| August 8, 2008 | This Week in HST | Volume 8, Number 26 |
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HST Community Notices
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Course Information |
Lectures & Seminars
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Student Opportunities
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Professional Opportunities
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Career Programs
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WE NEED YOUR HELP IN WELCOMING NEW STUDENTS We need a number of volunteers to help in activities taking place during new-student orientation period. Needed are campus tour guides, buddies for incoming students, and event organizers. If you have a little time and the willingness to use it in helping make this year's HST orientation events the best ever, we can use you! Contact Cathy Modica for more information.
MIT LIBRARIES HOSTING HST STUDENT FOCUS GROUP How do you find, use, and manage information in your work? The MIT Libraries want to know! In order to improve the library services, they are organizing a focus group specifically for HST students, and they want to hear from you. Please contact Courtney Crummett (crummett@mit.edu) if you are interested in participating. A $50.00 Amazon gift certificate is offered in exchange for two hours of your time!
STUDENT
T PASSES FOR FALL THROUGH MIT
MIT
LIBRARIES MIGRATING FROM COPY CARDS TO TECHCASH As of Friday, August 1st, value cannot be added to old copy cards, but if you have an old card with stored value on it, you can have this value migrated onto a new Tech Cash "Copy/Print only" card at Document Services (14-0551). For hours & contact information for this service, see http://libraries.mit.edu/docs/. And for more information on the transition, visit http://libraries.mit.edu/about-test/faqs/tech-cash.html.
ELI PAPA WINS MIT POITRAS FELLOWSHIP Congratulations to MEMP student Eliseo (Eli) Papa on receiving
a Poitras Pre-doctoral Fellowship. The Poitras is awarded each year
to two MIT pre-doctoral students in Biomedical Engineering or
SECOND LIFE PARTICIPANTS SOUGHT FOR STRESS RESEARCH STUDY Lauren Mayhew, a health educator at MIT Medical, is helping to recruit participants for a stress management research study being conducted in part by the Benson Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Mass General Hospital. They are seeking members of the "Second Life" on-line community to participate in a ten-week stress reduction on-line study to determine if the program is as effective virtually as it is "in person". Participants will receive a Razer Piranha headset to be used in the study and kept afterwards, as well as a transportation allowance. For more information, contact RRSLStudy@ partners.org, or call Halton Alsop at 617 643-6240.
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HST.583: FUNCTIONAL MRI DATA ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS Lecture: M/W, 3:00 - 4:00 pm, MIT E25-119 Lab: M, 1:00 - 2:30 pm, MIT 1-115 Discussion: W, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, MIT E25-119 This multidisciplinary course in fMRI includes instruction and hands-on learning of the physics of image acquisition, the physiological source of the fMRI signal, experimental design, and statistical analysis of fMRI brain imaging experiments. For more information, contact Course Director Dr. Randy Gollub (rgollub@partners.org) or see the course website at http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/HST/fa08/HST.583/.
9.914: GENETICS, NEUROBIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS G (Fall) Exploration of the genetic, behavioral, neurobiological and therapeutic aspects of neuropsychiatric disorders. Topics include: depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, addiction and autism. Introductory lectures will be followed by in-depth analysis of past and current literature in the form of student directed presentations and discussions of original papers. Please note: this is the same subject as 7.93. Ed Scolnick, Li-Huei Tsai
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Thursday, August 28, 2008 Yvonne S. Sininger, PhD, Professor of Head & Neck Surgery at UCLA, will deliver a seminar on Lateral Asymmetry in the Human Auditory System.
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MGH, in co-operation with the Laboratory with Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Operations Research Center (ORC) at MIT, has an opportunity for a PhD thesis project on the optimization of radiation therapy for moving targets such as lung and liver cancers. The objective of the project, which is partially funded by the National Cancer Institute, is to optimally adapt the treatment plan to changes that occur during the course of treatment. The student will work as a member of a small team in the Radiation Physics division at MGH. Requirements are strong analytical skills and experience and interest in computer programming. The thesis will be supervised by professors Thomas Bortfeld at MGH and John Tsitsiklis from LIDS and ORC. To apply, contact:
The Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation (in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering) has full RA opportunities at the masters level. The goal of the project is to re-design our adult version of the anklebot (see http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/stroke-robot.html) for children ages three to twelve. The project will involve design, control, and deployment of the device in a Childrens' Hospital. Interested candidates should contact Dr. H. I. Krebs at hikrebs@mit.edu. Please note: this opportunity is specifically, and only, available for Greek citizens.
