A 3-year postdoctoral position in functional neurogenetics is available within the Language & Genetics Department at the Max Planck Institute, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Within this Department, the Imaging Genomics group performs large-scale studies to identify genes involved in left-right asymmetry of the human brain – a trait which can be altered in various neurodevelopmental disorders. A challenge then remains to understand the roles of the implicated genes in brain development and function. Mice show evidence for functional and neurophysiological asymmetries in their brains, and are therefore a promising model for investigating the functions of genes implicated through our studies in humans. Your role will be to investigate asymmetry in developing and adult mouse brain tissue using transcriptomics, immunohistochemistry and histology. This research will be carried out within a dedicated molecular biology laboratory at the Max Planck Institute, and in partnership with labs and facilities of the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen. You will also be keen to learn and involve yourself in the ongoing research of the department more generally, which is focused on genetics of the neuron, brain, behaviour and cognition.

Job description A 3-year postdoctoral position in functional neurogenetics is available within the Language & Genetics Department at the Max Planck Institute, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Within this Department, the Imaging Genomics group performs large-scale studies to identify genes involved in left-right asymmetry of the human brain – a trait which can be altered in various neurodevelopmental disorders. A challenge then remains to understand the roles of the implicated genes in brain development and function. Mice show evidence for functional and neurophysiological asymmetries in their brains, and are therefore a promising model for investigating the functions of genes implicated through our studies in humans. Your role will be to investigate asymmetry in developing and adult mouse brain tissue using transcriptomics, immunohistochemistry and histology. This research will be carried out within a dedicated molecular biology laboratory at the Max Planck Institute, and in partnership with labs and facilities of the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen. You will also be keen to learn and involve yourself in the ongoing research of the department more generally, which is focused on genetics of the neuron, brain, behaviour and cognition.

We study the larval stages of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii, a powerful experimental system for neural circuits. With serial electron microscopy, we have reconstructed the entire nervous and effector systems of a Platynereis larva. We use neurogenetics, activity imaging, and behavioural experiments to understand circuit activity and how the nervous system controls behaviour and physiology. Platynereis is one of very few systems where these different approaches can be combined to study an entire nervous system. I will talk about circuits for the whole-body coordination of locomotor cilia and a hydrodynamic startle response for predator avoidance.

We are interested in understanding how microbes impact the behavior of host animals. Animal nervous systems likely evolved in environments richly surrounded by microbes, yet the impact of bacteria on nervous system function has been relatively under-studied. A challenge has been to identify systems in which both host and microbe are amenable to genetic manipulation, and which enable high-throughput behavioral screening in response to defined and naturalistic conditions. To accomplish these goals, we use an animal host — the roundworm C. elegans, which feeds on bacteria — in combination with its natural gut microbiome to identify inter-organismal signals driving host-microbe interactions and decision-making. C. elegans has some of the most extensive molecular, neurobiological and genetic tools of any multicellular eukaryote, and, coupled with the ease of gnotobiotic culture in these worms, represents a highly attractive system in which to study microbial influence on host behavior. Using this system, we discovered that commensal bacterial metabolites directly modulate nervous system function of their host. Beneficial gut microbes of the genus Providencia produce the neuromodulator tyramine in the C. elegans intestine. Using a combination of behavioral analysis, neurogenetics, metabolomics and bacterial genetics we established that bacterially produced tyramine is converted to octopamine in C. elegans, which acts directly in sensory neurons to reduce odor aversion and increase sensory preference for Providencia. We think that this type of sensory modulation may increase association of C. elegans with these microbes, increasing availability of this nutrient-rich food source for the worm and its progeny, while facilitating dispersal of the bacteria.

During histogenesis of the cerebral cortex, a proper laminar placement of defined numbers of specific cellular types is necessary to ensure proper functional connectivity patterns. There is a wide range of cortical malformations causing epilepsy and intellectual disability in humans, characterized with various degrees of neuronal misplacement, aberrant circuit organization or abnormal folding patterns. Although progress in human neurogenetics and brain imaging techniques have considerably advanced the identification of their causative genes, the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with defective cerebral cortex development remain poorly understood. In my presentation, I will outline some of our recent works in rodent models illustrating how misplaced neurons forming grey matter heterotopia, a cortical malformation subtype, interfere with the proper development of cortical circuits, and induce both local and distant circuitry changes associated with the subsequent emergence of epilepsy.