Postdoctoral Fellow, Neurobiology of Hunger and Metabolism in Brad Lowell's Lab, BIDMC and HMS

Postdoctoral Fellow – Neurobiology of hunger, metabolism and related physiology

Laboratory:   Bradford B. Lowell MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. 

Topic:  Neural circuits and synaptic mechanisms underlying control of hunger/satiety, metabolism, neuroendocrine systems, and the gastrointestinal tract.

The Lowell lab seeks to identify the neural mechanisms responsible for the above-mentioned processes.  To achieve this, we interrogate the function, regulation and the input/output connectivity of genetically-identified neurons.  This is done by combining mice genetically engineered to express DNA recombinases (Cre, Flp, etc.) in transcriptionally-defined neurons with viral vectors or mice that express, in a recombinase-dependent fashion, a panel of “neuroscience tools”.  Using these approaches, we then manipulate that neuron’s firing rate to determine its role in regulating behavior and physiology, measure its activity to establish how it responds to discrete sensory, behavioral and physiologic perturbations, and map that neuron’s upstream and downstream synaptic connectivity to uncover its underlying neural “wiring diagram”.  Combined, this information is used to construct mechanistic models of how the brain controls physiology and behavior. 

Candidates must have PhD, MD, or MD/PhD degrees with research training in neuroscience.

Ideal candidates will have technical expertise in one or more of the following areas:  1) analysis of neural circuitry in mice, 2) manipulation of neural activity, in vivo, using optical and/or chemogenetic approaches, 3) monitoring of neural activity in vivo with Ca²⁺-based imaging and/or optetrode technologies, 4) brain slice electrophysiology, 5) advanced viral technologies for circuit mapping, manipulation of gene expression and/or for altering neuronal activity, 6) skills related to phenotyping of feeding behavior and/or reward, and/or 7) single neuron transcriptomics.  

Current NIH support for the Lowell Lab:

NIH R01 DK075632 Lowell (PI)  “The AgRP / POMC -> Paraventricular (PVH) -> Parabrachial (PBN) -> Limbic/Reward Satiety Circuit”

NIH R01 DK089044   Lowell (PI)  “Leptin, GABAergic Neurons and Feedback / Feedforward Regulation of Energy Balance”

NIH R01 DK096010  Lowell (PI)  “AgRP neurons: circadian control and interactions with the HPA axis” 

NIH R01 DK134427  Lowell (PI)  “Feedforward Activation of AgRP Neurons and Hunger”

NIH R01 DK122976  Multi-PI R01   Lowell (PI), Liberles (PI)  “Leveraging the rich genetic diversity of vagal motor neurons to decode brain-to-gut communication”.

Letters of application and CVs should be emailed to:

Bradford B. Lowell, MD, PhD  - blowell@bidmc.harvard.edu

Professor of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employers.  Women and minorities are particularly encouraged to apply.