Research Associate, Rodent Surgery & Behavior

astera; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Astera Neuro in Alameda, CA is hiring a Research Associate to join the rodent neuroscience team. You will perform mouse survival surgeries including chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation, and run daily behavior training on a sequence working-memory task.

You will maintain rigs, coordinate animal sourcing and vivarium readiness, and document surgeries and training histories to enable scalable, open science.

Qualifications

• BS or BA in neuroscience, biology, bioengineering, or related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Hands-on experience performing mouse survival surgery: chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation, plus stereotaxic injections.
• Track record of high surgical yield and healthy window preparations.
• Meticulous, fast hands with ability to sustain high-quality work at volume.

Responsibilities

• Perform mouse survival surgeries: chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation.
• Run head-fixed behavior training on sequence working-memory tasks, including data collection and daily training.
• Build and maintain behavior rigs, including Bonsai and Harp control and lickport hardware.
• Coordinate mouse colony sourcing, health, and vivarium readiness.
• Keep shared records of surgeries and training histories for reproducibility.
• Collaborate with scientists to keep preparation, imaging, and perturbation tightly coupled.

Skills

Neuroscience basics

Surgical precision

Behavior training

Education

Bachelor's degree (BS/BA)

Tools

Python

Bonsai

Harp

Stereotaxic equipment

Job description

Company Overview

Astera Neuro, part of the Astera Institute, is building the tools to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes behind perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. Since these tools don't yet exist, we're assembling a founding team of neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them (hardware, software, and methods) and use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct relevance to neurological and psychiatric disease. We do high-risk, high-reward science in a well-resourced, collaborative environment with competitive pay, and share our work openly under Astera's Open Science Policy.

Position Summary

We’re hiring a research associate to join Astera Neuro’s rodent neuroscience team. Your initial assignment is to run the surgery and behavior training that prepare animals for an all-optical program: reading, writing, and perturbing working memory in the mouse cortex. Chronic cranial-window and headbar implants are the core of the job from day one.

The ideal candidate is meticulous and fast with their hands, with experience performing cranial-window surgeries. You can implant a window in the morning, run a behavior-training session in the afternoon, and keep the colony and the rigs in order. A clear, long-lived window is what makes a write-in experiment possible, so surgical yield and preparation quality set the ceiling on what the team can attempt.

What You’ll Do

• Perform mouse survival surgeries: stereotaxic AAV viral-vector delivery, chronic cranial-window implantation, and headbar installation.
• Run head-fixed behavior training on the sequence working-memory task, including daily training, data collection, and rig upkeep.
• Build and maintain behavior rigs, including Bonsai and Harp control and lickport hardware.
• Run the mouse colony and coordinate animal sourcing, health, and readiness with the vivarium.
• Keep careful, shared records of surgeries, training histories, and preparation quality so others can build on the work.
• Work closely with the scientists running the all-optical experiments to keep preparation, imaging, and perturbation tightly coupled.

Who You Are

Required

• BS or BA with 0-6+ years of experience in neuroscience, biology, bioengineering, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.
• Current, hands-on experience performing mouse survival surgery: chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation, plus stereotaxic viral injections. This is the requirement that matters most: these are hard skills to learn, and we need them on day one.
• A track record of high surgical yield and healthy, long-lived window preparations.
• Meticulous, fast hands, and the ability to sustain high-quality work at volume.

Preferred/Nice to Have

• Head-fixed behavior-training experience, ideally with working-memory or sequence tasks.
• Scripting in Python and familiarity with Bonsai and Harp or comparable behavior-control tools.
• Experience building and maintaining behavior rigs, including lickport and other custom hardware.
• Experience with two-photon imaging or optogenetic stimulation in awake mice.
• Colony management experience and comfort coordinating with vivarium staff.

What We Value

• Conviction that the brain’s internal model can be understood in full, and that getting there requires a kind of science no single academic lab can do; we’re betting on scale, deep collaboration, and open sharing of ideas in a full-stack environment.
• Willingness to be held to an engineering standard. In this role that standard lands on the preparation: we treat surgical yield and window quality as scientific results, not support work.
• Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects; rigs, surgical preparations, and records are standardized so they can be shared across the team.
• Care for the animals: healthy, well-handled, calm mice, supported by dedicated veterinary oversight, are the foundation of both the science and its credibility, independent of what regulation requires.
• Commitment to open science. We release tools, data, and methods, and aim to create a new dynamic of rapid, open exchange in neuroscience.

Why Join Us

Research Associate at Astera Neuro preparing animals for an all-optical program to read, write, and perturb working memory in mouse cortex. You will perform the surgeries the program depends on, run behavior training, and keep the colony and rigs in order. This work sits within Astera Neuro’s larger effort to answer the hardest and least understood questions in neuroscience: how the brain generates thoughts, intelligence, and consciousness.

Astera Neuro provides a comprehensive benefits package and total compensation that is competitive and commensurate with the level of experience and qualifications.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion!