Job ID: 123574
Hearing the light: Ph.D. student position in auditory neuroscience
Position: Ph.D. Student
Deadline: 10 September 2025
Employment Start Date: 1 December 2025
Contract Length: 36 months
City: Montpellier
Country: France
Institution: Inserm
Department: Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier
Description:
Project summary: The electric cochlear implant is currently the only rehabilitation approach for severe hearing impairment. While this device can restore speech perception in quiet environments, hearing remains impaired in most everyday situations. This is due to the wide spread of excitation around each electrode contact. Optogenetics paves the way for future optical cochlear implants (oCI), which would potentially have up to ten times more stimulation channels.
One of the main challenges in developing oCIs is identifying a channelrhodopsin capable of stimulating cochlear neurons at a high frequency. Recent work from our group shows that partial optogenetic activation of the cochlea can lead to complete activation of the central nervous system. This result is essential for the development of oCIs, as it means that many of the channelrhodopsins that have already been screened could be suitable for encoding sound optically. However, the mechanism responsible for this neural gain is unknown, as is its robustness to brain plasticity following hearing loss. In this project, we aim to validate the robustness of the central compensation in optical hearing on animal models that reproduce human hearing impairment. We will also study the underlying mechanism and validate the efficacy of the optical approach compared to state-of-the-art electrical approach.
This offer might be for you if:
– You are curious about the logic of neuronal coding and/or neural prosthesis
– You are a team player, enjoy solving problems and finding original solutions.
– You have a strong interest and ideally former experiences in system neuroscience, optogenetics, computational neuroscience or signal processing.
– You have good communication skills in English (speaking French is not a requirement).
Research environment: Research will be conducted at the Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier (INM). This joint research unit comprises 200 people divided into eight research teams studying sensorimotor deficits and neurodegeneration. The INM aims to bring together fundamental and translational research to study development, plasticity, synaptic integration, and neurodegenerative processes leading to disorders of the central and sensorimotor systems. The INM hosts eleven facilities that provide services and cutting-edge technologies (www.inmfrance.com).
Research will take place in the Auditory team whose mission is to unravel the mechanisms of deafness and tinnitus to envision novel therapies. Research is organized around the analysis of animal mutant, that recapitulate human auditory deficits, to decipher the sound encoding process and to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Applications should include a motivation letter, CV and the contact details of at least two referees.
Please send your application only via e-mail as a PDF-file to Antoine Huet
antoine.huet@inserm.fr