From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:48:08 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0001.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0001.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0002.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0002.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0003.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:48:08 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:48:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:48:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0001.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0001.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0002.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3337 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0002.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0003.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:48:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:55:39 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0003.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0004.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0005.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0004.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0006.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0005.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0007.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:55:39 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment-0001.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:55:39 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:55:39 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0004.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0006.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3337 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0005.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0007.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 16:55:39 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:18:27 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080807/56783= 023/attachment-0011.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:18:27 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080825/626daf= 5f/attachment-0002.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:18:27 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:18:27 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080827/3226a= 321/attachment-0011.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:18:27 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:20:13 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0009.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0012.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0013.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0010.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0014.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0011.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0015.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:20:13 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment-0003.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:20:13 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:20:13 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0010.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0014.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3337 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0011.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0015.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:20:13 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:29:54 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0012.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0016.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0017.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0013.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0018.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0014.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0019.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:29:54 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment-0004.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:29:54 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:29:54 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0013.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0018.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3337 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0014.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0019.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:29:54 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:49:52 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0015.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0020.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0021.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0016.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0022.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0017.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0023.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:49:52 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment-0005.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:49:52 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:49:52 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 11037 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0015.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1967 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0020.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 2085 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0021.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0016.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0022.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3337 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0017.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0023.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:49:52 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:54:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17549 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0019.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 786 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0026.gif -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6944 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0020.jpeg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080807/56783023/attachment-0027.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:54:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachme= nts/20080825/626daf5f/attachment-0006.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:54:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:54:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pipermail/general/attachm= ents/20080827/3226a321/attachment-0027.