Posted on Thu, 09/05/2024 - 14:10

Important Info

Faculty Sponsor (Last, First Name): 
Tolias. Andreas
Stanford Departments and Centers: 
Ophthalmology
Appointment Start Date: 
Immediately available
Group or Departmental Website: 
https://toliaslab.org/
How to Submit Application Materials: 

Please send your CV and one page  Cover Letter Iinterest Statement to: recruiting@enigmaproject.ai  

Does this position pay above the required minimum?: 
No. The expected base pay for this position is the Stanford University required minimum for all postdoctoral scholars appointed through the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. The FY25 minimum is $73,800.

Stanford University is launching an interdisciplinary Neuro-AI project dedicated to building a foundation model of the brain. This endeavor will involve multiple labs and faculty across the Stanford campus, including the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford Bio-X, and the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute. Leveraging cutting-edge advances in electrophysiology and machine learning, this project aims to create a functional "digital twin" — a model that captures both the activity dynamics of the brain at cellular resolution and the intelligent behavior it generates, including perception, motor planning, learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.

This ambitious initiative promises to offer unprecedented insights into the brain's algorithms of perception and cognition while serving as a key resource for aligning artificial intelligence models with human-like neural representations. As part of this project, we are seeking talented postdoctoral researchers with an extensive background in experimental systems neuroscience and excellent quantitative skills. Ideal candidates will have several years of practical experience performing neuro-behavioral and/or neuro-physiological experiments, including visual stimulus design, eye tracking, MRI or large-scale electrophysiology techniques (ideally Neuropixels). Additionally, candidates should exhibit a strong background in quantitative fields such as Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, or Computer Science.

This position promises a vibrant and cooperative atmosphere within the laboratories of Andreas Tolias (https://toliaslab.org), Tirin Moore (https://www.moorelabstanford.com) and other labs at Stanford University renowned for their expertise in perception, cognition, pioneering neural recording techniques, computational neuroscience, machine learning, and Neuro-AI research.

Role & Responsibilities:

  • Work together with a team dedicated to developing novel stimulus and behavioral paradigms, as well as large-scale Neuropixels recordings, for experiments in head-fixed behaving animal species beyond current state-of-the-art methods.
  • Develop and implement new paradigms from hardware to software components, including virtual reality, probe mounting/registration.
  • Work together with other teams of the Enigma Project to ensure efficient, large-scale, industry-level quality of experiments.
Required Qualifications: 

Key qualifications:

  • PhD in Systems Neuroscience or related fields.
  • 2-3 years of practical experience in designing and running experimental neuro-behavioral and/or neuro-physiological paradigms.
  • Expertise in implementing hardware and software components for such experiments.

Preferred qualifications:

  • Experience with designing databases in Python/MySQL for big data.
  • Experience with engineering solutions for large-scale experiments in neuroscience.
Required Application Materials: 
  • CV
  • Cover Letter Interest Statement

 

Stanford is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.