Full time, fixed term end date 31 December 2017

Expected start date from 15 May 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Researcher to join the Wellcome Trust Consortium for Neuroimmunology of Mood Disorders and Alzheimer’s Disease (NIMA). The post will be based at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC), Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton UK, under the supervision of Dr Neil Harrison.

NIMA is a 5-year research programme, with total funding of approximately £5.7M, designed to translate the new inter-disciplinary science of neuroimmunology to therapeutic applications in psychiatry and neurology.

The research programme will be coordinated across a network of UK academic centres (University of Sussex, University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Glasgow, King’s College London, University of Oxford and University of Southampton) and two major pharmaceutical companies (Janssen Pharmaceuticals R&D and H. Lundbeck A/S). The scientific scope of the research will include clinical biomarker studies, therapeutic trials of new drugs in patients with depression and Alzheimer’s disease, and animal experiments, and is intended to develop new treatment approaches for these conditions.

Dr Neil Harrison (University of Sussex) and Prof Ed Bullmore (University of Cambridge) will co-lead MRI components of the Consortium which will be undertaken at Cambridge, Glasgow, KCL, Oxford & Sussex. The post will be based at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC) on the University of Sussex campus and will involve close coordination with Cambridge as well as each of the other imaging sites.

The research programme will use a range of advanced quantitative techniques including models of magnetisation transfer (qMT), T1/ T2 mapping and diffusion imaging (NODDI), as well as task-related functional imaging and graph theoretic analyses of multi-echo resting state fMRI in conjunction with peripheral and CSF immunophenotyping to investigate the neural and peripheral signatures of inflammation in patients with depression. Comparable techniques as well as histology will be acquired in rodent inflammation models (KCL) to facilitate back-translation of the human imaging findings.

The post holder will work closely with a postdoc based at Cambridge and other researchers at both sites to analyse all of the imaging data acquired from up to 150 patients and controls. This post offers an outstanding opportunity to be involved in a large multi-centre consortium combining cutting-edge microstructural and functional neuroimaging with deep immunological phenotyping to characterise the role of inflammation in the commonest mental disorder depression. The successful candidate will assist in the initial quality control of sequences across imaging centres and the analysis and interpretation of the imaging data. The post will involve close collaboration with other leading UK neuroimaging groups as well as groups working on functional immunological network changes.

Closing date for applications: 30 April 2015

For full details and how to apply see:
www.sussex.ac.uk/jobs
www.brighton.ac.uk/jobs
www.bsms.ac.uk

The University is committed to equality and valuing diversity, and applications are particularly welcomed from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in science and engineering at Sussex.