Job ID: 117131

Postdoctoral position in vision / computational modeling

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 30 April 2024

Employment Start Date: 8 January 2024

Contract Length: 3 years

City: PARIS

Country: France

Institution: Institut de la Vision - PARIS

Department: Visual information processing: neural coding and vision restoration

Description:

In our team in the Vision Institute in Paris we are looking for a postdoc (or PhD student) to work on a project at the intersection between machine learning and neuroscience. We are interested in how the retina is able to process complex visual information and how this is achieved by the different types of neurons within the retinal circuit.

The candidate will work on the computational part of a project whose goal is to find how deep convolutional network models can be implemented by a real biological neural circuit. By using deep convolutional neural networks and Gaussian processes, we have shown what are the biological constraints needed to perform abstract and complex computations (Goldin et al., 2022, Goldin, Virgili & Chalk, 2023). However, it is still unclear how the components of our model map onto the biological network. We are investigating this at the level of the retina where we have now unprecedented advanced technology for our precise study: the models will be built on data gathered with a new tool co-developed in collaboration with the optics team in our institute, that allows to optogenetically stimulate individual cells in the middle layer of the retina using holographic patterns (Spampinato et al., 2022).

The desired background of the candidate is in neuroscience, physics, computer science, mathematics, engineering, biology, or related subjects, with a strong expertise in computational modeling, and/or quantitative analysis skills.

The Vision Institute is located in the center of Paris and hosts 20 teams grouped in 5 departments (genetics, development, physiology, therapeutics and photonics) providing a broad range of expertise on vision and retina. It is a highly interdisciplinary environment and we have several on-going collaborations with experts in computer vision, neuroscience, optics, gene therapy and sensory systems. Paris is a vibrant city with a large neuroscience community and a great scientific and cultural environment.

More info of our team: https://rb.gy/mr8rma

To apply, please send a CV, a motivation letter, and 2 references to Matías Goldin, matias.goldin@inserm.fr. The position is open until a candidate is chosen.

– Goldin, MA^*; Lefebvre, B^*; Virgili, S^*; Pham Van Cang, MK; Ecker, A; Mora, T; Ferrari, U; Marre, O. Context-dependent selectivity to natural images in the retina. Nature Communications. 13(1):5556 (2022)

– Goldin, MA^*, Virgili, S^*, Chalk, M. Scalable Gaussian process inference of neural responses to natural images. PNAS, 120,34 (2023)

– Spampinato G.L.B^*, Ronzitti E.^*, Zampini V., Ferrari U., Trapani F., Khabou H., Dalkara D., Picaud S., Papagiakoumou E., Marre O^, Emiliani V^. All-optical inter-layers functional connectivity investigation in mice retina. Cell Reports Methods. 2(8) (2022)