Research Assistant / Research Associate - Neuroscience

Company description:

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Job description:

The Role

We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic PhD staff student (Research Assistant ) or postdoctoral Research Associate to work on an NHMRC-funded project to study the "Neuropharmacology of decision-making: causal brain network modelling across species."

Decision-making deficits are a prominent feature of a number of clinical disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's disease (PD). Although decision neuroscience has made great strides in identifying neural metrics of decision-making that are comparable across species and time scales, critical knowledge gaps remain. These gaps include an incomplete understanding of: (i) how different brain regions communicate with one another to support decision-making processes and (ii) how neurochemicals modulate these decision-making communications. In this grant, we investigate the neurochemical modulation of decision-making in both humans and macaques, whereby you will be using the non-human primate model.

Your task will be to investigate the neurobiology of decision-making across 3 spatiotemporal scales: the micro-scale (single units); the meso-scale (LFPs; EEG); and the macro-scale (fMRI). Jointly with collaborators, you will use computational approaches to understand causal (directed) interactions between brain regions central to decision making across these scales macaques. To understand the underlying neuropharmacology, you will perturb the system using, methylphenidate, atomoxetine and ketamine, and study their impact on neural metrics of decision-making.

You will assist in animal training, sterile surgeries, and perform daily electrophysiological recordings of neural activity during trained task performance.

You will then analyse data, and produce drafts of publications as well as give presentations on the findings to international conferences.

You will have a very high level of academic achievement, and proven scientific ability in systems neuroscience research. An ability to work within a team is critical, as is a strong commitment to Reduction, Replacement and Refinement (3Rs) and animal welfare.

This is a full time role, fixed term until 31 October 2026

For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Alexander Thiele alex.thiele@ncl.ac.uk 

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