Fwd: Research Associate (Post-doc) Neuroimaging Cambridge

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Researcher to join the Wellcome Trust Consortium for Neuroimmunology of Mood Disorders and Alzheimer’s Disease (NIMA). The post will be based at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge UK, under the supervision of Prof. Ed Bullmore. NIMA is a 5-year research programme, with total funding of approximately £5.7M, designed to translate the new inter-disciplinary science of neuroimmunology to therapeutic applications in psychiatry and neurology. The research programme will be coordinated across a network of UK academic centres (University of Cambridge, University of Sussex, University of Cardiff, University of Glasgow, King’s College London, University of Oxford and University of Southampton) and two major pharmaceutical companies (Janssen Pharmaceuticals R&D and H. Lundbeck A/S). The scientific scope of the research will include clinical biomarker studies, therapeutic trials of new drugs in patients with depression and Alzheimer’s disease and is intended to develop new treatment approaches for these conditions. Prof. Ed Bullmore (University of Cambridge) and Dr. Neil Harrison (University of Sussex) will co-lead MRI components of the Consortium which will be undertaken at Cambridge, Glasgow, KCL, Oxford & Sussex. This post will be based at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and will involve close coordination with Sussex as well as each of the other imaging sites. The research programme will use a range of advanced quantitative techniques including models of magnetisation transfer (qMT), T1/ T2 mapping and diffusion imaging (NODDI), as well as task-related functional imaging and graph theoretic analyses of multi-echo resting state fMRI in conjunction with peripheral and CSF immunophenotyping to investigate the neural and peripheral signatures of inflammation in patients with depression. Comparable techniques as well as histology will be acquired in rodent inflammation models at other sites to facilitate back-translation of the human imaging findings. The post holder will work closely with a postdoc based at Sussex and other researchers at both sites to analyse all of the imaging data acquired from up to 150 patients and controls. This post offers an outstanding opportunity to be involved in a large multi-centre consortium combining cutting-edge microstructural and functional neuroimaging with deep immunological phenotyping to characterise the role of inflammation in the commonest mental disorder depression. The successful candidate will assist in the initial quality control of sequences across imaging centres and the analysis and interpretation of the imaging data. The post will involve close collaboration with other leading UK neuroimaging groups as well as groups working on functional immunological network changes. For further information and link to application go to http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/6526/