[EXPIRED] Postdoc in Brain-Circuit Conduction Velocity Mapping

Are you curious to understand how fast brain regions communicate with each other and how the speed of communication is degraded by brain diseases and impact brain function? Do you wish to unravel how brain diseases affect the brain's microstructure, in particular how brain diseases alter myelinated axons and their electrophysical functional properties? Are you eager to work in a dynamic multi-disciplinary research environment with a focus on structural brain imaging? If yes, you should send us your application.

The Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) at Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre (Denmark) is seeking a 3-year postdoc in brain circuit conduction velocity mapping. The postdoc position is supported by the European Research Council consolidator grant "CoM-BraiN" – Conduction velocity mapping in the brain network in health and disease - where the aim is to use an MRI scanner to non-invasively map the conduction velocity of neuronal transmissions in the brain network between brain regions.

Your tasks:

To establish translational animal models (rodents) of neurodegenerative and demyelination diseases mimicking those in humans
To use optogenetic techniques to ablate and stimulate specific neuronal populations in the brain network and investigate how the manipulation impacts brain function.
To measure and analyze the functional readout of brain stimulations using electrophysiology.
To image the microstructural neuronal changes in the animal models with a focus on MRI to obtain 3D insights into anatomy. Our group integrates MRI with classical EM and immunohistochemistry but also 3D imaging techniques such as x-ray synchrotron imaging, and light-sheet fluorescence microscopy.
To be a fully integrated member of a cross-disciplinary research team and expand your knowledge and curiosity contributing to other scientific projects - still centered around your research topic of interest.

Your profile:

You should be a motivated international-minded team player and have:

A PhD degree in Neuroscience or corresponding qualifications within circuit or degeneration neuroscience
Worked with animals and have established/used animal models.
Documented practical skills in animal handling, stereotaxic surgeries, and anesthesia.
Worked with tissue preparation for IHC and microscopic imaging used in your scientific publications.
Interest in combining different imaging and functional measurements, e.g. histology and MRI to increase the scientific impact of your project. Here you will use the expertise of your group members.
Fluency in English writing and scientific communication
Independent working and thinking but also integrating with and contributing to the research team.
Furthermore, having worked with viral injections and/or single-cell or LFP electrophysiological recordings is an advantage.

About us:

The project will be carried out at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) which is a leading research centre for biomedical MRI in Europe (www.drcmr.dk). Our mission is to triangulate MR physics and basic physiology from preclinical to clinical research. Approximately 75 researchers from a diverse range of disciplines are currently pursuing basic and clinically applied MR research and its validation with a focus on structural, functional, and metabolic MRI of the human brain and its disorders. The DRCMR is embedded in the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, a large diagnostic imaging department that houses all biomedical imaging modalities at the Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre. The hospital has strong collaborative links with the Technical University of Denmark and is part of the newly established organisational framework, The Technical University Hospital of Greater Copenhagen (TUH).

The DRCMR has a state-of-the-art MR research infrastructure enabling translational research, which includes a pre-clinical 7T Bruker MR scanner, and six whole-body MR scanners (one 7T, four 3T, and one 1.5T scanners). The DRCMR has pre-clinical labs, a neuropsychology laboratory, an EEG laboratory, and two laboratories for non-invasive brain stimulation.

Our preclinical labs perform basic research in functional, microstructure, and plasticity imaging centred around the 7T Bruker BioSpec MRI system. The preclinical labs include a GMO2-classified virus lab fully equipped with stereotaxic surgery equipment, and electrophysiology facilities. Our cross-disciplinary research team is designing and validating new types of diffusion MRI and quantitative MRI imaging technologies for non-invasively disentangling the microstructure of brain networks and their function. Here, it is key to have a true interest in how the microanatomy and saltatory conduction velocity are related in the normal, and how it impacts brain function in the diseased brain. Our vision is translating our research to clinics to improve future non-invasive imaging technologies for better patient diagnosis.

We see diversity as a strength and encourage all persons regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, disabilities, or religion to apply.

Selected Publications

Webb JL, Troise L, Hansen NW, Olsson C, Wojciechowski AM, Achard J, Brinza O, Staacke R, Kieschnick M, Meijer J, Thielscher A, Perrier J-F, Berg-Sørensen K, Huck A, Andersen UL. 2021. Detection of biological signals from a live mammalian muscle using an early stage diamond quantum sensor. Scientific Reports. 11(1):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81828-x

von Conta J, Kasten FH, Ćurčić-Blake B, Aleman A, Thielscher A, Herrmann CS. 2021. Interindividual variability of electric fields during transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS). Scientific Reports. 11(1):1-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99749-0

Splittgerber M, Borzikowsky C, Salvador R, Puonti O, Papadimitriou K, Merschformann C, Biagi MC, Stenner T, Brauer H, Breitling-Ziegler C, Prehn-Kristensen A, Krauel K, Ruffini G, Pedersen A, Nees F, Thielscher A, Dempfle A, Siniatchkin M, Moliadze V. 2021. Multichannel anodal tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in a paediatric population. Scientific Reports. 11(1):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00933-z