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 17:54:09 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From vde-conferences at vde.com Thu Aug 7 15:11:22 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE) Date: Mon Feb 16 19:17:57 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] IFESS 2008 Newsletter Message-ID: <20080807131042.F20F67043@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080807/56783= 023/attachment-0031.gif From boretius at imtek.de Mon Aug 25 09:44:38 2008 From: boretius at imtek.de (Tim Boretius) Date: Mon Feb 16 19:17:58 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] Post doc position in neural prostheses development Message-ID: <5D0AE057C0BD4F27B3B67D318C118E46@appolon> 2-year post doc position in neural prostheses development = = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany = = Application Dead-line: September 30, 2008 = = = = The Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology (http://www.imtek.de/bmt) as part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany) offers a post-doc position for two years within the European project TIME (http://www.project-time.eu ). = = The laboratory of Biomedical Microtechnology (BMT) works on the design and development on neural microimplants, e.g. interfaces for recording and stimulation at the peripheral nerve and the cortex, novel biocompatible assembling and packaging techniques, and evaluation of the biostability of substrate and insulation materials. It is part of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) with 18 faculty professors and over 200 researchers and technical staff (including graduate students) that encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. Research and teaching go hand in hand at IMTEK. Theory and practice form a tightly interwoven educational program for about 350 undergraduate students. The BMT has access to the microsystems engineering cleanroom (600 m=B2) of the IMTEK and owns laboratories for electrode and implant characterization including a cleanroom for implant manufacturing. = Applicants must hold a PhD degree and should have experience in neural engineering, electrical engineering, microsystems engineering or relating fields. We expect from the candidate new impulses for the development of micromachined neural interfaces and their assembly into microimplants. Besides the research work, candidates are involved into the quality management processes of implantable medical device development and accompany the device development up to first clinical trials. = = Applications should include a CV, a list of publications, documents about previous research and teaching, and the names of at least two references and should be submitted to = Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering University of Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 D-79110 Freiburg, Germany = no later than September 30, 2008. = Applications of women are strongly encouraged, as we wish to increase the proportion of females. Handicapped persons with equal qualifications will be preferred. = = _________________________________________ Dipl.-Ing. Tim Boretius = Laboratory for Biomedical Microtechnology Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK = Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Georges-Koehler-Allee 102 / 077 79110 Freiburg Germany = Phone: +49 (0)761 203-7451 Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7472 Email: boretius@imtek.de URL: www.imtek.de/bmt _________________________________________ = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080825/626daf= 5f/attachment-0007.htm From sandini at unige.it Thu Aug 28 15:48:44 2008 From: sandini at unige.it (Giulio Sandini) Date: Mon Feb 16 19:17:58 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] PhD Fellowships at Italian Institute of Technology Message-ID: <000901c90914$ca64cf50$5f2e6df0$@it> The Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS) Department of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is offering fellowships in the area of HUMAN MOTOR LEARNING, BIOMECHANICS AND REHABILITATION ROBOTICS and BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE. These fellowships are part of a multidisciplinary project aiming at 'reading' the brain to understand and extract motor signals which may be used to control an artificial limb. These two main streams of research will be developed jointly at RBCS department of IIT under the responsibility of Giulio Sandini and two groups of scientists coordinated by Thierry Pozzo (motor learning) Luciano Fadiga (Brain Machine Interface) and including: Lorenzo Masia, Stefano Panzeri, Alessandro Vato, Gytis Baranauskas, Davide Ricci and Franco Bertora, Marco Jacono. These projects address topics such as the design of microelectrode and microelectronics devices for chronic in-vivo recording, electrophysiological and brain signals recording, investigation of the coding/decoding issue, functional identification of brain motor/premotor areas, and direct connection to artificial actuators. More specifically the five research themes proposed are (short abstract and scientist in charge are included at the end of the message): Research Stream: Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics * Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration * Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement * Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Research Stream: Brain Machine Interface * Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis * Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Interested applicants should refer to one of the following website to download instructions on how to apply and/or contact directly the scientists in charge (below) for more information regarding the individual research plans. http://www.liralab.it/iit2009phd.htm http://www.iit.it/phd_positions -------------------------------------------- RESEARCH TOPICS PROPOSED Research Stream : Human Behavior, Perception and Biomechanics Theme 5.4: Psychophysical study of unimodal perception and multimodal integration Tutor: Monica Gori N. Available positions: 1 In this project we will investigate the way in which unimodal sensory signals are integrated in order to obtain a robust multimodal perception of the world. As no single information-processing system can perceive optimally under all conditions, integration of multiple sources of sensory information makes perception more robust. Many recent studies have demonstrated the capacity of human observers to integrate information across various senses in a statistically optimal (sometimes termed ?Bayesian?) fashion, where greater weight is given to the sense carrying the more reliable information under any particular condition. Importantly, performance in the multimodal condition is always better than in either single modality. An aspect of the integration to be studied by our research group is to investigate at what age children start to integrate sensory signals, and if is this integration optimal. Another aspect to be studied is how dynamic information are integrated between different modalities, by studying the integration of visual and tactile integration of visual and tactile flow motion. One PhD student will be involved in psychophysical experiments of this research theme. The aim is to study and understand how our brain produces an integrated robust percept of the world. Backgrounds in experimental psychology, neuroscience and basic programming skills are required. