Cognition Neuroscientist Multiregional Rodent Electrophysiology

Astera Institute; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Astera Neuro seeks an experimental neuroscientist to join its rodent neuroscience team and use large-scale neural recordings to investigate how the brain builds and uses an internal model of the world. You will help define the cognitive processes and behavioral paradigms for mice.

You will use high-density electrophysiology to reveal information representation across brain areas and test causal mechanisms with precise optical perturbation.

Qualifications

• PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or related field (or equivalent research experience).
• Hands-on mouse survival surgery and chronic cranial window experience.
• In vivo extracellular electrophysiology in awake, behaving rodents with Neuropixels.
• Proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB for neural-data analysis (Kilosort, SpikeGLX).
• Experience training head-fixed rodents on behavioral tasks.

Responsibilities

• Define cognitive processes and design head-fixed behavioral paradigms.
• Record neural activity across brain areas using Neuropixels during behavior.
• Combine electrophysiology with optical perturbation (two-photon imaging, holographic methods).
• Lead computational analysis of large-scale neural data.
• Mentor staff and contribute to hiring and lab culture.
• Contribute to publications and open data/tooling.

Skills

Python

MATLAB

Data analysis

Mentoring

Education

PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or related field

Equivalent research experience

Tools

Kilosort

SpikeGLX

Neuropixels

Two-photon imaging

Calcium imaging (GCaMP)

Optogenetics (ChRmine)

Job description

Astera Neuro seeks an experimental neuroscientist to join its rodent neuroscience team and use large-scale neural recordings to investigate how the brain builds and uses an internal model of the world. You will help define the cognitive processes and behavioral paradigms for mice.

You will use high-density electrophysiology to reveal information representation across brain areas and test causal mechanisms with precise optical perturbation.