Research Scientist/Engineer, Deep Brain Two Photon Imaging and Optogenetics

Astera Institute; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Astera Neuro, part of the Astera Institute, seeks a PhD-level scientist/engineer to read, write, and perturb cognition in the primate brain at single-cell resolution. You will design implants, assist survival surgeries, and operate two-photon holographic optogenetics to causally manipulate working memory.

This all-optical program sits within a collaborative, open-science environment that values shared tooling, data, and methods, with competitive pay and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or related field or equivalent research experience.
• Hands-on rodent and/or primate survival surgery experience.
• Experience with in vivo two-photon imaging and holographic optogenetics.
• Proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB for neural-data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize optical implants and GRIN/microprism systems.
• Lead or assist survival surgeries and headbar installation.
• Perform two-photon imaging and holographic stimulation experiments.
• Develop population-analysis pipelines and apply dimensionality reduction.
• Contribute to publications and open data releases.

Skills

PhD-level

Two-photon imaging

Holographic optogenetics

Python

MATLAB

Stereotaxic surgery

Education

PhD

Tools

ZEMAX

CaImAn

Suite2p

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.

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 PhD-level scientist/engineer to join Astera Neuro's neuroscience team, working to read, write, and perturb the contents of cognition in the primate brain at single-cell resolution. Astera Neuro is Astera's initiative to decode how patterns of neural activity become the thoughts, perceptions, and memories of conscious experience. We work from the hypothesis that the brain uses a compositional architecture, and we aim to move neuroscience from observation to engineering by reading from and writing to neural circuits at scale. Your initial assignment is to develop and optimize an optical implant for high resolution two photon imaging and optogenetics deep in the brain. While parallel Astera efforts target surface structures with conventional cranial windows, many key structures for cognition sit in brain sulci, millimeters below the surface. You'll oversee the full toolkit development: optimizing the optics (GRIN lenses, microprisms, micro-objectives), the surgical implantation procedure, and integration with the two photon holographic microscope. The work spans optical engineering to systems and cognitive neuroscience. The ideal candidate is an experimentalist who can carry the work end-to-end: designing a GRIN lens system in the morning, running a closed-loop holographic write-in on the rig in the afternoon, and writing the population-analysis pipeline that evening. You want institutional support and the freedom to move fast on a problem that matters.

What You’ll Do

• Design and iterate GRIN lens and/or microprism assembly for deep brain imaging in the primate brain, with early optimization in rodents.
• Develop and help execute the surgical implantation procedure
• Run two-photon imaging and holographic photostimulation experiments: read population activity during the task, then write in and perturb the held representation at single-cell resolution.
• Run holographic targeting, power calibration, and closed-loop stimulation on the all-optical rig, working with our optics engineering team.
• Lead computational analysis of large-scale neural population data, including dimensionality reduction, population decoding, GLMs, and circuit-level inference.
• Set the viral and transgenic expression strategy, including soma-targeted opsin and GCaMP.
• Perform rodent survival surgery for the initial validation: stereotaxic viral injection, chronic cranial-window implantation, and headbar installation.
• Mentor research associates and technicians – and, at the senior or principal level, more junior scientists; contribute to hiring, onboarding, and lab culture.
• Contribute to publications, talks, open data and tooling releases, and engagement with the broader scientific community.

Who You Are

Required:

• PhD with 0-4 years of experience in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent research experience. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.
• Hands-on rodent and/or primate survival surgery experience; stereotaxic injections.
• Hands-on experience with in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and/or holographic (SLM-based) optogenetics in rodents or primates.
• Practical experience with two-photon systems: optical alignment, system characterization, and in vivo use.
• Proficiency in scientific computing for neural-data analysis; Python and/or MATLAB, with Suite2p, CaImAn, or comparable pipelines.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• ZEMAX modeling
• Experience with ultrafast pulsed lasers (Ti:Sapphire, fiber) and nonlinear optics.
• Two-photon optogenetics (SLM-based holography, temporal focusing, or spiral-scanning photostimulation); soma-targeted opsins such as ChRmine.
• Prior systems neuroscience research in cortex, working memory, decision-making, or motor/premotor circuits.

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 across science and engineering, and open sharing of ideas in a full-stack environment.
• Willingness to be held to an engineering standard: our decisive tests are write-in experiments; constructing a specific percept, thought, or internal state, not merely decoding one. What we cannot build, we do not understand.
• Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects; rigs, surgical preparations, and analysis pipelines are standardized so they can be shared, and datasets are designed to stitch across sessions and animals.
• 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 Scientist at Astera Neuro running an all-optical program to read, write, and perturb the content of working memory in the primate cortex at single-cell resolution. You will design the implants, help perform the survival surgeries it depends on, and run the two-photon holographic optogenetics that causally manipulates cognition. 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!

Compensation Range: $135K - $220K