Post-Doctoral Associates in the Center for Brain and Health (CBH) - Dr. Bas Rokers

European Commission; United Arab Emirates; On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious research university in the United Arab Emirates is seeking Post-Doctoral Associates to work on projects related to visual disorders and health predictions using advanced imaging techniques. Candidates must possess strong expertise in sensory neuroscience and relevant imaging methodologies. The positions are well-funded with competitive employment terms, including housing and educational subsidies for children. Applications are open until positions are filled.

Benefits

Housing subsidy

Educational subsidies for children

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of sensory neuroscience.
• Experience in leading imaging studies.
• Proven research publications in international journals.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research in sensory neuroscience focusing on visual disorders.
• Collaborate on multimodal imaging studies.
• Assist in developing and validating phenotypic fingerprint methods.

Skills

Sensory neuroscience

Imaging methodologies (OCT-A, structural MRI, fMRI, dMRI, ASL)

Research collaboration

Education

PhD in neuroscience or related field

Tools

OCT-A

fMRI

dMRI

Job description

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Organisation/Company NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ABU DHABI Research Field Medical sciences Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Established Researcher (R3) Country United Arab Emirates Application Deadline 30 Aug 2025 - 00:00 (UTC) Type of Contract Permanent Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Description

The CenterforBrain and Healthand the ASPIRE Precision Medicine Research Instituteat New York University Abu Dhabi(NYUAD)seek torecruit Post-Doctoral Associates for two projects for Rokers Vision Lab reporting to Dr.Bas Rokers.

1)Linking Retinal, Neural, and Perceptual Deficits inVisual Disorder:

Individuals in the UAEare at substantial risk for perceptual deficits due in part toone of the highest diabetes rates in the world. About 10% of diabetic patients suffer severevisionloss and another 2% are completely blind 15 years post-diagnosis.Thus, understanding precisely how diabetes leads to visual deficits is a question withkey regional relevance.

Importantly, diabeticvisionloss is not fully explained by retinal damage alone. Instead it is likely thatmicrostructural damage in the brain as well as the eyecontribute. Since early risk prediction and timely intervention can mitigatevisionloss, it is critical that we fully understand the underlying cause(s).This project aims toidentify biomarkers in the eye and brain that explainvisionloss, building on our previously-developed method linking clinical, neural and behavioral data (Allen et al., 2018; Miller et al., 2019; Pedersini et al., 2023). We combine ophthalmological,neuroimagingand behavioral data, and incorporate deep learning methods to facilitate biomarker discovery and enhance predictive power.As a postdoctoral associate you will join a multidisciplinaryresearch teamincludingexpertsat NYUAD and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabiwith a demonstrated track recordinvisionscience, neuro-imaging, neuro-ophthalmology and deep learning.

2)Using Advanced Imaging-derived Biomarkers to Predict Health Outcomes:

Neurological problems, such as stroke, are a likely consequence of obesity, diabetes, MS, and cardiovascular disease. Since these conditions are prevalent in the UAE,identifying the factors that predict and mitigate the risk of stroke early is critical to local health. To this end, NYUAD recently initiated the first large epidemiological study in the UAE – the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAE-HFS), a prospective cohort study of 20,000 UAE nationals aged 18- 40 years which seeks to determine how health is affected by lifestyle, environment, and genes. While these risk factors will be important in understanding long-term health, it is not yet clear how physiological data, such as neuro-imaging can advance our understanding of health outcomes.

This project seeks to address thiscritical gapin our knowledge. A key limitation of previous work has been a focus on individual imaging modalities (e.g., fMRI, diffusion imaging) at the exclusion of combining information across modalities. Ourlong-term objectiveis to develop a “phenotypic fingerprint” from multimodal imaging data in healthy controls to be used as an early predictor of adverse neurologic events. Theoverarching aimof this project, which represents the first step in this objective, seeks to develop and validate this pipeline.

Ourapproachis to recruit healthy control subjects and patients through collaborations with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabito develop and test the “phenotypic fingerprint” method. This approach is inspired by large ongoing studies including the UK Biobank and the Human Connectome Project, but with a focus on the local population, which present a unique genetic makeup, and regionally-relevant disorders.As a postdoctoral associate you will join amultidisciplinaryresearch teamwithexpertise inneuro-imaging (Rokers,Abdullah)andexperience applying multimodal imaging to health-related issues and public health (Ali, Cho).

Job Requirements:

Required expertise includes strong knowledge ofsensoryneuroscience and expertise in at least one of the imaging methodologies involved in the project (OCT-A, structural MRI,fMRI,dMRI, ASL). For a competitive application at thepost-doctoral level, candidates should demonstrate experience in leadingimaging studies, as shown by publications in international scientificjournals. The successful candidates will work in a multidisciplinary Centerenvironment with world-class research infrastructure, consisting ofPhD-level scientists, graduateand undergraduate students.

The positions are funded for two years with the possibility of renewal.

The terms of employment are extremely competitive and include housing andeducational subsidies for children. Applications will be acceptedimmediately and candidates will be considered until the positions are filled.For formal consideration, applicants should submit a cover letter,curriculum vitae, statement of research interests, expected date ofavailability, andcontact information forat least 2 letters of recommendation all in PDF format, via Interfolio.

Questions regarding specifics for this position may be directed to Dr. Bas Rokers [e-mail]

About NYUAD

NYU Abu Dhabi is a degree-granting research university with a fully integrated liberal arts and science undergraduate program in the Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Engineering. NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU New York, and NYU Shanghai, form the backbone of NYU’s global network university, an interconnected network of portal campuses and academic centers across six continents that enable seamless international mobility of students and faculty in their pursuit of academic and scholarly activity. This global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. As a major intellectual hub at the crossroads of the Arab world, NYUAD serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, knowledge creation, and sharing, through its academic, research, and creative activities.

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