neurodudes

Position Offered for Programmer or Postdoctoral Fellowship in Applied Neurocomputational Modeling of Learning and Memory

We seek to hire a full time Research Assistant/Programmer or Postdoctoral Fellow to work on computer programming projects developing and testing neurocomputational models of the brain circuits for learning and memory, especially the basal ganglia, frontal cortex, and hippocampal region.

[editor: this is an email fwd i received]

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Interesting developments — although, hard to know precisely how serious any of this is. Any thoughts from students, postdocs, others in the trenches at MIT (and willing to give perspective to the outside world)?

Boston Globe, July 15

“The professors, in a letter to MIT’s president, Susan Hockfield , accuse professor Susumu Tonegawa of intimidating Alla Karpova , “a brilliant young scientist,” saying that he would not mentor, interact, or collaborate with her if she took the job and that members of his research group would not work with her.”

Boston Globe, July 19

“In a letter responding to professors who wanted MIT to investigate the senior professor’s treatment of the job recruit, Hockfield said there are “ongoing tensions among MIT’s neuroscience entities” and suggested that the current situation “threatens ongoing disruption of the collegiality of our academic enterprise.” The letter, dated Monday, was obtained by the Globe.”

Peoples Archive | homepage

Pretty cool idea. Lots of scientists are on this site with quicktime videos of themselves telling their life stories.

Including Sydney Brenner, Hans Bethe, Gerald Edelman, Freeman Dyson, Ernst Mayr, Benoit Mandelbrot, Francis Crick, and others.

His Holiness has spoken. He wants neuro-drugs to take and electrodes stuck in his brain so that he doesn’t have to spend hours meditating each day. (Enlightenment now!) If you want to do hot stuff, study physics or brain science. His interest in neuroscience stems from a long-standing interest in body hair. Yes, body hair. Americans need to figure their own way through this whole intelligent design business. Not all antidepressants are alike; for instance, the Dalai Lama is against tranquilizers. Definitely against tranquilizers. And, perhaps most surprisingly, His Holiness, approves of animal research — when it’s done right and with respect.

Minute-by-minute liveblog follows after the jump.
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Below please find an email I received. I removed email addresses from this post to prevent harvesting by spambots — so I guess you’ll have to find a way to contact them yourself if you want the job.

> Subject: Job Annoucement - Theoretical Neuroscience Group in Paris.
> Reply-To: Sophie Deneve
>
> Two postdoctoral research positions are available in the newly created
> Theoretical Neuroscience Group in Ecole Normale Sup?rieure Paris, for a
> project funded by a Marie Curie Team of Excellence grant.?
>
> The overall theme of the project is “Bayesian inference and neural
> dynamics”, and the research will involve building and analyzing
> probabilistic treatments of representation, inference and learning in
> biophysical models of cortical neuron and circuits. To do so we will
> integrate complementary computational neuroscience approaches. The first
> studies neurons and neural networks as biophysical entities. The second
> reinterpret cognitive and neural processes as bayesian computations.
>
> The faculty of this group includes Misha Tsodyks, Boris Gutkin, Sophie
> Deneve and Rava Da Silvera. It is part of the Department of Cognitive
> Science in Ecole Normale Sup?rieure, a unique institution regrouping
> major scientists in computational Neuroscience, Brain imaging,
> Psychology, Philosophy, and Mathematics. We are situated in central
> Paris, at a walking distance to top scientific research and educational
> institutions. We have numerous international collaborations with
> experimental groups, with the goal of understanding the neural basis of
> cognition.
>
> The positions are for two years duration, with attractive salaries,
> including mobility allowance if applicable.? Generous travel support will
> be provided. Candidates should have
> 1- A strong mathematical/biophysical background and a strong interest in
> neuroscience, or
> 2- A strong neuroscience background and good basis in math and/or
> biophysics.?
> 3- Demonstrable interest in experimental collaborations.
> 4- Good communication skills.
>
> Candidates should send a CV, a 1 page research project and the address
> of two referees, to __email omitted__, before the 1st of
> November, 2005. For further information please contact Sophie Deneve (___email omitted___)
> or Boris Gutkin (___email omitted___) .
>