Postdoctoral Researcher

Job Title: Postdoctoral Researcher

Grade: 18

Salary: $66,227-$75,827

The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene is seeking a qualified candidate to fill a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher position. The Anacker lab at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) is looking for a highly motivated, independent full-time postdoctoral researcher to use in vivo brain imaging techniques in rodent models to investigate neural circuits underlying vulnerability and resilience to stress. The postdoctoral researcher will use mouse models of social stress and early life adversity in combination with circuit tracing techniques, optogenetic and chemogenetic (DREADDs) techniques to inhibit or activate defined neural projections, in vivo Ca2+ imaging of neural activity and biosensors to visualize neurotransmitter changes in defined brain regions in freely moving mice during fear generalization and cognitive flexibility tasks.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Daily tasks and responsibilities include:

• Stereotaxic surgeries for virus injection and fiber implantation into the mouse brain, mouse behavioral experiments using behavioral tasks of fear generalization and cognitive flexibility, optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulation of neural circuits in freely moving mice, in vivo Ca2+ imaging of neural activity and neurotransmitter release in the mouse brain during behavior tasks, transgenic moue colony maintenance and genotyping, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent microscopy.
• Independently conduct these daily tasks and use advanced data analysis tools in MATLAB or Python to analyze in vivo imaging data.
• Contribute to project development from conceptual framing of the project to conducting the required experiments, analyzing data, presenting the scientific findings at conferences and publishing the findings in a scientific journal.
• Specific skills required for these tasks include a high level of motivation and organization, experience with rodent behavior tasks and stereotaxic surgeries for virus injections and/or fiber implantations into the mouse brain, and analytic skills using basic statistical software (SPSS, R, GraphPad) and knowledge of MATLAB or Python.
• The researcher will be embedded in a highly collegial and collaborative environment in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI).

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in neuroscience or related field
• At least (2) or more years of experience working with rodents

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with rodent stereotactic brain surgery for virus injection and/or implantation surgeries
• More than (1) year of experience using either optogenetic or in vivo imaging techniques in rodent brain
• Basic skills in using MATLAB or Python for data analysis of in vivo imaging data
• Basic skills in R to analyze RNA sequencing data

Work Location: 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032

To Apply: Submit an application through our website at https://rfmh.applicantpro.com/jobs/. Please note only applications submitted through our website will be considered.

The Mission of the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. (RFMH) is to promote the mental health of all New Yorkers, with a focus on providing hope and supporting recovery for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. Applicants with lived mental health experience are encouraged to apply. RFMH is deeply committed to supporting underserved individuals, organizations, and communities. To this end, RFMH is focused on implementing activities and initiatives to reduce disparities in access, quality, and treatment outcomes for underserved populations. A critical component of these efforts is ensuring that RFMH is a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees' unique attributes and skills are valued and utilized to support the mission of the Agency. RFMH is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

The Research Foundation is a private not-for-profit corporation and is not an agency or instrumentality of the State of New York. Employees of the Research Foundation are not state employees, do not participate in any state retirement system, and do not receive state fringe benefits. Excellent Benefits Package. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer - Disabled/Veteran, 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) compliant.