We are looking for up to 5 postdocs. Each selected candidate will work in close collaboration with other PIs in the dBrain consortium (see below), including researchers and clinicians at Karolinska Institute and Karolinska Hospital. https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/collaborative-projects/dbrain/ dBRAIN is an interdisciplinary initiative within the ‘Digital Futures’ initiative at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/collaborative-projects). The goal is to better understand neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. We combine computational modeling, machine learning and topological data analysis to identify causal links among disease biomarkers and disease symptoms. This understanding should improve diagnosis, prediction of the disease progression and suggest better therapies.

Call for 5 open-rank positions at IT:U — a new public university just founded in Austria. One of the focuses is Theoretical Foundations of Data Science — engaging with areas such as mathematics of data science, statistical learning, or specific topics like topological data analysis and causality. The concept of “Data Science” here is very broadly defined. The positions are attractive, and include permanent (i.e. recurring) funding for a number of PhD students and post-docs, depending on rank.

Entorhinal grid cells, so-called because of their hexagonally tiled spatial receptive fields, are organized in modules which, collectively, are believed to form a population code for the animal’s position. Here, we apply topological data analysis to simultaneous recordings of hundreds of grid cells and show that joint activity of grid cells within a module lies on a toroidal manifold. Each position of the animal in its physical environment corresponds to a single location on the torus, and each grid cell is preferentially active within a single “field” on the torus. Toroidal firing positions persist between environments, and between wakefulness and sleep, in agreement with continuous attractor models of grid cells.