Deadline: 31st July 2025

Expected Starting Date:  October 2025 (flexible)

Duration: 3 years

Location: Vienna, Austria 

Institution: Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna

Department: Neuronal Cell Biology

Description:

Emotions are a central part of our mental self, shaping perception, memories, and behaviors (Pfaff et al., 2019).  As part of the Cluster of Excellence “Neuronal Circuits in Health and Disease”, the Haubensak Laboratory in Vienna, is seeking an enthusiastic postdoc interested in pioneering novel multidisciplinary approaches using circuit- and computational neuroscience tools to deconstruct how neuronal circuits process affective information. For more details on our research activities, please visit http://cbr.meduniwien.ac.at/organisation/dept-neuronal-cell-biology/home and https://www.imp.ac.at/groups/wulf-haubensak. 

Main activities and tasks:

As a postdoc in the Haubensak Lab, you will be part of our quest to understand inhibitory designs in cortico-limbic networks and their neurogenetic modulation. Building on comparative brain data science in humans and animal models (Ganglberger et al., 2018, 2024), you will investigate in silico how inhibitory motifs control cortico-limbic interactions and affective traits within populations and across species (Kaczanowska et al., 2022; Piszczek et al., 2022). The successful applicant is additionally expected to collaborate with fellow researchers on brain data science, show their work in international conferences and meetings and participate in public outreach events. 

Your Profile:

• Academic education in natural sciences, computer science or medicine.
• MD or PhD degree with specialization in neuroscience, neurogenetics or data science
• Outstanding knowledge of statistical software and high-level programming languages (e.g., R & Python) is essential.
• Experience in neuroscience data modelling, database management and pattern identification would be an advantage.
• A track record of relevant publications.
• Proven ability to conduct independent research and work effectively as a team member.

• Excellent command of English is necessary.

   

Our offer:

This is a full-time (40hrs/week) position with a monthly gross salary of 4,932.90 EUR. The Medical University of Vienna provides excellent employee benefits including full insurance coverage (health, accident, retirement). As one of Europe’s leading academic centers, we additionally offer career-development programs for academic research and teaching.  Further, as a post-doc you will have the opportunity become a member of the Excellent Brains Program, an umbrella program of the prestigious interdisciplinary and international FWF Cluster of Excellence.

The Medical University of Vienna aims to increase representation, especially in scientific and management positions. We expressly encourage qualified minorities to apply. It would be great to welcome you as an independent and communicative member of our team, with enthusiasm to shape our interactive environment and workflows for interdisciplinary neuroscience.

For more information about the application process or the research of our Department, please contact us by email at wulf.haubensak@meduniwien.ac.at and apply directly to the general call via the Excellent Brains website.

Relevant publications:

Ganglberger, F., Kaczanowska, J., Penninger, J. M., Hess, A., Bühler, K., & Haubensak, W. (2018). Predicting functional neuroanatomical maps from fusing brain networks with genetic information. NeuroImage, 170, 113–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.08.070

Ganglberger, F., Kargl, D., Töpfer, M., Hernandez-Lallement, J., Lawless, N., Fernandez-Albert, F., Haubensak, W., & Bühler, K. (2024). BrainTACO: An explorable multi-scale multi-modal brain transcriptomic and connectivity data resource. Communications Biology, 7(1), 730. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06355-7

Kaczanowska, J., Ganglberger, F., Chernomor, O., Kargl, D., Galik, B., Hess, A., Moodley, Y., von Haeseler, A., Bühler, K., & Haubensak, W. (2022). Molecular archaeology of human cognitive traits. Cell Reports, 40(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111287

Pfaff, D., Tabansky, I., & Haubensak, W. (2019). Tinbergen’s challenge for the neuroscience of behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(20), 9704–9710. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903589116

Piszczek, L., Constantinescu, A., Kargl, D., Lazovic, J., Pekcec, A., Nicholson, J. R., & Haubensak, W. (2022). Dissociation of impulsive traits by subthalamic metabotropic glutamate receptor 4. eLife, 11, 1–37. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62123