[EXPIRED] The Capital Region of Copenhagen is looking for a 2-years Research Assistant in transcranial stimulation-based brain circuit therapy

Are you eager to contribute to new forms of treatments for depression using personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation? Do you wish to pursue cutting-edge research at the intersection of clinical neuroscience and non-invasive brain stimulation? Then you should join us at DRCMR as we scale up our efforts to develop novel treatments for Major depressive disorder (MDD) based on brain mapping (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] and electroencephalography [EEG]) and state-of-the-art personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

The position:

You will be employed as research assistant for 2 years at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR). The employment period may lay the foundation for an extension into a PhD position. You will join the Brain network modulation group (https://www.drcmr.dk/brain-network-modulation) led by Prof. Hartwig Siebner and contributing to Precision brain circuit therapy (Precision-BCT) project (https://www.drcmr.dk/precision-bct), a multidisciplinary project involving Region H (Hvidovre Hospital and CNDR Psychiatric Center Glostrup), DTU Health Technology, and industrial partners.

Your role:

As our new research assistant, you will primarily be involved in carrying out an interventional study with TMS and neuro-navigated circuit stimulation, but also in other brain imaging experiments. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team consisting of M.D.’s, psychologists, physiologists, engineers, and basic- and clinical neuroscientists.

Your daily tasks will vary according to the flow of the project, but will mainly center around:

Contributing to practical experimental routine, including subject recruitment, data collection, and analysis.
Conducting interventional brain stimulation studies in healthy volunteers and patients with MDD, involving the combination of EEG and TMS.
Assisting in acquiring and analyzing behavioral, and brain mapping data (e.g., EEG, fMRI) for assessing TMS efficacy.
Assisting in activities related to other Precision-BCT groups.
Engaging in teaching, knowledge dissemination, and publication of results in international, recognized scientific journals.

Qualification Requirements

You hold a master’s degree in Neuroscience, Medicine, Biomedical engineering, Psychology, or related fields.
You enjoy being part of a multidisciplinary and international research team and integrating technological innovations into your neuroscience research.
You enjoy active involvement in the experimental procedures in the lab.
You possess strong interpersonal communication skills.
Experience in any of the following areas is advantageous:
- Working with brain stimulation modalities and its integration with brain mapping methods (e.g., TMS/EEG)
- Programming skills (preferably in Matlab or Python).
- Processing and analyzing EEG/functional MRI data.
- Conducting experiments with human subjects—preferably including patients.

The project will be led by Prof. Hartwig Siebner with this position under the daily supervision of Postdoc Armita Faghani.

About us:

The Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) is one of the leading research centers for biomedical MRI in Europe (www.drcmr.dk). Our mission is to triangulate MR physics, basic physiology, and clinical research. Approximately 75 researchers from a diverse range of disciplines are currently pursuing basic and clinical research using MR, electrophysiology, and brain stimulation to improve our understanding of the human brain and its disorders. The DRCMR is embedded in the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, a large diagnostic imaging department including all biomedical imaging modalities at Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre.

Selected Publications

Siebner, Thomas Hartwig, Stefan Fuglsang, Christopher Fugl Madelung, Annemette Løkkegaard, Flemming Bendtsen, Jens Dahlgaard Hove, Morten Damgaard, Jan Lysgård Madsen, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Gastric Emptying Is Not Delayed and Does Not Correlate With Attenuated Postprandial Blood Flow Increase in Medicated Patients With Early Parkinson’s Disease.” Frontiers in Neurology 13 (2022). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2022.828069.

Madelung, Christopher F., David Meder, Søren A. Fuglsang, Marta M. Marques, Vincent O. Boer, Kristoffer H. Madsen, Esben T. Petersen, Anne-Mette Hejl, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Locus Coeruleus Shows a Spatial Pattern of Structural Disintegration in Parkinson’s Disease.” Movement Disorders 37, no. 3 (2022): 479–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28945.

Siebner, Thomas Hartwig, Christopher Fugl Madelung, Flemming Bendtsen, Annemette Løkkegaard, Jens Dahlgaard Hove, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Postprandial Increase in Mesenteric Blood Flow Is Attenuated in Parkinson’s Disease: A Dynamic PC-MRI Study.” Journal of Parkinson’s Disease 11, no. 2 (January 1, 2021): 545–57. https://doi.org/10.3233/JPD-202341.

Herz, Damian M., David Meder, Julia A. Camilleri, Simon B. Eickhoff, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Brain Motor Network Changes in Parkinson’s Disease: Evidence from Meta-Analytic Modeling.” Movement Disorders 36, no. 5 (2021): 1180–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28468.

Lohse, Allan, David Meder, Silas Nielsen, Anders Elkjær Lund, Damian M Herz, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R Siebner. “Low-Frequency Transcranial Stimulation of Pre-Supplementary Motor Area Alleviates Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson’s Disease: A Randomized Cross-over Trial.” Brain Communications 2, no. 2 (July 1, 2020): fcaa147. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaa147.

Haagensen, Brian N., Damian M. Herz, David Meder, Kristoffer H. Madsen, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Linking Brain Activity during Sequential Gambling to Impulse Control in Parkinson’s Disease.” NeuroImage: Clinical 27 (January 1, 2020): 102330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102330.

Betts, Matthew J., Evgeniya Kirilina, Maria C. G. Otaduy, Dimo Ivanov, Julio Acosta-Cabronero, Martina F. Callaghan, Christian Lambert, et al. “Locus Coeruleus Imaging as a Biomarker for Noradrenergic Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Brain 142, no. 9 (September 1, 2019): 2558–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awz193.

