Postdoctoral Position in Neuroscience – Fernandez lab @CCHMC

Postdoctoral Position

Neural circuits controlling food-anticipatory responses and motivated behavior

Fernandez Lab · Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

https://www.scienceoflightcenter.org/diego-fernandez-lab

We’re hiring a postdoctoral fellow to study how the brain anticipates and controls feeding, and how internal-state signals shape motivated and emotional behavior. The lab investigates neural circuits linking sensory, metabolic, and hormonal signals to anticipatory behavior, circadian timing, and emotional/motivational-based circuits, using mouse models and a combination of pharmacological, circuit, molecular, and behavioral approaches. The work has translational relevance to metabolism, mood, and appetite regulation. You’ll lead a defined project — from behavioral and pharmacological manipulation through circuit-level mechanism — with room to grow it into an independent research direction.

Required:

• PhD (completed or near completion) in neuroscience, physiology, pharmacology, or a related field
• Hands-on experience with in vivo rodent (mouse) models — surgery plus behavioral and/or physiological experiments
• Experience with at least one circuit-level method, or a clear foundation to learn it quickly: stereotaxic and viral delivery, fiber photometry, opto- or chemogenetics, in vivo electrophysiology, or calcium imaging
• Solid molecular and histological skills (IHC/IF, confocal, qPCR and/or Western blot)
• First-author peer-reviewed publication(s)
• Independence, rigor, and a collaborative mindset

   Preferred:

  • Experience in one or more of: feeding/metabolic behavior, food anticipatory activity, gut-brain signaling, or incretin pharmacology
  • Amygdala or emotional/motivational circuit experience (e.g., fear conditioning, anxiety assays)
  • Chronobiology methods (actigraphy/wheel-running, free-running rhythm and clock-gene analysis)
  • In vivo pharmacology and drug-timing / dosing design
  • Analysis of time-series data; programming (Python, R, or MATLAB)

    To apply: send a CV, a brief statement of research interests and fit, and contact information for three references to [email protected]