Experience in multiple, single-neuron data collection and analysis as well as neural time series data analysis is highly desirable. It will be necessary to have the ability to program in any or all the following – MATLAB, Labview, R or Python. The right candidate must possess high ethical and professionalism standards, be able to adapt to a changing environment, reorganize schedules dynamically, and work with tight deadlines. The individual must possess the ability to work productively both independently and as part of a collaborative effort with multiple investigators with a range of backgrounds (engineers to neuroscientists to clinicians). A strong publication record and excellent prior academic credentials are highly desirable.

Salary commiserate with the NIH pay scale.

To apply, please send your CV, contact information for 3 references, and a cover letter including a brief statement of your previous research experience and current scientific/research interests and goals to:

Contact: Karen Moxon, PhD via moxon@ucdavis.edu