Postdoctoral Researcher, Brain Imaging Genomics

We seek a postdoctoral researcher to investigate links between gene expression in the human cerebral cortex and inter-individual variations in brain and behaviour. The position will be embedded within the Imaging Genomics group of the host department, and will be carried out in collaboration with leading researchers at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen.

Job description

The successful candidate will join an innovative research program that is seeking to characterize the brain’s molecular infrastructure for language, and integrate this with data on individual differences in brain and behaviour. This is an initiative of the Language in Interaction (LiI) consortium, sponsored by a major grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. We recently generated a unique gene expression dataset using spatial transcriptomics from regions of the human cerebral cortex that are important for language. The postdoctoral scientist will take the lead on integrative analyses linking gene expression to genetic association, making use of large-scale resources such as the UK Biobank (currently data from over 30,000 individuals with brain image and genetic data – including common single nucleotide polymorphisms and rare genetic variants) and the international GenLang Consortium (data from up to 34,000 individuals on reading- and language-related abilities together with genetic data). One major goal is to apply a recently-optimized pipeline for measuring white matter tracts in biobank-scale diffusion tensor imaging data, and subsequently to apply genetic techniques such as genome-wide association analysis, partitioned heritability analysis, and polygenic score analysis. The project therefore offers the possibility to learn state-of-the-art techniques in both brain image analysis and genetic analysis.