THE POTENTIAL FOR FUNCTIONAL IMAGING TO HAVE AN IMPACT

Functional imaging has had a dramatic impact on brain research, but to date has had very limited application beyond the research setting.  We believe that functional neuroimaging has the potential to move beyond brain research, and to impact the lives of millions of people as it develops in the future. Over the past two decades, MRI has gone from being a newly developed technology to being an essential research method and a vital clinical diagnostic applied in more than 100 million procedures per year. Today, it is possible for the first time to image the patterns of brain activation taking place in real time during cognitive and behavioral processes. Our team is dedicated to finding the key research and clinical applications of functional imaging.  Our group has recently developed the capability to guide behavioral experiments based upon real time fMRI and demonstrated, for example, that subjects can learn direct and explicit control over activation in localized brain areas, & thereby impact both behavior and disease symptoms.  

POSITION

A research scientist appointment is available at the Omneuron 3T MRI Research center, a private venture developing and exploring applications of functional brain imaging in Palo Alto California (next door to Stanford University).  This NIH-funded position offers an opportunity to lead in the early development and experimental applications of an exciting new imaging technology, heading part of a multidisciplinary team.  The primary focus areas will be conducting experiments using existing functional brain imaging technology already in routine use at Omneuron and Stanford, and also the development of new technology and methods.  This approach is proving to have important new research and clinical applications, with a number of publications recently published or in press and a strong expectation for future publication.  We have a fast-paced and collaborative team pursuing a variety of cognitive science and clinical research goals.  Primary principal investigators involved in this research program to date: Dr. Christopher deCharms, Dr. John Gabrieli, Dr. Sean Mackey, Dr. Gary Glover, Dr. John Pauly.

RESOURCES

The project team and person filling this position will have full and essentially unlimited scan time access to a newly-installed 3T MRI scanner at our center.  This position is fully-funded through multiple currently-active NIH grants.

CANDIDATE

The successful candidate will be at the doctoral level or above (additional positions will be advertised soon at MSc/BSc level).  We are looking for someone who is a demonstrated leader in their research: exceptionally highly motivated and hard working, outstanding past research success, and very strong references. Passion to pursue research that makes a real, practical difference is central. fMRI background preferred, but not essential. Quantitative/ analytical skills, programming and data or signal processing experience will also be valuable. We are only accepting applicants with significant prior physical/biological science research background.

Links to recent research articles and extensive press coverage can be found at: http://www.omneuron.com/technology.html

Contact: careers@omneuron.com