Project Scientist - Anastassiou & Moore Labs - Department Of Neurosurgery (Computational Neuroscience)

The Anastassiou Laboratory is affiliated with the Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology, the Center of Neural Sciences and Medicine and the Regenerative Medicine Institute. The lab team studies how the molecular and cellular composition of neurons translates to their phenotype and how these properties combine in brain circuits to produce function or, in the case of disease, dysfunction. The Anastassiou lab has broad background in multi-modal cellular data (electrophysiology, anatomy, transcriptomics) and the development of state-of-the-art computational workflows (statistical learning, optimization and simulation) to understand cellular activity in behavior and disease. The team employs multi-modal single-cell investigations in human circuits to understand cortical function and dysfunction as occurring in diseases like epilepsy.

The Department of Computational Biomedicine under Dr. Moore's leadership reflects Cedars-Sinai's commitment to advancing medical discovery and the recognition of the foundational role complex data plays in our research and clinical care.

This position will focus on developing pipelines and workflows to analyze large-scale cellular data sets (trascriptomics, electrophysiology, morphology), multimodal feature extraction and data reconciliation and simulation (e.g. [Nandi et al. 2020; Buchin et al. 2020]). This work will interface with several other projects with ample opportunities for collaboration with many other teams at Cedars. The project is a collaboration between the teams of Prof. Costas Anastassiou (Neurosurgery and Neurology, Regenerative Medicine Institute) and Prof. Jason Moore (Computational Biomedicine).

The Project Scientist works independently and in coorperation with the Principal Investigators to make significant and creative contributions to a research or creative project in any academic discipline. This position is not required to carry out independent research or to develop an independent research reputation and does not have teaching responsibilities. Ordinarily, the Project Scientist position will carry out research or creative programs as well as administration of day-to-day lab operations with supervision by a member of the Professorial Series.

• May assist in preparation of grant proposals, submissions, and presentations but is not responsible for generating grant funds
• May serve as PI for certain grants as approved by Principal Investigator or member of the Professorial Series
• May participate in publications and presentations as first author or co-author
• May develop, adapt and implement new research techniques and protocols
• Analyzes, interprets, summarizes, and compiles data
• May lead or mentor Staff Research Associates and Research Fellows
• Will assist in day-to-day laboratory activities
• Appointees on an academic trajectory will be expected to commit a portion of their time to developing an independent range of research

• Adopt, develop, and instantiate computational tools and pipelines the search, download, access, and process data sets containing multimodal cellular data
• Train and validate machine learning methods that allow data reconciliation within a biophysical, cellular framework
• Develop optimization pipelines for single-cell models using elements of machine learning and various data sets
• Deploy pipelines to produce different types of cellular models at a large scale using HPC architectures

• Doctorate degree or highest degree in their field; PhD degree in Computational Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering or related field is highly preferred
• Demonstrated significant, original, and creative contributions to research during training period

• Minimum of 3 years of experience as a Postdoctoral Scientist/Fellow preferred
• Completion of Postdoctoral appointment in area of specialization, as applicable
• Knowledge of PI’s area of research specialization
• Demonstrated technical competency in a variety of research techniques and protocols
• Experience using advanced programming languages (Python, C++, Matlab) is highly preferred

• Experience with specialized machine learning (e.g. tensorflow, keras, etc.), optimization and cellular simulation software (e.g. NEURON) is beneficial

• Ability to meet aggressive timelines and deliverables in a collaborative environment

• Strong publication record in cellular model generation/validation and/or statistical learning

• Experience in pursuing research projects in collaborative fashion

• Proven independent thinking and flexibility

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

  
  

Physical Demands: Position requires working with computers for extended periods of time and the use of specialized laboratory equipment. Must be able to sit, stand and/or stoop for long periods of time.