Sprecher lab
Genetics of the brain
Open Positions
Open Positions
PhD positions in Cnidarian functional neurobiology
PhD positions in Cnidarian functional neurobiology
Applicants must hold a Masters degree in neurobiology, molecular biology, genetics or related scientific fields. Previous experience in molecular biology, neurobiology, genetics and programming is required.
The positions will be filled as soon as possible and is fully funded at an international highly competitive level.
Application deadline is October 31st 2023.
Please send your complete application (CV, letter of motivation; please have 3 reference letters sent by referees directly) via email to: simon.sprecher@unifr.ch
3 open PhD positions in neuroscience
3 open PhD positions in neuroscience
We are looking for highly motivated PhD candidates with interest in neuroscience joining our research group at the Department of Biology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Our laboratory aims to identify universal features of how the nervous system functions. Particularly we are interested in the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms of the how memories are formed and forgotten in health and disease. We study neuronal circuits, their neural and cellular properties properties as well as the molecular and genetic pathways that achieve these distinct cognitive functions in the brain.
PhD Position on functional and mechanistic neuroscience in Cephalopods
PhD Position on functional and mechanistic neuroscience in Cephalopods
Cephalopod specifically are of wide interest since they have independently developed advanced brains and achieved complex cognitive functions comparable to those in mammals. The cellular organization of their brains, underlying neural circuits and developmental pathways however remain unknown.
The project will make use of Cephalopod model species, single-cell transcriptomics, functional imaging of neurons and machine-learning based genetics.
As sister clade to bilaterians Cnidarians have a decentralized net-like nervous system, which appears superficially simple. However, their cognitive abilities are more complex than anticipated including the capacity to learn and form memories; with many more cell types than we assumed previously.
The project investigate the molecular and cellular mechansism of learning in the starlet anemone Nematostella vectensis as model, using single-cell transcriptomics, functional imaging of neurons and machine-learning based behavioral analysis.
PhD position in studying the Drosophila gut-brain axis
PhD position in studying the Drosophila gut-brain axis
We are interested in the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the gut-brain axis, the processes that link the brain, the taste systems with the gut and internal metabolites. We aim to identify the mechanism that function to translate complex chemical information into the proper neuronal signals, the identification of neuronal circuits and networks and how these components cooperatively allow the animal to process and transform neuronal information into meaningful behaviors.
The project will make use of state of the art molecular and genetic techniques, Drosophila genetic methods, in particularly functional imaging of neurons, CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing and single-cell transcriptomics.
The onset of Alzheimer's disease and the mechanisms causing cognitive defects are not well understood at a molecular and cellular level. Aggregation of amyloidogenic peptides is a pathological hallmark of AD and is assumed to be a central component of the molecular disease pathways.
We developed an early onset model for Alzheimer's disease by resticting the expression of amyloidogenic A-beta peptides to the memory center. We show that sleep, genetically silencing neurons as well as feeding Levetiracetam ameliorates the increased forgetting defects.
A genetic model for early onset Alzheimer's disease
The paper has recently been published in Plos Biology:
News:
Longlasting memories are known to require synthesis of new proteins, which in turn depend on the transcripton factor Creb. However where and how Creb is functioning remains still largely unclear. By using CRISPR we created a conditional Creb locus, allowing us to remove it specificially in certain types of brain cells. We identify differeent neurons in the memory cirucits, which require Creb for long-term memory, showing that the same memory is stored in mulitple interconnected neurons.
The same memory is storded in multiple neurons
The paper has been published in eLife:
About the lab
Address
University of Fribourg
Departement of Biology
Chemin du Musee 10
1700 Fribourg
Switzerland
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