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY IN NEUROBIOLOGY/SOUND PERCEPTION The Goodrich lab is looking for students and postdocs interested in studying how auditory circuits are wired for the perception of sound. We use mouse genetics and molecular biology to understand how spiral ganglion neurons acquire their unique properties, such as the ability to form extraordinarily large synapses. Projects employ a variety of techniques, including biochemical analysis of novel proteins, in vitro culturing of neurons, imaging of single cells during auditory circuit assembly, RNAi, in utero electoporation, and gene expression profiling. No experience with the auditory system is required, but a familiarity with neuroscience or mouse genetics is a plus. Individuals with expertise in electrophysiology, cell biology, imaging, microarrays, or signal transduction are particularly encouraged to apply. See the lab website for more information: http://neuro.med.harvard.edu/faculty/goodrich.html. To apply, please send a cover letter, CV, and three references to: Dr. Lisa Goodrich
RESEARCH ASSISTANT FOR PROJECT ASSESSING NEED FOR IMAGING Dr. Frank Levy, Rose Professor of Urban Economics at MIT, has a position for a graduate student in 2008-09 on a project assessing physician and insurer initiatives to define and restrict medically unnecessary advanced imaging. The appointment involves both library and fieldwork. Interested applicants may contact Prof. Levy at flevy@mit.edu or 617-253-2089.
RA
POSITION IN QUANTITATIVE SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING
RESEARCH POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY The Sunyaev lab in the Genetics Division of Brigham & Women's Hospital has two RA positions available. The first is on the analysis of human genetic variation and, specifically, to the systematic resequencing data. We are broadly interested in the effect of mutations on molecular function, phenotype and fitness. Areas of interest include development of computational methods for predicting functionally significant human alleles, development of data-driven population genetics models, simulations of resequencing studies of phenotyped populations, and design of statistical methods to relate DNA sequence data to phenotypes. The second project has a focus on computational proteomics and is part of a large multidisciplinary effort aimed at the analysis of mammalian organogenesis and development of methods for organ engineering. The project will be devoted to computational approaches to proteomics of mammalian organ development. The project will involve a close collaboration with Dr. Steve Gygi, Director of Taplin Mass Spectrometry Facility at Harvard Medical School, and several developmental biology, bioengineering, genomic technology and computational biology groups. To apply for either position, contact Shamil Sunyaev at ssunyaev@rics.bwh.harvard.edu.
POSITION AVAILABLE IN HEARING RESEARCH LABORATORY HST alumna Konstantina Stankovic, MD, PhD is looking for talented and motivated students and postdocs to join her lab, whose focus is on hearing research. She is looking primarily for a student who is interested in analyzing samples of inner ear fluid (using proteomics) to discover biomarkers of hearing loss, but there are several other ongoing projects in the lab. Please contact her for further information at KSTANKOVIC@PARTNERS.ORG.
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An NIH-funded neuroimaging postdoctoral position (duration up to three years) is available at the Martinos Center. The project involves using structural and functional MRI to study the effects of botulinum toxin treatment on CNS abnormalities in cervical dystonia and writer’s cramp. A recent Ph.D. and/or M.D., preferably in a neuroscience/neurology-related field, is required; background in brain imaging is preferred. The successful candidate will be well-versed in experimental design and will have technical expertise in a discipline with relevance to neuroimaging (e.g., programming, statistical analysis, or electrophysiology). Candidates with a background in brain control of posture are especially sought. To apply, send CV, statement of research interests, and three letters of reference to: Anne Blood
SENIOR ANALYST, PURETECH VENTURES PureTech Ventures, which creates and funds ground-breaking life science companies with a focus on pre-clinical and early clinical stage therapeutics, medical devices and research tools, has a position for a Senior Analyst. The Senior Analyst will support PureTech’s portfolio companies and team members, and conduct sourcing and due diligence of early stage life science deals. Responsibilities will include: • Driving venture creation activities and operations for
portfolio companies Candidates must have an MD or PhD life sciences. Strong presentation and communication skills, as well as excellent quantitative analysis and research skills are required; business experience is preferred but not mandatory. To apply, send a cover letter and your CV to careers@puretechventures.com. For more information on us, see www.puretechventures.com.
TWO MGH POSTDOCS IN MEDICAL PHYSICS The Department of Radiation Oncology, Radiation Physics Division, has two two-year postdoctoral research positions beginning September 1st, 2008. Both projects are funded by the National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute. First position: work on Monte Carlo simulations of dose delivered to patients in proton radiation therapy with the aim to reduce uncertainties in patient treatment. Project goal is to b) study dose calculation errors due to uncertainties in CT imaging and conversion of CT information into material properties, b) work on Monte Carlo variance reduction techniques and c) provide patient specific Monte Carlo dose calculation to assist in clinical trials. A Ph.D. in physics or computer science is required, and knowledge of programming under C++ and experience in Monte Carlo simulations (ideally using the Geant4 code) are preferred. Second position: investigate and develop new treatment planning techniques to ensure robust proton radiation treatment delivery without use of a traditional planning target volume. Aims are to a) analyze accuracy of dose delivery and associated treatment margins, b) incorporate uncertainties directly in treatment planning optimization for robust beam delivery, and c) quantify site-specific confidence limits on dose delivery. A Ph.D. in physics or mathematics is required, and knowledge in optimization algorithms and treatment planning is preferred. To apply for either position, please send
CV and two letters of recommendation to: If applying for the first position, use keyword “Monte Carlo”; if applying for the second position, use keyword “Optimization.”
