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[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

Madsen MAJ, Wiggermann V, Bramow S, Christensen JR, Sellebjerg F, Siebner HR. 2021. Imaging cortical multiple sclerosis lesions with ultra-high field MRI. NeuroImage. Clinical. 32:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102847

Chow HH, Talbot J, Marstrand L, Lundell H, Roman Siebner H, Bach Søndergaard H, Sellebjerg F. 2021. Smoking, cardiovascular risk factors and LRP2 gene variation: Associations with disease severity, cognitive function and brain structure in primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 56:1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msard.2021.103296

Ruiu E, Dubbioso R, Madsen KH, Svolgaard O, Raffin E, Andersen KW, Karabanov AN, Siebner HR. 2020. Probing Context-Dependent Modulations of Ipsilateral Premotor-Motor Connectivity in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Frontiers in Neurology. 11:1-10. Available from: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00193

Bauer C, Dyrby TB, Sellebjerg F, Madsen KS, Svolgaard O, Blinkenberg M, Siebner HR, Andersen KW. 2020. Motor fatigue is associated with asymmetric connectivity properties of the corticospinal tract in multiple sclerosis. NeuroImage. Clinical. 28:1-12. Available from: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102393

Lundell, H., Svolgaard, O., Dogonowski, A-M., Romme Christensen, J., Selleberg, F., Soelberg Sørensen, P., Blinkenberg, M., Siebner, H. R. & Garde, E.
Spinal cord atrophy in anterior-posterior direction reflects impairment in multiple sclerosis.
Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 136, 4, p. 330-337, 2017.

Schreiber K, Magyari M, Sellebjerg F, Iversen P, Garde E, Gøbel Madsen C, Börnsen L, Christensen JR, Ratzer R, Siebner HR, Laursen B, Soelberg Sorensen P. High-dose erythropoietin in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis: a randomized, placebo controlled, phase 2 trial. Mult Scler 2016: Epub ahead of print.

Dogonowski AM, Blinkenberg M, Paulson OB, Sellebjerg F, Soelberg Sørensen P, Siebner HR, Madsen KH. Recovery from an acute relapse is associated with changes in motor resting-state connectivity in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2016;87:912-914.

Ratzer R, Iversen P, Börnsen L, Dyrby T, Romme Christensen J, Ammitzbøll C, Madsen C, Garde E, Lyksborg M, Andersen B, Hyldstrup L, Soelberg Sørensen P, Siebner HR, Sellebjerg F. Monthly oral methylprednisolone pulse treatment in progressive multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2016;22:926-934.

Voldsgaard A, Bager P, Garde E, Åkeson P, Leffers AM, Kapel C, Roepstorff A, Thamsborg SM, Melbye M, Siebner H, Søndergaard HB, Sellebjerg F, Soelberg Sørensen P. Trichuris suis ova therapy in relapsing multiple sclerosis is safe but without signals of beneficial effect. Mult Scler 2015;21:1723-1729.

Weier K, Banwell B, Cerasa A, Collins DL, Dogonowski AM, Lassmann H, Quattrone A, Sahraian MA, Siebner HR, Sprenger T. The role of the cerebellum in multiple sclerosis. Cerebellum 2015;14:364-374.

Christensen JR, Ratzer R, Börnsen L, Lyksborg M, Garde E, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR, Sorensen PS, Sellebjerg F. Natalizumab in progressive MS: Results of an open-label, phase 2A, proof-of-concept trial. Neurology 2014;82:1499-1507. 

Lyksborg M, Siebner HR, Sørensen PS, Blinkenberg M, Parker GJM, Dogonowski A, Garde E, Larsen R, Dyrby TB. Secondary progressive and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis leads to motor-related decreased anatomical connectivity. PLOS ONE 2014;9, e95540.

Christensen JR, Ratzer R, Börnsen L, Lyksborg M, Garde E, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR, Sørensen PS, Sellebjerg F. Natalizumab in progressive MS – results of an open-label phase 2A proof-of- concept trial. Neurology 2014;82:1499-1507. 

Dogonowski, A.-M., Andersen, K. W., Madsen, K. H., Sørensen, P. S., Paulson, O. B., Blinkenberg, M., & Siebner, H. R. Multiple sclerosis impairs regional functional connectivity in the cerebellum. NeuroImage: Clinical, 2014, 4:130–138.

Group Members

Hartwig R. Siebner

Group Leader

Henrik Lundell

Vanessa Wiggermann

Mads Alexander Just Madsen

Show all group members (14)

External Collaborators

Consultant Anne-Mette Leffers

Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark


Consultant Camilla Gøbel Madsen

Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark


Professor Per Soelberg Sørensen, Professor Finn Sellebjerg, Morten Blinkenberg

and other physicians from the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Centre, Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark.


Kathrine S. Madsen,

Faculty of Health and Technology, Metrolitan University College


Associate Professor Morten Mørup

Cognitive Systems, DTU Compute, Technical University of Denmark


Jesper Bencke

Gait Laboratory, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark


Associate Professor Itamar Ronen

Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands


Professor Christian Dettmers

Kliniken Schmieder, Konstanz, Germany