PhD student - Traumatic Brain Injury

Team
A PhD position is available in the Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. The Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration laboratory led by Evgenia Salta employs transcriptomics and other molecular and cellular approaches to map the cellular and molecular complexity of the adult human hippocampus and dissect the biological pathways that are deregulated in dementia. The team employs primarily human postmortem brain tissue and iPSC reprogramming.

Project
The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition and is a collaboration between the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences (SILS) at the University of Amsterdam.
Repeated mild head injuries, the kind sustained by athletes, veterans, and victims of domestic violence, are increasingly linked to long-term memory problems and a higher risk of dementia later in life. Strikingly, these lasting effects can occur even when no visible brain damage is present. Yet, we still don't understand how repeated injury leads to memory decline, and there are currently no treatments that address these long-term cognitive consequences.

Beyond helping high-risk groups, this work may also shed light on Alzheimer's and other dementias that share similar underlying processes.

The research will be performed at the Salta lab at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. This is a joint project with the group of Carlos Fitzsimons at the SILS, University of Amsterdam.
This study is a follow up of our previously published work:
https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(26)00142-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49299-6

What you will do
In this project, you will investigate what happens in the brain after repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, focusing on the hippocampus, the brain region central to memory. We are particularly interested in long-lasting inflammatory and neurogenic alterations and the cells involved in them, including microglia, astrocytes and immature neurons. By uncovering these mechanisms, you will help us to identify cellular or molecular targets that could guide the development of future therapies.

As a PhD candidate in our group, you will use state-of-the art single-nucleus RNA sequencing pipelines to process postmortem human brain from donors with a record of traumatic brain injury. You will be in charge of sample collection and stratification and apply advanced computational pipelines to identify cellular and molecular programs involved in the hippocampal response to injury and the downstream cognitive effects. Ultimately, you will establish in vitro human cell models to probe causal relationships between candidate targets and cellular phenotypes.

What we expect from you

• A Master’s degree in biomedical sciences, neuroscience or similar
• Strong affinity and hands-on experience with coding and omics-related computational analyses are a prerequisite
• Strong affinity and hands-on experience with single-cell transcriptomics are a prerequisite
• Strong experience with (iPSC) cell culture is a plus
• Excellent communication skills, as well as proficiency in spoken and written English, are expected
• Strong organizational skills, methodical and structured approach to your work, rigor, accuracy and attention to detail
• A reliable, collaborative team player who is easy to work with and delivers on commitments
• Genuine passion for scientific research
• Drive, persistence and positive attitude to tackle difficult problems that require iterative approaches, while systematically checking results against expectations to catch issues early

What we offer

• A stimulating, innovative and dynamic international research environment
• Opportunity to work with novel, exciting datasets and develop creative concepts and pipelines
• A strong community of care, support and scientific challenge
• Access to state-of-the art infrastructure and work conditions
• Active mentoring, supervision and training
• Opportunities for personal growth
• A particularly collaborative setting between the NIN and the SILS
• Possibility to develop your own projects and apply for third-party funding

The position is for a period of 4 years in total. The first appointment is for one year with the option for an extension for the remaining period pending on evaluation.

Information
For additional information, please contact Dr. E. Salta. e.salta@nin.knaw.nl
More information about the laboratory can be found on: Salta - Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience - Master the Mind (nin.nl) & https://saltalab.github.io/

Application and deadline
You can apply before December 1, 2026 via the button Apply Now.

Please send:

• A detailed CV
• A motivation letter, including a brief description of past research experience and future interests, as well as the earliest possible starting date and the name and contact details of at least two referees

Evaluation of candidates will begin immediately, and continue until the position is filled.

Postdoc position in EMT reference models of microgrids and customer-side assets for UTOPYS

The Faculty of EEMCS, the Power Electronics and Mathematics of Operations Research groups at the University of Twente are hiring a postdoctoral researcher to join a multidisciplinary research team to help build the model library at the heart of UTOPYS, a new national facility for real-time power system simulation!

Future power systems are converter-dominated, fast, and interconnected across scales that today's modelling tools cannot capture. UTOPYS (Understanding Large and Complex Power Systems) addresses this with a state-of-the-art real-time power system simulator: a large RTDS cluster at TU Delft's ESP Lab that simulates thousands of nodes in full electromagnetic transient (EMT) detail, in real time, and that can be coupled to hardware, SCADA systems and other simulators. This infrastructure will enable unprecedented research into the dynamics, control, and market design of future power systems dominated by renewables, power electronics, and cyber-physical interactions.

UTOPYS is a ten-year national research infrastructure (2026-2036) built by a consortium of eight Dutch universities and research institutes, coordinated by TU Delft, driving scientific breakthroughs in mathematical modeling, control strategies, and policy/regulatory frameworks for complex power systems.

