Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Dr. Srdjan D. Antic of the Institute for Systems Genomics and the Department of Neuroscience at the UConn School of Medicine, Farmington, CT. The research program is centered on two projects: [Project 1] Developing and testing genetically-encoded calcium and voltage sensors for the analysis of cellular and circuit mechanisms in mouse cerebral cortex and striatum. On this NIH funded project, the Antic lab is collaborating closely with Thomas Knopfel, Imperial College London (London, UK) and Vladislav Verkhusha, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY). At the Farmington site, we have traditionally worked with cell cultures and brain slices, performing electrophysiological recordings, calcium imaging and voltage imaging. We are particularly interested in recording voltage and calcium transients from dendrites of central nervous system neurons. [Project 2] Analysis of dendritic integration using voltage sensitive dye recordings and computational modeling. We are interested in several types of neurons in cortex, striatum and midbrain. We are particularly interested in dopaminergic modulation of synaptic integration. An ideal candidate should have experience with cell culture, intracellular electrophysiology and fluorescence imaging. Some practical knowledge of programming (e.g., Matlab) would be useful, but not absolutely necessary. We cannot consider candidates who obtained Ph.D. degree more than 10 years ago. Interested candidates should send a brief email and CV to Srdjan Antic.

Filtering of action potentials in the apical tuft. D1) Microphotograph of a layer 5 pyramidal neuron in the rat prefrontal cortex. The neuron is filled with two fluorescent dyes (AlexaFluor 594 and Oregon Green Bapta-1). D2) Three action potentials were evoked by somatic current injections. Optical imaging of action potential-induced dendritic calcium transients was performed simultaneously from 7 locations (1 - 7) marked in D1. Bottom trace represents whole-cell recording from the cell body (soma). Three action potentials back propagate into the apical tuft dendrites and induce calcium transients. At each branch point (BP-2 to BP-4), one late AP is lost. Note that 3 spikes start from location number 1. The third spike is lost after passing through branch point BP-2. Two spikes start from location number 3. The second spike is lost after passing through branch point BP-4, so that only the first spike arrives in locations numbers 5, 6 and 7. Published in Neurophotonics.