Job ID: 113504

Predoctoral posititon

Position: Ph.D. Student

Deadline: 31 July 2023

Employment Start Date: 1 September 2023

Contract Length: 4 years

City: Madrid

Country: Spain

Institution: Instituto Cajal, CSIC

Department: Functional System Neurociences

Description:

Predoctoral position in Neuronal Circuits involved in non-motor symptoms in  Parkinson’s disease

 

The Neurobiology of Parkinson´s Disease group from the Cajal Institute CSIC (Madrid) is seeking highly motivated PhD candidates interested in developing a Doctoral Thesis in Computational and Systems Neuroscience. The project will require the analyses of vivo electrophysiological, calcium imaging, and behavior recordings in mice models of Parkinson’s disease. For the position is required

 

  • MS degree in Biomedical Engineering, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Applied Math/Physics or equivalent is strongly preferred.
  • Prior experience working in a laboratory and experimental animal handling is welcome but not required.
  • Good communication and organizational skills are highly desirable. English language degree is necessary.
  • Analytical skills required to resolve problems that entail the use of basic scientific, mathematical and technical principles are a plus.
  • Experience with using MATLAB or PYTHON for signal processing are essential.
  • High average grades from Graduate school and Masters will be highly valued.

 

Some related publications:

  • Suarez LM, Alberquilla S, García-Montes JR, Moratalla R. Differential synaptic remodeling by dopamine in direct and indirect striatal projection neurons in Pitx3-/- mice, a genetic model of Parkinson´s disease. J Neursci. 2018. 38:3619-3630.
  • Keifman E, Ruiz de Diego I, Pafundo DE, Paz RM, Solís O, Murer MG, Moratalla R. Optostimulation of striatonigral terminals in substantia nigra induces dyskinesia that increases after L-DOPA in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Br J Pharmacol. 2019;176:2146-2161.
  • Suarez LM, Solís O, Sanz-Magro A, Alberquilla S, and Moratalla R. D1 receptor regulates spine density in direct and indirect striatal projection neurons. Mov Disord. 2020.
  • Gómez-Benito M, Granado N, García-Sanz P, Michel A, Dumoulin M, Moratalla R. Modeling Parkinson’s Disease With the Alpha-Synuclein Protein. Front Pharmacol. 2020 Apr 23;11:356. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.00356. PMID: 32390826; PMCID: PMC7191035.
  • Espadas I, Ortiz O, García-Sanz P, Sanz-Magro A, Alberquilla S, Solis O, Delgado-García JM, Gruart A, Moratalla R. Dopamine D2R is Required for Hippocampal-dependent Memory and Plasticity at the CA3-CA1 Synapse. Cereb Cortex. 2021 Mar 5;31(4):2187-2204.

The position is funded for 4 years with an extension based on performance. Starting date:  ASAP. Interested candidates please send their CVs to Dr. Rosario Moratalla (moratalla@cajal.csic.es) and Dr. Pablo Jercog (pjercog@cajal.csic.es) until the position is filled.