UTOPYS is a state-of-the-art real-time power system simulator. A simulator of this size is only as valuable as the models that run on it. The first phase of UTOPYS is therefore dedicated to the UTOPYS Library: an open, modular and validated collection of EMT component models, reference system models, scenarios and datasets that will serve the consortium, external academic users and industry for the coming decade.

We are looking for one postdoc to join UTOPYS and build part of this Open Source Library, developing plug & play EMT reference models of customer-side assets and the microgrids they form: e.g., residential and small commercial connections, PV, batteries, EV charging, heat pumps and flexible demand with grid-forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) converters, covering weak-grid and islanded operation, GFM/GFL transitions and black start, with a flexible level of detail.

You will work in collaboration with Postdocs from the universities involved in UTOPYS who will be working on similar reference models for different parts of the whole power system. At the end all models should come together to form the complete model library at the heart of UTOPYS.

Your key responsibilities as Postdoc (include but are not limited to):

• Develop and validate EMT models of microgrids and customer-side components in RSCAD/RTDS, for example converters and their controls (GFM and GFL), PV panels, EV chargers, Heat-Pumps, energy storage, backup generators, loads and flexibility assets, taking into account their link to a tertiary control layer such as an Energy Management System.
• Create an RTDS library of customer-side, microgrid and converter-based components, and a working, realistic RTDS microgrid model built from those components that can be integrated with the larger UTOPYS RTDS model
• Combine that library into reference system models that reproduce the phenomena UTOPYS is meant to study at this part of the power system, such as islanding, frequency and voltage collapse, converter-driven instability, interoperability under different control strategies, transition from GFM to GFL and vice versa, black start capability.
• Work out how such models are built to last: conversion from other tools, parameterisation, scalability and model reduction, documentation, version control, testing and validation criteria.
• Publish your models, datasets and methods open access, and present them in journals and at conferences.

The answers you develop will shape how UTOPYS is used for the next decade.

PostDoc on Targeted Proteomics for Protein Biomarker Standardization

The challenge
Protein tumor markers can support minimally invasive lung cancer diagnostics, but results from current immunoassays vary between platforms and laboratories. You will help close this standardization gap by developing and validating targeted mass-spectrometry workflows and reference measurement procedures for clinically relevant protein biomarkers, including CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1.

Your role
You will conduct hands-on research in quantitative targeted proteomics, with emphasis on immunoaffinity enrichment, bottom-up LC-MS/MS and SISCAPA-based workflows. You will select and evaluate signature peptides, establish calibration strategies using stable-isotope-labelled standards, characterize reference proteins and peptides, and assess sensitivity, selectivity, recovery, matrix effects, precision, accuracy and robustness. You will compare candidate reference methods with commercial immunoassays and contribute to analysis of serum and pleural-fluid samples.

You will integrate activities across connected projects that aim to create a transferable platform for reference measurement procedures and materials for complex protein biomarkers. You will plan experiments, maintain high-quality and reproducible documentation, analyze and interpret quantitative data, prepare scientific publications and presentations, and contribute to method transfer, standard operating procedures and project reporting.

Research environment and collaboration
The position is embedded in the Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biomedical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and in the regional Expertise Center Clinical Chemistry Eindhoven. You will work closely with researchers and clinical chemists at TU/e, Catharina Hospital and Máxima Medical Center, and with diagnostic and technology partners including Roche Diagnostics and SISCAPA Assay Technologies. You will also collaborate with PhD students and supervise Master and Bachelor students.

Expected impact
Your work will advance metrologically traceable and comparable protein biomarker measurements, support harmonization of tumor-marker testing across clinical laboratories, and establish methods that can be extended to biomarkers beyond lung cancer.

PhD student - Traumatic Brain Injury

Team
A PhD position is available in the Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. The Neurogenesis & Neurodegeneration laboratory led by Evgenia Salta employs transcriptomics and other molecular and cellular approaches to map the cellular and molecular complexity of the adult human hippocampus and dissect the biological pathways that are deregulated in dementia. The team employs primarily human postmortem brain tissue and iPSC reprogramming.

Project
The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition and is a collaboration between the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences (SILS) at the University of Amsterdam.
Repeated mild head injuries, the kind sustained by athletes, veterans, and victims of domestic violence, are increasingly linked to long-term memory problems and a higher risk of dementia later in life. Strikingly, these lasting effects can occur even when no visible brain damage is present. Yet, we still don't understand how repeated injury leads to memory decline, and there are currently no treatments that address these long-term cognitive consequences.