Shirinpour S, Mantell K, Li X, Puonti O, Madsen K, Haigh Z, Casillo EC, Alekseichuk I, Hendrickson T, Xu T. 2021. New tools for computational modeling of non-invasive brain stimulation in SimNIBS. Brain Stimulation: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation. 14(6):1644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.10.180

Saturnino GB, Madsen KH, Thielscher A. 2021. Optimizing the electric field strength in multiple targets for multichannel transcranial electric stimulation. Journal of Neural Engineering. 18(1): Article 014001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/abca15

Numssen O, Zier A-L, Thielscher A, Hartwigsen G, Knösche TR, Weise K. 2021. Efficient high-resolution TMS mapping of the human motor cortex by nonlinear regression. NeuroImage. 245:1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118654

Montanaro H, Pasquinelli C, Lee HJ, Kim H, Siebner HR, Kuster N, Thielscher A, Neufeld E. 2021. The impact of CT image parameters and skull heterogeneity modeling on the accuracy of transcranial focused ultrasound simulations. Journal of Neural Engineering. 18(4):1-28. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/abf68d

Mezger E, Rauchmann B-S, Brunoni AR, Bulubas L, Thielscher A, Werle J, Mortazavi M, Karali T, Stöcklein S, Ertl-Wagner B, Goerigk S, Padberg F, Keeser D. 2021. Effects of bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on brain glutamate levels and resting state connectivity: multimodal MRI data for the cathodal stimulation site. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. 271(1):111-122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-020-01177-0

Karadas M, Olsson C, Winther Hansen N, Perrier J-F, Webb JL, Huck A, Andersen UL, Thielscher A. 2021. In-vitro Recordings of Neural Magnetic Activity From the Auditory Brainstem Using Color Centers in Diamond: A Simulation Study. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 15:1-17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.643614

Gregersen F, Göksu C, Schaefers G, Xue R, Thielscher A, Hanson LG. 2021. Safety Evaluation of a New Setup for Transcranial Electric Stimulation during Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Brain Stimulation. 14(3):488-497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.02.019

Göksu C, Scheffler K, Gregersen F, Eroğlu HH, Heule R, Siebner HR, Hanson LG, Thielscher A. 2021. Sensitivity and resolution improvement for in vivo magnetic resonance current-density imaging of the human brain. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 86(6):3131-3146. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28944

Eroğlu HH, Puonti O, Göksu C, Gregersen F, Siebner HR, Hanson LG, Thielscher A. 2021. On the reconstruction of magnetic resonance current density images of the human brain: Pitfalls and perspectives. NeuroImage. 243:1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118517

Dubbioso R, Madsen KH, Thielscher A, Siebner HR. 2021. The myelin content of the human precentral hand knob reflects interindividual differences in manual motor control at the physiological and behavioral level. The Journal of Neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 41(14):3163-3179. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0390-20.2021

Antonenko D, Grittner U, Puonti O, Flöel A, Thielscher A. 2021. Estimation of individually induced e-field strength during transcranial electric stimulation using the head circumference. Brain Stimulation. 14(5):1055-1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.07.001

Antonenko D, Grittner U, Saturnino G, Nierhaus T, Thielscher A, Flöel A. 2021. Inter-individual and age-dependent variability in simulated electric fields induced by conventional transcranial electrical stimulation. NeuroImage. 224:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117413

Weise K, Numssen O, Thielscher A, Hartwigsen G, Knösche TR. 2020. A novel approach to localize cortical TMS effects. NeuroImage. 209:1-17. Available from: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116486

Puonti O, Van Leemput K, Saturnino GB, Siebner HR, Madsen KH, Thielscher A. 2020. Accurate and robust whole-head segmentation from magnetic resonance images for individualized head modeling. NeuroImage. 219:1-17. Available from: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117044

Puonti O, Saturnino GB, Madsen KH, Thielscher A. 2020. Value and limitations of intracranial recordings for validating electric field modeling for transcranial brain stimulation. NeuroImage. 208:1-14. Available from: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116431

Pasquinelli C, Montanaro H, Lee HJ, Hanson LG, Kim H, Kuster N, Siebner HR, Neufeld E, Thielscher A. 2020. Transducer modeling for accurate acoustic simulations of transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation. Journal of Neural Engineering. 17(4):1-22. Available from: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab98dc

Habich A, Fehér KD, Antonenko D, Boraxbekk C-J, Flöel A, Nissen C, Siebner HR, Thielscher A, Klöppel S. 2020. Stimulating aged brains with transcranial direct current stimulation: Opportunities and challenges: Opportunities and challenges. Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging. 306:1-9. Available from: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111179

