One (1) Postdoctoral Researcher Position [Ref # ORZ-0318]

We are looking for one motivated postdoc to join the Laboratory of Dr. Panayiota Poirazi at IMBB-FORTH. 

The successful applicant will work on a multidisciplinary collaborative project aiming to develop a new prototype technology that can be used for drug discovery for neurological diseases. In this new hybrid technology, computational neuronal networks that simulate dysfunction will drive cultured neurons to replicate Alzheimer’s disease. Nanoelectrodes will mediate the transmission between simulated and biological neurons, at multiple subcellular locations. Neuronal responses will be read out with advanced imaging techniques and will be fed back to the simulated neurons, closing the loop and enabling control of activity states across the hybrid population. A proof-of-concept will be provided for Alzheimer’s disease, using human (iPSC)-derived neurons while testing the effects of novel drug candidates. The NEUREKA partners include the University of Padua (Prof. Vassanelli), CNRS (Prof. Larrieu), the University of Milano Bicocca (Prof. Fanciulli) and Maxwell Biosystems.

The successful candidate will work on the development of computational circuit models of neurons equipped with dendritic nonlinearities and plasticity for different brain areas (based on the model developed in the Poirazi Lab, by Kastellakis et al, Cell Reports, 2016). He/She will also work with developing and/or applying techniques for processing calcium imaging data (from behaving animals and/or cultured neurons) and the interfacing of the model with nanoelectrodes and neuronal outputs.

The Poirazi Lab investigates how dendrites and their integrative properties contribute to learning and memory related functions, using primarily computational techniques. In close collaboration with experimentalists, models are used to explain findings and predict new roles for dendrites in functions such as spatial navigation/learning, working and associative memory, visual processing etc. The lab has recently expanded its research to include experiments in mice, whereby the role of dendrites in prefrontal functions is investigated via behavioral, electrophysiological and imaging techniques. The laboratory offers a thriving, ambitious research environment which is well funded from several grants.