Open Positions

Description:
The research group led by Xiaomin Zhang, an assistant professor funded by SNSF PRIMA, is seeking candidates for a Ph.D. position available from January 1st, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. The principal supervisor for this position will be Prof. Xiaomin Zhang (https://www.hifo.uzh.ch/en/research/zhang.html), and the formal supervisor will be Prof. Fritjof Helmchen (ttps://www.hifo.uzh.ch/en/research/helmchen.html). The main objective of this project is to investigate how saliency enhances memory persistence in health and Alzheimer's disease mouse models.

Education/Requirements:

• Hold a master’s degree in a relevant field, such as Neuroscience, Biology, Medicine, Biomedicine, or Physics.
• Demonstrates a curious and internally driven mindset.
• Capable of working effectively in a team environment.
• Has experience in electrophysiology, optogenetics, and virus injections.
• Experience in data analysis using Matlab, Python or R.
• Possessed excellent written and spoken English skills.

Job advertisement (PDF, 129 KB)

Please submit your application as a single pdf, including the following:

1. A motivation letter of application, with a maximum length of one page.
2. A CV that includes details of your education, research experience, language skills, other skills relevant for the position, and contact details of two persons for references.
3. A certified copy of your original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language.

Start Date: January 1st, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter
Work Location: University of Zurich, Brain Research Institute, Zurich, Switzerland
Contact: Name: Xiaomin Zhang, zhang@hifo.uzh.ch

Description:
Do you want to proceed your career in advanced neuroimaging to improve outcome after mild traumatic brain injury?
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability in the young and working population and is well-known to be the most common external risk factor for dementia. Up to 90% of all TBI patients are initially classified as mild injured with half of these patients suffering from an incomplete recovery with various neuropsychiatric sequels albeit no visible brain pathology using the current state-of-the art diagnostics.
Therefore, we conduct a prospective, longitudinal, and confirmatory quantitative research study in adolescents and adults aged 16 to 60 years at the University Hospital Zurich including advanced neuroimaging to elucidate changes in brain morphology, volumetry, connectivity and metabolic changes over 12 months to develop a new diagnostic algorithm that will help to identify TBI patients at risk of an unfavorable neuropsychiatric outcome early.

We offer:

• 1 PhD position (70%) currently funded for 24 months for a highly motivated and talented researchers (3rd and 4th year will be covered after received additional funding)
• Learn about frontal lobe dysfunction and their relevance for cognitive and neuropsychiatric outcome after mild TBI
• Excellent infrastructure for training and research by internationally recognized scientists with state-of-the-art technologies
• Excellent scientific and academic guidance within the Department of Neuroradiology with weekly meetings
• A comprehensive and structured training within the Center for Neuroscience (ZNZ) Zurich
• Bi-monthly overall lab meetings with the opportunities to represent the own project and learn from other projects within the AG Rauen
• An individual career mentoring program & coaching, a wide range of methodology courses, soft skills workshops, and conference travel grants
• International scientific and clinical collaborations within the Neurotrauma and Neuroimaging networks and publishing in high-ranked peer-reviewed international journals*

Job advertisement (PDF, 99 KB)

Education/Requirements:
We are looking for

• Highly qualified and motivated students holding an MSc of Neuroscience, MSc of neuroradiology, MSc of Psychology, or equivalent in a related subject or aiming for a MD/PhD
• Students who have already demonstrated their motivation, interest and qualification for the above research areas by achieving very good grades in their BSc and MSc studies
• Candidates with very good German and English skills (C1 level, written and spoken)

Start date:  01.01.2025

Please apply by mail including your motivational letter, CV and certificates until November 30th, 2024:

AG Rauen Neuropsychiatry
PD Dr. med. Katrin Rauen, FEBN
Senior Research Consultant
Department of Traumatology, University Hospital Zurich
Junior Research Group Leader, ZNZ, Zurich
katrin.rauen@uzh.ch

Prof. Dr. phil. Lars Michels
Senior Assistant
Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Zurich
Research Group Leader, ZNZ, Zurich
lars.michels@usz.ch