POSITION FOR GRADUATE STUDENT OR POSTDOC
At the Laboratory of Medical Physics at the University of Amsterdam a
position for a graduate student (4 years) or a postdoc (2 years) is
available. The project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for
Scientific Research through the Life Sciences foundation.
The research in the group of Dr. M. Kamermans and Dr. H. Spekreijse is
focused on information processing in the outer retina of lower vertebrates.
In this project the functional properties of the synaptic connections in the
outer retina will be studied. The outer retina is a biological neural
network which can strongly adjust its properties to the stimulus parameters.
The focus of this project will be on the mechanisms responsible for this
plasticity. In this project electrophysiological (patch clamp) and
fluorescent imaging techniques (voltage sensitive dyes and Ca-dependent
dyes) will be used on isolated retinae, retinal slices or dissociated cells.
Computational models of the outer retina will be built to investigate the
significance of the various pathways described.
The retina group has experience in electrophysiology, fluorescent imaging,
morphology, and modelling of biological neural networks and collaborates
closely with morphologists and molecular biologists in the department of
Ophthalmo-Morphology of the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute and
with the physiologists of the department of Visual System Analysis of the
Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute.
The successful candidate should have a background in biology or physics and
have experience in cellular electrophysiology or fluorescent imaging.
Experience with modelling of complex biological systems is desirable.
Information about this position can be obtained by Dr. M. Kamermans, Lab.
Medical Physics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, phone:
+31-20-5665180, fax: +31-20-6917233, email:M.Kamermans@amc.uva.nl