Postdoctoral Fellow-MSH-30035-395

Salary: Postdoc base salary

Department: Neuroscience

Physical work location: Hess Building, Level 10, Room 302, 1470 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10029

Name PI or Supervisor: Xiaoting Wu, 212-824-8973, xiaoting.wu@mssm.edu

Web link to Lab: https://labs.neuroscience.mssm.edu/project/wu-lab/

Web link to Department: https://icahn.mssm.edu/about/departments/neuroscience

Administrative Contact: Kayla Marevanhema, (212) 659-5926, kayla.J.Marevanhema@mssm.edu

Details of Research Project: 

Our lab explores how neural population dynamics, neural circuit and synaptic plasticity support social cognitive behaviors including social memory, and decision-making. To tackle these questions, we take a multidisciplinary approach that spans molecular, synaptic, and systems neuroscience using techniques such as optogenetics, miniscope imaging, slice electrophysiology, and single-cell transcriptomics.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will participate in research studies aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms of social cognition. The project will focus on exploring the synaptic plasticity and neural circuitries underlying social memory. Moreover, the project involves the study of social memory deficits in autism-associated mouse lines. 

Technical Duties: 

Ideal applicants will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: molecular techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing; synaptic physiology, including patch-clamp electrophysiology; behavioral neuroscience, particularly using optogenetics or in vivo imaging; or computational approaches to neural data analysis and modeling.

Under the PIs guidance, the Postdoctoral Fellow’s main responsibilities in this research are to lead projects, design experiments, perform experiments independently, prepare and publish the results. The experiments will include social behavioral assays, stereotaxic surgeries, and miniscope recordings.

• Social behavioral assay: Subject mice are placed in the middle chamber of the behavioral apparatus for 1 min, at which time the dividers are lifted, and mice are allowed to explore the other two chambers freely for 5 min. One chamber contains a familiar mouse, and the other chamber contains a novel mouse of the same sex. For analysis, a video tracking system (BIOBSERVE) was used to automatically track the location of the subject mouse during its free exploration.
• Stereotaxic surgery: Mice, 4–7 weeks of age, are anaesthetized by intraperitoneal injection with a mixture of ketamine and dexmedetomidine. Heads are fixed on a Kopf stereotaxic apparatus and holes were drilled bilaterally into the skull except for structures on the midline. Glass cannulas filled with virus solution were lowered to the specified depth from the dura and 0.3–0.75 μl of virus solution was injected using a microinjection pump (Harvard Apparatus) at a flow rate of 0.1–0.25 μl min−1. After surgery, atipamezole is administered by intraperitoneal injection.

Details of Research Project: 

Our lab explores how neural population dynamics, neural circuit and synaptic plasticity support social cognitive behaviors including social memory, and decision-making. To tackle these questions, we take a multidisciplinary approach that spans molecular, synaptic, and systems neuroscience using techniques such as optogenetics, miniscope imaging, slice electrophysiology, and single-cell transcriptomics.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will participate in research studies aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms of social cognition. The project will focus on exploring the synaptic plasticity and neural circuitries underlying social memory. Moreover, the project involves the study of social memory deficits in autism-associated mouse lines. 

Technical Duties: 

Ideal applicants will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: molecular techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing; synaptic physiology, including patch-clamp electrophysiology; behavioral neuroscience, particularly using optogenetics or in vivo imaging; or computational approaches to neural data analysis and modeling.

Under the PIs guidance, the Postdoctoral Fellow’s main responsibilities in this research are to lead projects, design experiments, perform experiments independently, prepare and publish the results. The experiments will include social behavioral assays, stereotaxic surgeries, and miniscope recordings.

• Social behavioral assay: Subject mice are placed in the middle chamber of the behavioral apparatus for 1 min, at which time the dividers are lifted, and mice are allowed to explore the other two chambers freely for 5 min. One chamber contains a familiar mouse, and the other chamber contains a novel mouse of the same sex. For analysis, a video tracking system (BIOBSERVE) was used to automatically track the location of the subject mouse during its free exploration.
• Stereotaxic surgery: Mice, 4–7 weeks of age, are anaesthetized by intraperitoneal injection with a mixture of ketamine and dexmedetomidine. Heads are fixed on a Kopf stereotaxic apparatus and holes were drilled bilaterally into the skull except for structures on the midline. Glass cannulas filled with virus solution were lowered to the specified depth from the dura and 0.3–0.75 μl of virus solution was injected using a microinjection pump (Harvard Apparatus) at a flow rate of 0.1–0.25 μl min−1. After surgery, atipamezole is administered by intraperitoneal injection.