Ph.D. Student in Regensburg/Germany

Welcome to the Graduate School “Neurobiology of Emotion Dysfunctions”! Our DFG-funded Graduate School offers a PhD position (TV-L E13/65%) to study “Neuronal circuits underlying social stress-induced behaviour”. Your project will focus on the consequences of social isolation and/or social dominance on emotional and social behaviour, including anxiety, fear, social interaction and aggression, and neuronal activity and networks within the limbic system. Primarily, you will explore the role of the neuropeptide oxytocin, which is known to exert profound pro-social and anti-stress effects. As the early life impact of social stress on adult mental health has been reported in humans, you will study both juvenile and adult rodents. The project will be performed in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Valery Grinevich (Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg) and paralleled by a human project on social stress in children.
As a PhD student, you will acquire and apply a wide spectrum of histochemical, viral tracing and behavioural methods, including immunostaining, overexpression or knockdown of target proteins, employment of viral vectors, behavioral testing, and in vivo imaging.
You will be tightly embedded in our international team of PhD students, and in an interdisciplinary research atmosphere. You will also acquire relevant soft skills essential to pursue a career in neuroscience, and participate at research seminars, weekend retreats, summer schools and scientific meetings.
Candidates should have an excellent Master’s degree in a Life Science discipline. We are looking for a highly motivated team worker enthusiastic to join this exciting field of molecular, cellular and behavioral neurobiology.
Please submit your CV, 2 letters of support, letter of motivation, summary of Master thesis (250 words), and MSc certificate (or a letter from your supervisor stating that the Master thesis will be finished prior start of the PhD) until August 15th 2020.