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: monica.gori@iit.it Theme 5.5: Modular Control of Equilibrium and Movement Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The program of research is based on previous results obtained during a paradigm that we developed to study both equilibrium and spatial components of a complex multijoint goal oriented task. When subjects reach targets positioned beyond arm length from the standing position, the central nervous system (CNS) has to specify the spatio-temporal characteristics of the arm movement while maintaining the whole body center of mass (CoM) within the supporting base (the feet). A number of interesting questions arise when considering together the control of equilibrium and arm trajectory formation : 1) Are the control laws governing arm movements, laid down largely using planar 2-joint tasks (and having little or no equilibrium constraints) applicable to multijoint reaching movements (requiring a high degree of equilibrium control and numerous DoF)? 2) How are equilibrium constraints integrated by the CNS during the formation of a specific end-point trajectory among a plethora of possible ones? 3) Is there a macroscopic representation (motor primitives) at spinal and/or supraspinal level of such components and can they be combined like building blocks to perform this task in different conditions? Within this field of research, one PhD student will study the interaction of these two components of the action by using experimental and computational approach and modelling. A simulator based on experimental results and optimization of iterative algorithms able to find the motor solution which, respecting the anatomical and task constraints, minimizes a given cost function, will be developed. We need therefore the contribute of one PhD students possessing basic competencies in robotic, control theory or computational neurosciences. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Theme 5.6: Neural Correlates of Biological Motion Inference Tutor: Prof. Thierry Pozzo N. available positions: 1 The spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input (e.g., when a person suddenly disappears behind a wall) is a common experience for human beings. Non-human primate studies (Baker et al. 2001) demonstrated that cells in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) contribute to the perceptual capacity for object permanence and support the hypothesis that the motor representation of action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking (Umilt. et al. 2001). Recent behavioral experiments (Pozzo et al. 2006, Saunier et al. 2008), suggest an implicit motor simulation during the complete occlusion of biological motion that compensates the lack of visual input. Little is known, however, about the neurophysiological basis of the biological motion permanence and of the capability to predict the outcome of others' actions. Within this field of research, one PhD student will be involved in the development of a high density EEG system which will enable to quantify, in humans, the involvement of action representation during the perception of biological motion. The aim is to develop a high temporal resolution EEG technique to better precise the functional roles played by the STS region and by the fronto-parietal network involved in the perception of biological motion. The student will be involved both in the recording techniques and in the online deocoding of neural signals, which will be perfomed with the aid advanced wavelet decomposition techniques to denoise the signal and information theoretic techniques to reveal the most informative components of the neural signal. The candidate should possess basic competencies in physicis, statistics, mathematics and computer science and will receive interdisciplinary training by a team composed of both experimental (Prof. Pozzo and Fadiga) and theoretical (Prof. Panzeri) neuroscientists. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: thierry.pozzo@iit.it Research Stream : Brain Machine Interface Theme 5.7: Machinery for functional brain analysis. Tutor: Prof. Franco Bertora N. of available positions: 1 There is at IIT an ongoing program to investigate the frontiers of functional MRI imaging. Any fMRI of the motor cortex has so far been performed on subjects confined in a supine/prone position in the limited volume of a traditional scanner. There are reasons to think that the analysis of subjects performing motor tasks in a more ?natural? environment could produce different and more meaningful results. A study is currently in progress for an open scanner, based on an innovative magnet design, allowing functional brain analysis of a human adult in a standing or sitting position. We are looking for one PhD student with background in physics, electronics, signal processing and MRI to participate in the design of the magnet and its related equipment and to explore and conceive novel imaging techniques (MRI sequences, data acquisition modalities and image reconstruction) to be included in the development of the scanner. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: franco.bertora@iit.it Theme 5.8: The Neurophysiology of the Human Brain Tutor: Dr. Elisa Molinari N. of available positions: 1 The Phd student will use brain mapping approaches based on functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the structural and functional organization of cortical and subcortical motor systems. Through this project we will better understand the functional correlates of motor planning/execution and the underlying motor circuits. Quantitative approaches to the anatomical definition of the cortical grey matter in healthy individuals are of specific interest. We are looking forward to one PhD student which should be competent in physics, computer science and basic neuroscience. For further details concerning the research project, please contact: elisa.molinari@iit.it --- Prof. Giulio Sandini Italian Institute of Technology Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Phone: +39 010 7178101 - Fax +39 010 720321 and LIRA-Lab, University of Genova Phone: +39 0103532779 - Fax: +39 010353.2948 http://www.liralab.it http://sandini.liralab.it From vde-conferences at vde.com Wed Aug 27 15:04:50 2008 From: vde-conferences at vde.com (VDE Conferences) Date: Mon Feb 16 19:17:58 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] 25 days left - IFESS 2008 - from movement to mind Message-ID: <20080827120451.47C126F8B@relay2.vde.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -----= --------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1922 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/attachments/20080827/3226a= 321/attachment-0031.gif From bernabe at imse.cnm.es Sun Aug 31 19:18:39 2008 From: bernabe at imse.cnm.es (Bernabe Linares-Barranco) Date: Mon Feb 16 19:17:58 2009 Subject: [Neuro-IT] pre/post-doc positions for EU project on neuro/nanotechnologies In-Reply-To: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> References: <013201c4d012$b7276ea0$8124fea9@epfl.ch> Message-ID: <48BAD26F.9010301@imse.cnm.es> Pre and/or post-doctoral research fellowships at the Sevilla Microelectronics Institute, to work on an interdisciplinary EU project combining nanotechnologies and neural networks. Candidates will be working on developing device models for adaptive nano-devices and use them to propose and simulate large scale adaptive neural systems for specific applications. Interested candidates, please contact Bernabe Linares-Barranco (bernabe 'at' imse 'dot' cnm 'dot' es). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-95-505-6670/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-95-505-6686 Ed. CICA, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse.cnm.es 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse.cnm.es/~bernabe -------------------------------------------------------------------------