Meder, David, Damian Marc Herz, James Benedict Rowe, Stéphane Lehéricy, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “The Role of Dopamine in the Brain - Lessons Learned from Parkinson’s Disease.” NeuroImage, Mapping diseased brains, 190 (April 15, 2019): 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.021.

Irmen, Friederike, Andreas Horn, David Meder, Wolf-Julian Neumann, Philip Plettig, Gerd-Helge Schneider, Hartwig Roman Siebner, and Andrea A. Kühn. “Sensorimotor Subthalamic Stimulation Restores Risk-Reward Trade-off in Parkinson’s Disease.” Movement Disorders 34, no. 3 (2019): 366–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27576.

Meder, David, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Spectral Signatures of Neurodegenerative Diseases: How to Decipher Them?” Brain 141, no. 8 (August 1, 2018): 2241–44. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awy195.

Lehericy, Stéphane, David E. Vaillancourt, Klaus Seppi, Oury Monchi, Irena Rektorova, Angelo Antonini, Martin J. McKeown, et al. “The Role of High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Parkinsonian Disorders: Pushing the Boundaries Forward.” Movement Disorders 32, no. 4 (April 1, 2017): 510–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.26968.

Correia, M. M., Rittman, T., Barnes, C. L., Coyle-Gilchrist, I. T., Ghosh, B., Hughes, L. E. & Rowe, J. B.
Towards accurate and unbiased imaging-based differentiation of Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome.
Brain communications. 2, 1, p. 1-18, fcaa051. 2020.

Kaalund, S. S., Passamonti, L., Allinson, K. S. J., Murley, A. G., Robbins, T. W., Spillantini, M. G. & Rowe, J. B.
Locus coeruleus pathology in progressive supranuclear palsy, and its relation to disease severity.
Acta neuropathologica communications. 8, 1, p. 1-11, 11. 2020.

van der Vegt, J. P. M., Hulme, O. J., Madsen, K. H., Buhmann, C., Bloem, B. R., Münchau, A., Helmich, R. C. & Siebner, H. R.
Dopamine agonist treatment increases sensitivity to gamble outcomes in the hippocampus in de novo Parkinson's disease.
NeuroImage. Clinical. 28, p. 1-8, 102362. 2020.

Dogonowski, A. M., Andersen, K. W., Sellebjerg, F., Schreiber, K., Madsen, K. H. & Siebner, H. R.
Functional neuroimaging of recovery from motor conversion disorder: A case report.
NeuroImage. 190, p. 269-274, 2019.

Dubbioso, R., Manganelli, F., Siebner, H. R. & Di Lazzaro, V.
Fast Intracortical Sensory-Motor Integration: A Window Into the Pathophysiology of Parkinson's Disease.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 13, p. 1-14, 111. 2019.

van Eimeren, T., Antonini, A., Berg, D., Bohnen, N., Ceravolo, R., Drzezga, A., Höglinger, G. U., Higuchi, M., Lehericy, S., Lewis, S., Monchi, O., Nestor, P., Ondrus, M., Pavese, N., Peralta, M. C., Piccini, P., Pineda-Pardo, J. Á., Rektorová, I., Rodríguez-Oroz, M., Rominger, A., Seppi, K., Stoessl, A. J., Tessitore, A., Thobois, S., Kaasinen, V., Wenning, G., Siebner, H. R., Strafella, A. P. & Rowe, J. B.
Neuroimaging biomarkers for clinical trials in atypical parkinsonian disorders: Proposal for a Neuroimaging Biomarker Utility System.
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. 11, p. 301-309, 2019.

Siebner, Hartwig R., David Meder, and Damian M. Herz. “FMRI in Parkinson’s Disease.” In FMRI: Basics and Clinical Applications, edited by Stephan Ulmer and Olav Jansen, 417–31. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41874-8_26

Thomsen, B. L. C., Herz, D. M., Siebner, H. R. & Løkkegaard, A.
Dyskinesier ved Parkinsons sygdom: opdatering om nye billeddannende metoder og behandlingsmuligheder.
Ugeskrift for Laeger. 12, 2017, p. 2-6, 2017.

Lehéricy, S., Vaillancourt, D. E., Seppi, K., Monchi, O., Rektorova, I., Antonini, A., McKeown, M. J., Masellis, M., Berg, D., Rowe, J. B., Lewis, S. J. G., Williams-Gray, C. H., Tessitore, A., Siebner, H. R. & International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society -Neuroimaging Study Group.
The role of high-field magnetic resonance imaging in parkinsonian disorders: Pushing the boundaries forward.
Movement disorders. 32, 4, p. 510-525, 2017.

Løkkegaard A, Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Lorentzen AK, Eickhoff SB, Siebner HR (2016) Altered sensorimotor activation patterns in idiopathic dystonia - an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 37:547-557.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Nielsen SH, Madsen KH, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2016) Resting-state connectivity predicts levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 31:521-529.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Christensen MS, Madsen KH, Rowe JB, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2015) Abnormal dopaminergic modulation of striato-cortical networks underlies levodopa-induced dyskinesias in humans. Brain 138:1658-1666.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN,Christensen MS, Madsen KH, Rowe J, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2014) The acute brain response to levodopa heralds dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 75:829-836.

Herz DM, Eickhoff SB, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2014) Functional neuroimaging of motor control in Parkinson’s disease: A meta-analysis. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3227-3237.

van der Vegt JPM, Hulme OJ, Zittel S, Madsen KH, Weiss MM, Buhmann C, Bloem BR, Münchau A, Siebner HR (2013) Attenuated neural response to gamble outcomes in drug-naive patients with Parkinson’s disease. Brain 136:1192-1203.