Postdoc 'Electrophysiology and stimulus discrimination'

Ever wanted to know what drives individual differences in environmental sensitivity? We are looking for a motivated postdoctoral researcher who wants to set up in-vivo electrophysiology in our department as part of a project funded by the Dutch Research Council. The aim of the project is to understand how individual variation in neuronal activity shapes individual variation in stimulus discrimination and attentional prioritization.

In this project, rats marked by different levels of serotonin will be exposed to operant boxes equipped with a touchscreen while brain-region-specific changes in local field potentials are recorded during various unique discrimination tasks.

As a postdoc you will develop, validate, and execute the above-mentioned animal studies. You will also be responsible for the processing and analysis of complex data sets. You will closely interact and collaborate with a recently hired PhD student combining similar touchscreen operant tasks with serotonin biosensing, as well as other relevant researchers and specialists in academia and/or industry (e.g. technical engineers, software developers and data analysts).

Your responsibilities may also include project management, mentoring (PhD, MSc and BSc students) and teaching-related tasks. At the end of the project, you are expected to participate in various (inter)national conferences and prepare a manuscript for publication. You will furthermore be encouraged to apply for funding for follow-up research.

You have a PhD in (cognitive) neuroscience, (medical) biology, or related field and a track record in scientific research, as evidenced by publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Moreover you have:

• Good command of oral and written English.
• Experience with electrophysiology and analysis of complex datasets.
• Experience with animal work, or a strong desire to learn.
• Technical insight and problem-solving skills.
• Good social, communicational, and organizational skills.
• Dutch (art 9) or European (FELASA) certificate to work with animals is a plus.

Your performance will be evaluated after 10 months. Should the evaluation be positive, the contract will be extended by 24 months.

At Radboud university medical center, you build on your future. We are committed to providing the best care, education, and research. And we are true to our word, because we help you develop and seize opportunities and give you the room to grow. As an employer, we believe that employees should feel vital and happy at work in all stages of life. We are also committed to creating a healthy and safe working environment. Our employment conditions contribute to that. What we offer:

• A gross monthly salary between € 3.493 and € 5.504 (scale 10) for full-time employment (36 hours per week). You will also receive an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a 47% to 72% bonus for working unsocial hours.
• 172 vacation hours per year based on a 36-hour working week. (As of 1 January 2025, you will receive 176 vacation hours).

The project is embedded within the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS) at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, which is a highly dynamic Dutch institute with a collaborative atmosphere, focusing on fundamental and applied neuroscience research at top level. The successful candidate will join both the Behavioural Neurogenetics, and the Behavioural Neuroscience groups led by Prof. Dr. J. Homberg and Prof. Dr. B. Roozendaal. For further information, please visit the following websites: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and Department of CNS.

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Welcome to Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc), where our research groups strive for innovative solutions that make impact on health and healthcare. We challenge the status quo to overcome current and future health challenges. Our goal is to shape the future of healthcare for generations to come. Our focus is on prevention, sustainability, and meaningful care, which we achieve through our in-depth understanding of disease mechanisms, clinical science, public health research, medical technology and data science. Our approach is centered on breakthroughs that can truly enhance personalized healthcare and public health.

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