| Full Description |
The Darby Lab is excited to announce a new position for a post-doctoral fellow. The fellow will participate in several funded research projects investigating:
1.) Social and moral decision-making, social cognition, and neuroimaging in patients with frontotemporal dementia and antisocial behavior;
2.) Cognitive and neuroimaging risk factors for vulnerability to fraud and scams in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia
3.) Mechanisms related to therapeutic benefit of 5-HT2A receptor blocking medication pimavanserin in patients with Parkinson disease psychosis, Lewy Body Dementia, and frontotemporal dementia using 5-HT2A PET imaging and functional MRI.
4.) Development of innovative neuroimaging methods to investigate the functional consequences of network neurodegeneration in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementias
Broadly, our lab has worked to develop new neuroimaging methods combining structural neuroimaging in neurological patients with normative maps of the human connectome to localize neurological symptoms to symptom-specific brain networks. We have focused on complex but poorly understood symptoms including delusions, antisocial and criminal behavior, and disordered free will perception. Our current goal is applying this approach to neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementias.
The candidate would be primarily responsible for the development of novel neuroimaging methods combining structural atrophy patterns with functional connectivity and network-based approaches to understand how atrophy affects connected brain regions. The fellow would also be responsible for applying these methods to understand abnormal moral behavior, psychosis, agency, and volition in neurodegenerative disorders.
We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic post-doctoral fellow with experience in neuroimaging, cognitive and social neuroscience, computational decision-making, and/or neurodegenerative disorders. The ideal candidate would have a strong background in statistical analysis, strong writing skills, and experience with common neuroimaging analysis software packages (FSL, SPM, Freesurfer) and programming (Matlab, UNIX, Python). Fellows will be expected to transition towards working independently, with a focus on producing first-authored publications and securing independent funding. |