We are looking for a postdoc to study the cortical basis of vision in awake rodents through extracellular recordings. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Biomedical sciences, or a related field. The ideal candidate has experience with in vivo electrophysiology in awake rodents, visual neuroscience, a quantitative and computational background including expertise with Matlab, and a publication record including first-author peer-reviewed publications.
The position fits in our current work on visual neuroscience in rodents. This line of research is implemented by PIs Hans Op de Beeck and Gert Van den Bergh, and one other postdoc and a PhD student. Recent publications include:
Vermaercke, B., & Op de Beeck, H.P. (2012). A multivariate approach reveals the behavioral templates underlying visual discrimination in rats. Current Biology, 22, 50-55.
Vreysen, S., Zhang, B., Chino, Y.M., Arckens, L., Van den Bergh, G. (2012). Dynamics of spatial frequency tuning in mouse visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology,107, 2937-2949.
The research will be implemented in the Laboratory of Biological Psychology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium). Current studies and expertise in the laboratory include behavioural tests in rodents (mice and rats), psychopharmacology, in vitro cellular neuroscience, in vivo extracellular recordings, lesioning studies in rodents, optogenetics, as well as functional imaging (fMRI) in humans. Many members of the lab come from countries outside Belgium, and the professional language in the lab is English.
The city of Leuven is an old, medieval city with a large student population (see http://www.kuleuven.be/english/living.html). Leuven is at 25 km from Brussels, with frequent direct train connections, also to the international airport of Brussels. The university is one of the oldest in the Low Countries (founded in 1425) and ranked amongst the best in Europe
Closing date: 2013-06-15
Prof. Hans Op de Beeck
KU Leuven
Biological Psychology
Tiensestraat 102
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Phone: ++32-(0)16 326039
E-mail: hans.opdebeeck@ppw.kuleuven.be
Website: http://ppw.kuleuven.be/lbp