Search for candidates: Brain Plasticity Lab

The Brain Plasticity Lab, recently launched at CiMUS, is seeking motivated candidates at all stages ( PhD, Postdoc) to apply for different funding opportunities.

Context

Life experience shapes our brain in the developing and early life, but how experiences, or dynamic physiological states (such as reproductive, nutritional or social states) can reshape the brain during adulthood is poorly understood D eciphering the nature of adult remodeling of brain connectivity will lead to a breakthrough in our understanding of brain aging and resilience, unlocking the underlying mechanisms of some psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, and opening new avenues for the design of therapeutic alternatives for these highly prevalent diseases in a globally aging population.

The Brain Plasticity Lab seeks to study brain circuit remodeling in the adulthood from two main perspectives 1 How changes in neuronal activity drive circuit remodeling (ex circuit rewiring after sensory loss in the adulthood), and 2 How physiological regulators modulate the plastic capacity of neuronal networks (ex role of sexual hormones in circuit refinement and remodeling).

Description

If you have a background in Biology, Biotechnology, or Biomedical engineering (or similar) and you are interested in:
 

• Understanding the structural and molecular mechanisms underlying axonal plasticity in the adulthood.
• Studying how the physiological state can drive changes in neuronal connectivity.
• Learning advanced techniques for whole brain 3D histology tissue clearing, light sheet microscopy, advanced computational tools for image analysis.
• Implementing methods for animal behavior and in vivo Ca+2 recording fiber photometry or spatial omics (in this case, a background in bioinformatics would be required).