Beyond helping high-risk groups, this work may also shed light on Alzheimer's and other dementias that share similar underlying processes.
The research will be performed at the Salta lab at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. This is a joint project with the group of Carlos Fitzsimons at the SILS, University of Amsterdam.
This study is a follow up of our previously published work:
https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(26)00142-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49299-6

What you will do
In this project, you will investigate what happens in the brain after repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, focusing on the hippocampus, the brain region central to memory. We are particularly interested in long-lasting inflammatory and neurogenic alterations and the cells involved in them, including microglia, astrocytes and immature neurons. By uncovering these mechanisms, you will help us to identify cellular or molecular targets that could guide the development of future therapies.

As a PhD candidate in our group, you will use state-of-the art single-nucleus RNA sequencing pipelines to process postmortem human brain from donors with a record of traumatic brain injury. You will be in charge of sample collection and stratification and apply advanced computational pipelines to identify cellular and molecular programs involved in the hippocampal response to injury and the downstream cognitive effects. Ultimately, you will establish in vitro human cell models to probe causal relationships between candidate targets and cellular phenotypes.

What we offer

• A stimulating, innovative and dynamic international research environment
• Opportunity to work with novel, exciting datasets and develop creative concepts and pipelines
• A strong community of care, support and scientific challenge
• Access to state-of-the art infrastructure and work conditions
• Active mentoring, supervision and training
• Opportunities for personal growth
• A particularly collaborative setting between the NIN and the SILS
• Possibility to develop your own projects and apply for third-party funding

The position is for a period of 4 years in total. The first appointment is for one year with the option for an extension for the remaining period pending on evaluation.

Information
For additional information, please contact Dr. E. Salta. e.salta@nin.knaw.nl
More information about the laboratory can be found on: Salta - Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience - Master the Mind (nin.nl) & https://saltalab.github.io/

PhD student - From brain circuits of threat to neurofeedback in humans

The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Maastricht University Medical Center are looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious PhD student to join a collaborative translational neuroscience project investigating how the brain controls responses to threat and stress. The project is part of a new programme aimed at strengthening the connection between fundamental neuroscience and clinical psychiatry.
Maladaptive responses to threat are an important feature of psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders, PTSD and depression. In this project, we will identify brain regions that can regulate threat responses and investigate whether these regions can ultimately be targeted using real-time fMRI neurofeedback.
The project provides a unique opportunity to work across the boundary between fundamental systems neuroscience and human translational neuroscience.

What will you do
You will first work at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) in Amsterdam, in the laboratory of Prof. Alexander Heimel. Using mouse models of innate defensive behavior, you will identify a brain region that can regulate defensive behavior. You will use state-of-the-art approaches including behavioral analysis of innate defensive responses, activity-dependent neuronal tagging using TRAP2, viral and monosynaptic rabies tracing, optogenetic manipulation of neural circuits, fiber photometry and quantitative analysis of neural and behavioral data. In the second part of the project, you will work with Prof. David Linden and colleagues at Maastricht UMC, translating the circuit identified in mice to humans. You will use 7T fMRI to translate the findings from the first part and develop a real-time fMRI neurofeedback paradigm through which participants learn to regulate the identified brain region.
The ultimate aim is to develop a biologically grounded approach to neurofeedback in which targets are selected because they have a demonstrated causal role in controlling threat circuitry. The work may provide a foundation for future neurofeedback interventions in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders.

What we offer
You will join two complementary and highly interactive research environments. At the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, you will receive training in causal circuit neuroscience and the neural mechanisms underlying innate behavior. At Maastricht UMC, you will gain expertise in human neuroimaging, high-field 7T MRI and real-time neurofeedback within a clinical neuroscience environment. The project includes regular interaction with both research groups and joint supervision throughout the PhD. The project is funded for four years. The first two years will primarily focus on circuit discovery and causal experiments in mice, followed by human circuit validation and neurofeedback experiments during years three and four. Some travel or/and movement allowance is budgeted for making the collaboration between Amsterdam and Maastricht smooth.
You will have opportunities to present your work at international conferences, collaborate with researchers across neuroscience, psychiatry and neuroimaging, and develop a profile as a genuinely cross-species translational neuroscientist.

Research environment
The project is a collaboration between the group of Prof. Alexander Heimel at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam and the group of Prof. David Linden at Maastricht UMC.The Heimel group investigates the neural circuits that transform sensory information and internal state into behavior, with particular expertise in visual and innate behaviors, circuit tracing and causal manipulation in mice.
The Maastricht team has extensive expertise in fMRI neurofeedback, high-field imaging and clinical neuroscience, including subcortical neurofeedback targets. The project will also involve interaction with researchers experienced in real-time and 7T fMRI.

Information

For questions about the position, please contact Alexander Heimel (a.heimel@nin.knaw.nl) or David Linden ........... There is no deadline for the application, the vacancy will be closed if a suitable candidate has been found.

Application

You can apply via the Apply Now button, please submit:

• A motivation letter explaining why this project interests you
• A detailed CV, including a grade list• Contact details of two academic referees, who can be contacted