Postdoct Positions in Systems Neuroscience (M/F)

CNRS - National Center for Scientific Research; France; On-site; EUR 48,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

CNRS - Paris Brain Institute in France seeks a highly motivated researcher to develop experimental tools manipulating neuronal and vascular processes using optogenetics and electrophysiology. You will observe effects at the whole-brain level and help establish a new research team under the PI's guidance.

The role requires surgical expertise in rodent models, data analysis of multimodal datasets, and collaboration within the MOVIT Team. English proficiency is essential; French is not required.

Qualifications

• Requires at least one first-author publication or preprint in neurophysiology or neuroimaging.
• Experience with rodent neurophysiology, surgeries and behavioral tasks is essential.
• Strong programming skills in Matlab or Python and data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Develop experimental tools to manipulate neuronal and vascular processes with optogenetics and electrophysiology.
• Train in surgical techniques and perform in vivo experiments on rodents.
• Analyze multimodal data (behavior, electrophysiology, fUS imaging) and manage pipelines.
• Contribute to open-source projects and publish results with the team.

Skills

Teamwork

Autonomy

Communication

Organizational skills

Scientific curiosity

English proficiency

Education

PhD in neuroscience or related field

Tools

Matlab

Python

Job description

Organisation/Company CNRS Department Institut du Cerveau Research Field Neurosciences Biological sciences Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Application Deadline 10 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (UTC) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 1 Dec 2026 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

The mission of the candidate will be to develop the experimental tools to manipulate neuronal and vascular processes with optogenetics and learn electrophysiology and functional ultrasound imaging, to observe the effects of these manipulations at the whole brain scale. He/she will also contribute to develop the new research team and will work closely with the PI to validate the experimental designs, acquisition and analysis pipelines.

Experimental work:

• Surgical training for combined functional ultrasound and electrophysiology experiments
• Postoperative care, handling and well-being monitoring in rats and mice
• Acquisition of multimodal data in freely behaving rodents during behavioral tasks (contextual fear conditioning, T-maze)
• Design and validation of closed loop optogenetics stimulations on neural and vascular processes
• Collaborative work with team members and core facilities

Data analysis:

• Multimodal Data Analysis including behavior (Deeplabcut), electrophysiological data (sleep scoring, spike sorting) and fUSi data (image processing)
• Documentation, traceability, and archiving of analyses and experiments on open-source repositories (GitLab, Git, Wiki)
• Initiative and design in new analysis techniques, possibly involving neural networks.

Presentation and dissemination:

• Active involvement in team tasks and events
• Literature review and bibliography (journal club)
• Presentation in team meetings and international conferences
• Student/Intern mentoring, implication in hiring other team members
• Writing of scientific articles
• Grant writing (e. g. Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions)
• Contribution to open-source team projects and resource sharing

Host Institute: The Paris Brain Institute (CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U1127, Sorbonne Universite UM75) is a private foundation recognized as being of public interest, whose purpose is fundamental and clinical research on the nervous system. At a single location, 950 researchers, engineers, and physicians cover all disciplines of neurology, with the aim of accelerating discoveries about brain function and the development of treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, depression, paraplegia, tetraplegia, etc.

Host Team: The MOVIT Team (Movement, Investigation, Therapeutics), led by Pierre Pouget and Emmanuel Flamand-Roze aims to investigate various aspects of motor and cognitive control, particularly inter and intra-subject variability in developmental and acquired disorders and in genetically related animal models. Within the team, Dr Antoine Bergel is an ATIP-Avenir Emerging Group Leader, looking to establish his independent research group in the coming years. He pioneered the development of functional ultrasound imaging coupled to electrophysiology (fUS-ephys) in freely moving rats, mice and reptiles. His lab will investigate the physiology of sleep, in particular rapid-eye-movement sleep, in relation with emotional memory and brain clearance processes using interdisciplinary approaches to understand and manipulate neurovascular processes at the whole-brain scale.

Skills and Expertise:

• At least one first-author publication or preprint in neurophysiology or neuroimaging
• Experimental expertise in rodent neurophysiology (surgeries, behavioral tasks)
• Programming skills (Matlab or Python)
• Interdisciplinary background is a plus
• English proficiency (French is not required)
• Proven ability to write scientific articles, give oral presentations and conduct projects

Knowledge:

• Cognitive neuroscience and/or neurophysiology
• Basics in wave Physics (ultrasound, light, electromagnetism)
• Advanced Data analysis methods and Statistics
• Legal and ethical framework of animal experimentation

Personal qualities:

• Motivation and passion for neuroscience
• Autonomy and strong organizational skills
• Scientific curiosity
• Teamwork and communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Respect for ethical rules and regulatory obligations under the protocol