We were recently awarded a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to continue the development of kTMP.  The funding period will be used to conduct testing with human participants to assess the tolerability and efficacy of the system in producing changes in cortical physiology and behavior. If our expectations are confirmed, this system will introduce a powerful new method for modulating neural excitability and as such, provide clinicians with a promising new intervention in the treatment of neurological disorders. The work of the grant is taking place at UC Berkeley, in the lab of Prof. Richard Ivry, which  has a subcontract with Magnetic Tides.

 

Our company is committed to enhancing the diversity of the research workforce and increasing the participation of women as well as socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. As part of the NIH award we have the option  to ask for a Supplements to promote diversity for a full-time salaried appointee  to work  on  projects related to the parent grant. The expectation is that this work experience will help the candidate to make the transition to the next stage of their career.

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Eligibility. Must be individuals from nationally underrepresented groups, as defined in the Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity, women and/or socially and economically disadvantaged candidates.

Must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

 

Education. We are looking for someone interested in neuroscience with at least a baccalaureate degree but preference would be given to candidates with a master's degree or PhD.  Early career investigators are also eligible.

Candidates will need to commit to at least 1 year of employment with our company (2 years is even better).

 

Projects: The Diversity Supplement awards must be within the scope of the parent grant awarded. Therefore, we are looking for candidates that are interested in one or more of the following projects, depending on your field:

 

A) For electrical engineering, bioengineering, electrophysiology or experimental biology degree

1) Integration of kTMP with EEG: To acquire artifact-free electroencephalography (EEG) data recorded simultaneously with the application of kTMP.

The ideal candidates would have course work in or demonstrated experience with instrumentation and signal processing. Experience working with or analyzing neuroscience data (EEG, fMRI, MEG, EMG) is a plus but not required of the applicant.

2) kTMP Control System: To develop a software control system suitable for commercial use.

The ideal candidate has course work in or demonstrated experience with instrumentation and control software. Programming experience in C/C++ is also a prerequisite. Experience working with microcontrollers is a plus.

3) Neural Modeling of subthreshold kHZ stimulation: The mechanisms underlying experimentally-observed subthreshold kHz stimulation are presently unknown. Using the uniform-field approximation we want to simulate the response of biophysically realistic cortical neuron models to a wide range of kTMP stimulation parameters. The ideal candidate will have experience in computational modeling of the neural response to noninvasive brain stimulation methods.

 

B) For psychology, cognitive science or neuroscience

4) Running NIBS experiments. This individual will play a critical role in organizing research materials, recruiting participants, data collection and analysis in experiments involving non-invasive brain stimulation in human participants. The ideal candidate will have experience with research involving human participants and computer coding skills and data analysis experience, preferably with MatLab or Python. Previous experience with NIBS and/or electrophysiological measurement systems (such as EEG or EMG) is a plus.

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How to apply. If you are interested, please send the following to labruna@magnetictides.com:

1) A personal statement that includes:

•   The project/projects in which you are interested.

•   Outlined short- and long-term research objectives and career goals. The candidate must describe how the planned activities are related to or will facilitate achievement of their career goals. The goal does not have to be defined, this experience can also help the candidate to decide between possible careers (e.g., academia vs industry).

•   The barriers and impediments you may have encountered in gaining entry and progressing in the biomedical workforce.

2) Your biosketch 

 

Timeline. For submission at NIH before Feb 15th 2023, funding decision March 2023; For submission at NIH before May 15th 2023, funding decision June 2023. Starting date flexible.