Postdoctoral in biological or medical sciences

Research project. The project will focus on the validation of extracelular vesicles (EV) as novel biomarkers for neuropsychiatric diseases, such as the Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of the autism spectrum disorders. We will study the transcriptome signatures carried by neuron-derived EVs  (exosomes) from animal models of these diseases. We will test pharmaceutical therapies to revert the cellular  symptoms and will study if we can use EVs to monitor this reversion. We will use organotypic brain tissue cultures, gene manipulation techniques, fluorescent confocal microscopy, calcium imaging, and transgenic animal models of psychiatric diseases.

Duties. The postdoc will be the main responsible to carry out the experiments, supervised by the two Principal Investigators of the project, in close collabaoration of 2-3 other PhD students. The experiments include the use of animals for experimentation (rodents). The experiments will be performed between Bosch Lab at UIC (Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona) and Ozaita Lab at UPF-PRBB (Barcelona); so, some communting will be necessary. The postdoc will be responsible to communicate and disseminate the results at lab and Dept meetings and congresses, as well as to write the article for peer-review publication as first or co-first author.

We are looking for a neuroscientist holding a PhD in biological or medical sciences with experience in celular and molecularneurobiology. Experience in confocal or two-photon microscopy, in vitrocalcium imaging, imageanalysis and extracellular vesicles will be highly appreciated. Experience in electrophysiology and programing/analysis will be a plus. Proficiency in English will be necessary. Good level of spanish or catalan is not necessary but convinient.

We offer: 27,000 EUR/year gross salary, for 2 years.

A committee of 3 researchers (the PI, a UIC researcher and an external researcher) will evaluate the candidate based on her/his CV, education background, skills, mastered techniques, publications, funding, career plans, availability, research success potential, etc.   Selected candidates  will be interviewed by videocall  during May 2023.

How to apply: Applications must be submitted via the online application platform. Please submit your full CV and a letter of interest/motivation.

A committee of 3 researchers (the PI, a UIC researcher and an external researcher) will evaluate the candidate based on her/his CV, education background, skills, mastered techniques, publications, funding, career plans, availability, research success potential, etc.   Selected candidates  will be interviewed by videocall  during March 2023.

Information about the host laboratories:

• BoschLab at UIC: https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Synaptic-Plasticity-Lab-Miquel-Bosch
• OzaitaLab at UPF-PRBB: https://www.upf.edu/web/neurophar
• Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC-Barcelona): https://www.uic.es/en

Take a look to these papers to learn about previous research projects of the host labs:

             Thomazeau A., et al. (2020) Dissociation of functional and structural plasticity of dendritic spines during NMDAR and mGluR-dependent long-term synaptic depression in wild-type and Fragile X model mice. Molecular Psychiatry.

Busquet-García A., et al. (2014) New insights into the molecular pathophysiology of fragile X syndrome and therapeutic perspectives from the animal model. The international journal of biochemistry & cell biology 53, 121-126

Bosch M., et al. (2014) Structural and molecular remodeling of dendritic spine substructures during long-term potentiation. Neuron 16;82(2):444-59.