POSTDOC AT CENTER FOR ADDICTION MEDICINE, MGH DEPT. OF PSYCHIATRY AND MARTINOS CENTER The Center for Addiction Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH, in partnership with the Martinos Center and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, has established a new research program in translational approaches to treatment of diseases of addiction. This position will join researchers using neurofeedback from salient regionally specific real time fMRI data to augment psychotherapy in psychiatric disorders, particularly addiction, and will work collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team to develop experimental paradigms, training protocols and real-time data analysis methods. A doctoral degree in Neuroscience, Psychology, BME, EECS, or related field, experience in statistical analysis of medical imaging data, MATLAB and UNIX programming skills, and basic knowledge of functional and/or clinical neuroanatomy are required. Knowledge of Freesurfer, Perl, and statistics packages such as R, SAS is a plus. To apply, send cover letter, CV and 3 letters
of recommendation to: For more information, see http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/martinos/.
POSTDOC IN IMAGING AT MGH/MARTINOS CENTER A postdoctoral position is available immediately at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging (http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu). The project is a multidisciplinary collaboration between MGH and Logan College of Chiropractic involving the application of state-of-the-art fMRI imaging methods to study the neuroplasticity and somatotopy of chronic pain and its response to acupuncture therapy. The candidate will receive a joint appointment to Massachusetts General Hospital and Logan College of Chiropractic. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in neuroscience or other biological/bioengineering sciences. Experience in computer programming and fMRI image processing is essential. Familiarity with fMRI analysis software including FSL, AFNI, and Freesurfer, as well as programming environments such as MATLAB is highly desirable. To apply, send CV and three letters of reference to: Vitaly Napadow, PhD
NASA FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE BIOLOGY The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently released a Research Announcement [NNH08ZTT003N] entitled "Research Opportunities for Fundamental Space Biology Investigations in Microbial, Plant and Cell Biology". This announcement solicits ground based research in the fundamental space biology areas of microbial, plant and cell biology. Fundamental space biology addresses basic questions of how life responds to gravity and space environments; it uses the ground based space environment analogs supplemented with space based investigations to probe the fundamental nature of life in order to enhance understanding of how life responds to physical phenomena and physical forces on Earth, and serves as the basic biological foundation in support of exploration. The research called for would eventually lead to experiments on flight platforms. Proposals are due on September 8, 2008, and must be submitted electronically via either the NASA Proposal data system NSPIRES or Grants.gov. For the full text of the solicitation, see the menu listing "Open Solicitations" on the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com.
POSTDOC IN FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING The Developmental Psychopathology and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging seeks a postdoctoral fellow for study of the relationship between psychological predispositions and physiological states in infants and development of psychiatric disorder and behavior problems in adolescents and young adults. The lab utilizes structural and functional MRI in conjunction with clinical assessments of psychopathology, neuropsychological studies of information processing, and assessment of autonomic reactivity to cognitive and social stress. Strong computer background (expert use of Linux, scripting, Matlab code, or other programming skills) required. Expertise with one or more of the following required: complex physiological monitoring in the scanner and signal/data processing, acquisition and analysis of MRI/fMRI/DTI data, multimodal/MEG imaging, or neuroanatomy. Candidates should have a doctoral degree in Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience or Psychology, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or related field; excellent interpersonal, organizational, and oral and written English communication skills. To apply, send CV with description of research and/or computing experience, statement of goals and interests, and names and contact details of three references to PI Carl E. Schwartz, MD, at
Kate Rubins, a Fellow at the Whitehead Institute who studies poxviruses is seeking a Bioinformatics Analyst for her Lab. Some of you will have met Kate through BioMatrix, where she is an active mentor. Responsibilities for this position will include: assisting scientists in the creation and analysis of genomic expression and sequence data sets; conducting independent research projects using large scale datasets of host-pathogen interaction and emerging infectious diseases; using programming and bioinformatics skills to design and develop programs and tools directly related to biological research; collaborating on short and long term bioinformatics projects with researchers in the lab. More information on the position can be found on their website.
Interested candidates should send a CV to:
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There are no career announcements this week.
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