Boayue NM, Csifcsák G, Aslaksen P, Turi Z, Antal A, Groot J, Hawkins GE, Forstmann B, Opitz A, Thielscher A, Mittner M. 2020. Increasing propensity to mind-wander by transcranial direct current stimulation? A registered report. European Journal of Neuroscience. 51(3):755-780. Available from: 10.1111/ejn.14347

Bikson M, Hanlon CA, Woods AJ, Gillick BT, Charvet L, Lamm C, Madeo G, Holczer A, Almeida J, Antal A, Ay MR, Baeken C, Blumberger DM, Campanella S, Camprodon J, Christiansen L, Colleen L, Crinion J, Fitzgerald P, Gallimberti L, Ghobadi-Azbari P, Ghodratitoostani I, Grabner R, Hartwigsen G, Hirata A, Kirton A, Knotkova H, Krupitsky E, Marangolo P, Nakamura-Palacios EM, Potok W, Praharaj SK, Ruff CC, Schlaug G, Siebner HR, Stagg CJ, Thielscher A, Wenderoth N, Yuan T-F, Zhang X, Ekhtiari H. 2020. Guidelines for TMS/tES Clinical Services and Research through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Brain Stimulation. 13(4):1124-1149. Available from: 10.1016/j.brs.2020.05.010

Saturnino GB, Siebner HR, Thielscher A, Madsen KH Accessibility of cortical regions to focal TES: Dependence on spatial position, safety, and practical constraints. Neuroimage. 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116183

Saturnino GB, Madsen KH, Thielscher A Electric field simulations for transcranial brain stimulation using FEM: an efficient implementation and error analysis. J Neural Eng. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab41ba, 2019

Pasquinelli C, Hanson LG, Siebner HR, Lee HJ, Thielscher A Safety of transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation: A systematic review of the state of knowledge from both human and animal studies Brain Stimul. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2019.07.024, 2019

Korshøj AR, Sørensen JCH, von Oettingen G, Poulsen FR, Thielscher A Optimization of tumor treating fields using singular value decomposition and minimization of field anisotropy. Phys Med Biol. 64(4):04NT03. 2019

Saturnino GB, Thielscher A, Madsen KH, Knösche TR, Weise K. A principled approach to conductivity uncertainty analysis in electric field calculations. Neuroimage. 188:821-834, 2019

Karadas M, Wojciechowski AM, Huck A, Dalby NO, Andersen UL, Thielscher A. Feasibility and resolution limits of opto-magnetic imaging of neural network activity in brain slices using color centers in diamond. Sci Rep. 8(1):4503, 2018.

Nielsen JD, Madsen KH, Puonti O, Siebner HR, Bauer C, Madsen CG, Saturnino GB, Thielscher A Automatic skull segmentation from MR images for realistic volume conductor models of the head: Assessment of the state-of-the-art. Neuroimage. 174:587-598, 2018.

Göksu, C., Hanson, L. G., Siebner, H. R., Ehses, P., Scheffler, K. & Thielscher, A. Human in-vivo brain magnetic resonance current density imaging (MRCDI). NeuroImage. 171, p. 26-39, 2018.

Göksu C, Scheffler K, Ehses P, Hanson L.G, Thielscher A. Sensitivity Analysis of Magnetic Field Measurements for Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT), Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 79, p. 748-760, 2018.

Bungert, A., Antunes, A., Espenhahn, S. & Thielscher, A. Where does TMS Stimulate the Motor Cortex? Combining Electrophysiological Measurements and Realistic Field Estimates to Reveal the Affected Cortex Position. Cerebral cortex, 27(11):5083-5094, 2017.

Minjoli, S., Saturnino, G. B., Blicher, J. U., Stagg, C. J., Siebner, H. R., Antunes, A. & Thielscher, A. The impact of large structural brain changes in chronic stroke patients on the electric field caused by transcranial brain stimulation. NeuroImage. Clinical. 15, p. 106-117, 2017.

Saturnino, G. B., Madsen, K. H., Siebner, H. R. & Thielscher, A. How to target inter-regional phase synchronization with dual-site Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation.
NeuroImage. 163, p. 68-80, 2017.

Madsen, K.H., Ewald, L., Siebner, H.R., Thielscher, A. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: An Automated Procedure to Obtain Coil-specific Models for Field Calculations. Brain Stimulation 8, 1205-1208, 2015

Saturnino, G.B., Antunes, A., Thielscher, A. On the importance of electrode parameters for shaping electric field patterns generated by tDCS. Neuroimage 120, 25-35, 2015.

Moisa, M., Siebner, H.R., Pohmann, R., Thielscher, A. Uncovering a context-specific connectional fingerprint of human dorsal premotor cortex. J Neurosci 32, 7244-7252, 2012.

Thielscher, A., Opitz, A., Windhoff, M. Impact of the gyral geometry on the electric field induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Neuroimage 54, 234-243, 2011