Missions

The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for conducting a series of neurophysiology experiments in rats to test the role of brainstem circuits in spatial navigation and head movements. The researcher will be required to conduct these experiments independently, analyze the results, and write a manuscript for publication.

Activities

The research work will involve the following tasks: - Preparing animals for optogenetics experiments. - Conducting a spatial navigation experiment requiring careful handling of the animals (habituation, learning, and task completion, all over several weeks for each batch). - Designing, programming, and carrying out several experimental protocols combining video and inertial measurements and optogenetic perturbations. - Analyzing the data obtained. - Neuroanatomical tracing experiments, histology, immunohistochemistry. - Writing a scientific article.

Skills

- Desired regulatory training: surgery and animal experimentation at the designer level. - Stereotactic surgery in rodents under gas anesthesia, nanovolume injection, postoperative follow-up. - Behavioral studies in rats: habituation, handling. - Classic histology techniques (perfusion, sectioning, immunohistochemistry, mounting, confocal microscopy). - Understanding and modification of multi-sensor measurement architecture and control of multiple instruments (Bonsai, LabVIEW). - Data analysis in R and Python and creation of figures. - Bibliographic analysis and article writing.

Work Context

The work will be carried out within the team led by Dr. Mathieu Beraneck. The team is part of the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), CNRS UMR8002, on the Saint Germain campus of the Faculty of Fundamental and Biomedical Sciences at Paris Cité University (UPC). It comprises six permanent researchers, two permanent engineers, and four doctoral students. It benefits from a rich scientific environment, consisting of around fifteen research teams in neuroscience, including six within the INCC. The available infrastructure includes EOPS and conventional animal facilities, experimental rooms, an imaging platform, and a prototyping platform.

Constraints and risks

The work will be carried out within the team led by Dr. Mathieu Beraneck. The team is part of the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), CNRS UMR8002, on the Saint Germain campus of the Faculty of Fundamental and Biomedical Sciences at Paris Cité University (UPC). It comprises six permanent researchers, two permanent engineers, and four doctoral students. It benefits from a rich scientific environment, consisting of around fifteen research teams in neuroscience, including six within the INCC. The available infrastructure includes EOPS and conventional animal facilities, experimental rooms, an imaging platform, and a prototyping platform.