[visionlist] Ph.D. position - multi-electrode array recordings - The effect of horizontal cells on the retinal output signal

[Martin Greschner]

The Visual Neuroscience group at the University of Oldenburg is offering a

Ph.D. position (TV-L E13 65%)

in the German Research Foundation funded Research Training Group 1885 Molecular Basis of Sensory Biology. The position starts on Oct 01 2019 and is funded for 3 years.

The overall goal of our research is to understand how visual signals are transmitted from the retina to the brain. We study how populations of neurons encode information using large-scale multi-electrode arrays, which are able to record the responses of a few thousand neurons of various cell types simultaneously for several hours. For more information please visit www.uni-oldenburg.de/en/retina/research/<http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/en/retina/research/>.

A fundamental problem common to all sensory systems is how to represent the large natural range of stimulus amplitudes within the limited operating range of a sensory neuron. In vision, the light intensities vary by many orders of magnitude across a day, but adaptation is also necessary on much smaller spatio-temporal scales. Within a visual scene, light levels vary from shadows to highlights up to three orders of magnitude while eye movements rapidly shift the scene across the retina. Already at the photoreceptor synapse, horizontal cells control the gain of the light signal. Photoreceptors excite horizontal cells that in turn provide feedback inhibition to photoreceptors and feedforward signals to bipolar cells. However, the role of horizontal cells in the processing of abrupt light intensity changes across varying spatial scales remains unclear. We will use large-scale multi-electrode recordings from mouse lines deficient in key proteins of horizontal cell signaling to study their effects on the retinal output signals. We will complement these studies with behavioral tests of these mouse lines to estimate their visual sensitivity.

We seek a highly motivated PhD student with an academic university degree (Master) in Biology, Physics or related fields. Applicants should have good computing skills, experience and training in neuroscience and a strong interest in vision research. Electrophysiological experience is an advantage. Good English language skills are expected.

The RTG Molecular basis of Sensory Biology and the University of Oldenburg are aware of the power of diversity. In order to increase the percentage of female faculty and staff members, female candidates with equal qualification will be given preference. Applicants with disabilities will be preferentially considered in case of equal qualification.

Your application should include a letter of motivation, a detailed CV, a publication list, at least two personal references (incl. phone numbers), university and high school certificates. Please send your application as a single pdf-file to Dr. Kristin Tietje (sensorybio at uol.de<mailto:sensorybio at uol.de>) referring to the title ‘The effect of horizontal cells on the retinal output signal’. All applications received before the 15th of April 2019 will be considered. We will start looking at the applications after the deadline (15th of April) and will consider further applications until the position is filled.
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