Job ID: 86931

PhD-position (4 years) in Neuroscience

Position: Ph.D. Student

Deadline: 1 September 2022

Employment Start Date: 1 January 2023

Contract Length: 4 years

City: Bergen

Country: Norway

Institution: University of Bergen

Department: Biomedicine

Description:

At the University of Bergen, Department of Biomedicine, a PhD-position (100 %) is available for a period of four (4) years.

The position is part of the consortium project ”Understanding plasticity and neural circuit dynamics in the brain” (TMS Brain Research Initiative), funded by the University of Bergen and Trond Mohn Foundation (TMS). Expected starting date is January 1, 2023.

About the project:

The main objective of the TMS Brain Research Initiative is to identify core principles of plasticity and neural circuit dynamics in the brain.
The project is hosted by the University of Bergen and organized as a consortium collaboration between the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Bergen (UiB) and the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The consortium project is organized into five interactive work packages, based on multidisciplinary collaborations between the UiB and NTNU partners.
The PhD fellow will be linked to a work package studying the neuromodulation of retinal microcircuits for vision in starlight, twilight, and daylight.
The PhD fellow will join an active neuroscience research group with two principal investigators (prof. Espen Hartveit and prof. Meg Veruki). The project focuses on investigating plasticity of neuronal microcircuits involving amacrine cells in the mammalian retina, including functions of ion channels and chemical and electrical synapses. Primary methods include patch-clamp electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy, including two-photon uncaging, and two-photon FLIM-FRET of intracellular signaling. The experimental work will be performed with the mammalian retina as the model system.
The laboratory has modern setups for in vitro electrophysiology combined with two-photon microscopy, including uncaging and FLIM-FRET.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

  • You must hold a master’s degree or equivalent in neuroscience, cell physiology, biophysics, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related discipline.
  • Experience from relevant research projects will be considered favourably.
  • You must have a keen interest in cellular neurophysiology and imaging and wish to work on challenging problems related to mechanisms of neuronal plasticity and the correlation of structure and function of intact neural circuits.
  • Practical experience with patch-clamp electrophysiology, cellular imaging (including calcium imaging and/or confocal) or the use of biosensors to investigate intracellular transduction mechanisms is an advantage.
  • Experience with the following techniques are advantageous, but not required:
    • Two-photon imaging and two-photon photostimulation / uncaging in brain slices
    • Experience with live-cell FLIM-FRET
    • Experience with the design and expression of proteins for imaging
    • Experience with the use of recombinant viral vectors for gene transduction in tissue and experimental animals
  • Proficiency in programming environments like Igor Pro, Matlab, and Python is an advantage.
  • You will be expected to work independently and in a structured manner, be self-motivated, have good collaborative skills and have a great work capacity and enthusiasm for research.
  • You must be able to document a proficient knowledge of English (spoken and written).

Your application must be submitted via JobbNorge at the website below and include:

A brief account of the applicant’s research interests and motivation for applying for the position.
Certified copies of diplomas and transcripts of grades. Applicants whose education is from another country than Norway, need to also attach a certified translation of the diploma and transcript of grades to English or a Scandinavian language, if the original is not in any of these languages. It is required that the applicant must enclose a review from NOKUT whether the education in question (bachelor and master’s degree) is of a scope and level that corresponds to the level of a Norwegian master’s degree. Please see www.nokut.no/en for more information about NOKUT’s general recognition. The review from NOKUT may take some time and the application should be sent to NOKUT as soon as you have decided to apply for the position. If an answer from NOKUT has not been received prior to the application deadline, please enclose documentation from NOKUT that they have received your application.
Documentation of language skills (English) http://www.uib.no/en/med/115526/english-language-requirements-phd-admission
Complete list of publications.
Names and contact information for two references.

Please see the full job description and link for application on the following website:
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/229606/phd-position-4-years