postdoc position

[Mark Laubach]

  POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN SYSTEMS NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

In the laboratory of
Mark Laubach, Ph.D.
Assistant Fellow, J.B. Pierce Laboratory
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Neurobiology
Yale School of Medicine

A postdoctoral position is available immediately in the lab of Mark 
Laubach at the John B. Pierce Laboratory. The focus of the laboratory is 
to understand how ensembles of neurons work together to represent 
behaviorally relevant information and how representations of animal 
behavior are altered in relation to experience. There are three 
experimental themes of the lab. First, we are examining how tactile and 
olfactory stimuli are encoded at various levels of the nervous system. 
Second, we are investigating how representations of stimuli that control 
behavior are altered by sensorimotor and discrimination learning. 
Finally, we are beginning to study how sensorimotor capabilities are 
altered by aging.

A major component of this research involves the use of multielectrode 
recording methods to record simultaneously from groups of neurons in 
multiple brain areas in awake, behaving animals. The lab is a 
state-of-the-art facility for carrying out neuronal ensemble recording 
experiments and for performing quantitative analysis of neuronal 
ensemble data.  We are active in improving methods for neuronal ensemble 
recording through several collaborative projects, both locally at Yale 
and elsewhere. A major goal is to carry out spike sorting and spike 
train analyses on-line and in real experimental time using modern 
methods for signal processing, statistical pattern recognition, and 
parallel, real-time computing. Finally, we are engaged in some 
computational studies to better understand potential network properties 
that may give rise to the patterns of neuronal ensemble activity that 
can be used to predict an animal's behavior at a given instant in time.

Interested candidates should send a vita, a summary of research 
experience, and the names of three individuals who can write letters of 
recommendation to:

Mark Laubach, Ph.D.
The John B. Pierce Laboratory
Yale School of Medicine
290 Congress Ave
New Haven CT 06519

laubach at jbpierce.org
http://www.jbpierce.org/staff/laubach.html