Postdoctoral Position in Neural Circuits

  Postdoctoral Position for Large-Scale Recording in a Small-Brain Model System

 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Postdoctoral research position to examine loci of non-synaptic plasticity and synaptic plasticity in an established in vitro analogue of operant conditioning (OC) of feeding behavior in Aplysia (Baxter and Byrne, 2006).  To date, published studies have examined only five of the ~100 neurons and none of the hundreds of synaptic connections that comprise the neural circuit.  To address this shortcoming, large-scale voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) recordings (Neveu et al., 2017), in combination with intracellular recordings, will be used to identify OC-induced changes in activity and synaptic properties in a substantial proportion of the neurons in the circuit.  In addition, these studies will examine the extent to which short- and long-term memory share common loci and plasticity mechanisms.

We are located within the Texas Medical Center and its very rich and collaborative neuroscience community including Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Houston.

Applications are encouraged from individuals with backgrounds in imaging and electrophysiological recording techniques and experience with MATLAB. Please submit a current résumé, cover letter and contact information for three references as a single file attachment to John.h.byrne@uth.tmc.edu