Job Openings

PhD and Postdoc Positions available for recently awarded ERC Consolidator award

PhD Positions:

The ETH Zurich Neurotechnology group (Prof. Mehmet Fatih Yanik) at the Institute of Neuroinformatics is looking for an outstanding PhD student with training in the fields of biomedical engineering, neuroscience, biochemistry related fields. The goal of the project is to use a novel technique recently developed in the Neurotechnology group that utilizes Focused Ultrasound (FUS) for non-invasive, precise drug delivery (see external pageOzdas, Shah, Johnson et al. 2020, Nature Communicationscall_made) to explore new routes of treating brain disorders and brain diseases.

Projects

The student will advance and use Focused-Ultrasound mediated drug delivery to treat different pathological brain conditions in animal models. Initially, the focus will be on rodent models of treatment-resistant brain tumors and also on neuropsychiatric disorders. The later phase of the project can involve primate work.

The project will involve:

• Chemistry / fabrication of micro-bubbles and loading of drugs into liposomes
• Optimizing the Focused Ultrasound hardware and sequence for targeting specific brain areas
• Behavioral and neurophysiological characterization of cognitive abilities and potential side effects in the
  animal models
• fMRI-guided targeting, drug delivery and dosing
• Histological analysis of tissue.

Education & requirements

Applicants should have a Bachelor’s and ideally also Master’s degree in the fields mentioned above or related studies. Essential requirements are experimental/bench experience (e.g., in-vivo experiments, chemistry), good quantitative and analytical skills, solid knowledge of at least one programming language (such as Python or Matlab) and excellent grades. A strong interest in fundamental neuroscience is expected as well as the willingness to perform animal experiments.

Start date & duration

The start date is spring 2021. Applications are accepted until the positions are filled. The position is for 4-6 years. The candidate will be enrolled as PhD student at the ETH Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, and the Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ) PhD program.

Contact

Applicants should send, in one merged PDF, a cover letter with a statement of research interests, CV, publications, relevant certificates (degrees and grades), and the name and contact of at least two references to .

Postdoc Position:

Description

The Neurotechnology group (Prof. Mehmet Fatih Yanik) at the Institute of Neuroinformatics is hiring an outstanding Postdoc for the recently awarded ERC Consolidator project "Engineering brain activity patterns". Despite significant progress in our understanding and manipulation of the neuronal circuits involved in brain disorders, our ability to assess and treat them remains very limited. The goal of this project is to identify abnormal brain activity patterns in animal models using minimally invasive brain machine/computer interfaces and to manipulate brain activity patterns using non-invasive circuit-specific neuromodulator-delivery technologies.

Requirements

Applicants should have a BSc in engineering, physics, or computer science from a high-ranking university and a PhD in Experimental Neuroscience with focus on neuronal circuits. The candidates should have strong quantitative and analytical skills, knowledge of a programming language (such as Python, C/C#), electrophysiology expertise, experience in animal behavior, ability to learn and employ new methods and technologies from different disciplines, and publications in high-profile journals.

Contact & Salary

Applicants should send, in one merged PDF, a short cover letter with a statement of research interest, CV, major publications (in PDF), relevant certificates (degrees and grades) if available, and the name and contact of 3 references to . A generous postdoc salary of about $90’000/year will be paid.

Information about the group and institute

The Neurotechnology group is developing advanced technologies to image, to communicate with, and to manipulate brain circuits and cognitive behavior. For this purpose, we employ technologies ranging from optics/ optoelectronics, electrophysiology, fMRI, brain machine interfaces, and non-invasive nanoparticle /neuromodulator delivery methods (http://www.neurotechnology.ethz.ch/). Our group’s integrated facilities on a single floor include machine shops, 7T MRI, 2ph and multi-focal confocal microscopes, state of the art prototyping systems, tissue/culture and electronic design/microfabrication facilities, animal husbandries, dedicated behavioral testing apparatuses/rooms, chemical synthesis/analysis facilities. The mission of the Institute of Neuroinformatics (University & ETH Zurich) is to discover the key principles by which brains work and to implement these in artificial systems that interact intelligently with the real world (https://www.ini.uzh.ch/en.html).