Postdoctoral Scientist: VR-Driven Neural Circuits

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 63,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Mentorship

Conference funding

On-site childcare

Gym access

On-site housing

Shuttle service

Job summary

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scientist in the Schulze Lab at Janelia Research Campus (Ashburn, VA). The role spans systems neuroscience, computer-vision, pose-tracking, behavioral ML, and VR technologies to study social behavior and brain–behavior maps.

You will integrate hardware/software with computational pipelines, design VR paradigms, and collaborate across the lab to explore individuality, sex differences, and stress effects on group

Qualifications

• PhD in neuroscience, computer science, engineering, or closely related field.
• Hybrid background bridging software-hardware integration and ML with systems neuroscience.
• Demonstrated experience building or working with complex rigs, such as VR systems for behavioral neuroscience.
• Ability to perform highly complex experiments with reliability and accuracy.
• Genuine interest in neural basis of inter-individual differences in social contexts.

Responsibilities

• Design VR systems and paradigms to present naturalistic, socially rich stimuli.
• Write software to integrate ML-based approaches for multi-animal studies.
• Develop experiments investigating neural circuits of social behavior.
• Analyze multivariate whole-brain activity and behavioral data with computational methods.
• Prepare technical reports and maintain familiarity with current literature.

Skills

Neuroscience

Machine learning

VR systems

Hardware integration

Data analysis

Education

PhD in Neuroscience

PhD in Computer Science

Tools

Unity

Two-photon imaging

Python

C++

Job description

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scientist in the Schulze Lab at Janelia Research Campus (Ashburn, VA). The role spans systems neuroscience, computer-vision, pose-tracking, behavioral ML, and VR technologies to study social behavior and brain–behavior maps.

You will integrate hardware/software with computational pipelines, design VR paradigms, and collaborate across the lab to explore individuality, sex differences, and stress effects on group