Postdoctoral Fellow

The Creed lab at Washington University is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to join our team. Our lab is intercalated with the Anesthesiology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience departments and is housed in the Washington University Pain Center.

Our lab seeks to understand how the experience of chronic pain alters plasticity within defined neural circuits, with the ultimate goal of optimizing neuromodulation protocols to manage symptoms of chronic pain and substance use disorders. Many projects are pursued collaboratively with colleagues in bioengineering.

One set of studies leverages in vivo and ex vivo physiology to determine how deep brain stimulation or focused ultrasound modulates activity of genetically defined neuronal populations within the cingulate cortex. We are interested in understanding how this cingulate cortex modulation suppresses spontaneous pain behavior and alters reward processing in preclinical models of chronic pain, and how this modulation induces circuit plasticity on clinically-relevant time scales.

In a second set of studies, we are seeking to understand the role of genetically-defined neurons within the basal ganglia in reward processing behavior, using constrained behavioral tasks with high density electrode recordings. The goal is to identify genetically-defined neuronal populations that could be targeted with neuromodulation to treat disorders of reward processing, including chronic pain and substance use disorders.

To this end, the successful candidate will have prior experience with in vivo electrophysiology, or a combination of quantitative data analysis and behavioral neuroscience experience. While candidates will drive scientific projects independently, they should be excited to work collaboratively with team members and collaborators with complementary technical expertise. These projects are funded by multiple grants from the NIH.

This opportunity requires the ability to visit St. Louis for potential interviews; St. Louis offers an amazing quality of living for trainees, along with a dynamic scientific and social environment.