Postdoctoral Associates -- Adaptation of internal motor copy circuits in spinal cord injury recovery
- Employer
- The Spence Lab
- Location
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Salary
- Commensurate with current NIH postdoc pay scales
- Closing date
- Nov 27, 2020
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- Sector
- Graduate School or University, Hospital, Independent Research Institute, Medical, Veterinary or Dental School, Undergraduate College
- Job Function
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Research Area
- Neurodegenerative Disorders & Injury
- Position Type
- Full Time
- Level
- Any Experience Level Considered
Job Details
Two postdoctorate fellowship positions are available to join an exciting new collaborative research effort of the Smith and Spence labs, starting September 1st, 2020. Funded by the NIH, the work will seek to determine whether a neuronal pathway that is normally associated with an error correction motor control function undergoes rehabilitative adaptation after spinal cord injury to compensate for loss of function in the cortico-spinal tract (CST). Experience in neuroscience broadly defined is required, with recovery surgery in rodents, behavioral analysis, viral genetic tracing tools, and spinal cord circuitry beneficial. Experience in gathering and analyzing kinematic data is also desirable. Please contact george.smith@temple.edu or aspence@temple.edu. The Smith and Spence labs currently form a vibrant group with a longstanding collaboration, multiple phd students, technicians, a postdoctorate fellow, and a host of undergraduate scholars, in the great city of Philadelphia, with strong ties to the Temple Medical School and to the group of Prof. Michel Lemay within Bioengineering.
Company
As a group we are interested in the neuromechanical basis of locomotion. Evolution has produced animals (including humans) with breath-taking abilities. Legged animals gallop, climb, and jump through complex, uncertain environments. We are challenged with discovering the mechanisms by which legged systems achieve these feats. If we can discover the general principles of how biological systems move, then we can advance both biology and medicine, whilst inspiring new technology. In recent years, we have an additional new focus on applied work, using genetic tools to aid in neuromuscular injuries and disorders. In ongoing work we are using chemogenetics tools (DREADDs) to modulate afferent feedback, hoping to improve recovery from spinal cord injury, and discover how treatments like epidural electrical stimulation (EES) work. This work is in collaboration with Profs. Michel Lemay in BioE and George Smith at Temple Neuroscience. We take an integrative approach. In the words of Karl Popper, we are students of problems, not disciplines. There is no reason to think the best tools to solve a given problem will come from within one discipline. Further, we strive to integrate across length scales to give more accurate understanding, and to tightly integrate theory and experiment.
- Website
- http://www.spencelab.com/
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