Postdoctoral position in Sensory Biology - OHSU, Portland, Oregon

Created by Jonathan Knight
Jun 21, 2016
2 min read

Postdoctoral position available in the Nicolson Lab, at the Oregon Hearing Research Center and the Vollum Institute, at OHSU in Portland, Oregon.

Topic: Sensory Biology/Hearing and Balance

We study the molecular basis of hearing and balance in zebrafish with a focus on the development and function of mechanosensory hair cells. We use both forward and reverse genetic approaches to isolate mutants with auditory/vestibular behavioral deficits; to date, the majority of the genes we’ve identified via forward screens are implicated in human deafness. Aside from deafness genes, we are also interested in neuromodulation of hair cells (see below Toro et al. 2015). We use a wide range of methods for our projects including molecular, behavioral, and imaging analyses.

Desired training/skills for the successful candidate:

Proficiency with the usual skills of working with zebrafish or a similar animal model (husbandry, transgenesis, CRISPR, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, live imaging, TEM, etc.). Experience with calcium imaging and electrophysiology is a plus.

Please send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references to nicolson@ohsu.edu.

 

Recent papers of interest:

Maeda, R., Kindt, K. S., Mo, M., Morgan, C. P., Erickson, T., Zhao, H., Clemens-Grisham, R., Barr-Gillespie, P.G., and Nicolson, T. (2014) Tip-link protein protocadherin 15 interacts with transmembrane channel-like proteins TMC1 and TMC2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 111 (35): 12907-12912.

Erickson, T. and Nicolson, T. (2015) Identification of sensory hair-cell transcripts by thiouracil-tagging in zebrafish. BMC Genomics, 16:842.

Toro, C., Trapani, J., Pacentine, I., Maeda, R., Sheets, L., Mo, W., Nicolson, T. (2015) Dopamine modulates the activity of sensory hair cells. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(50): 16494-16503. [Featured Article and selected for SfN Neuronline website]

Nicolson, T. (2015) Ribbon Synapses in Zebrafish Hair Cells (Review article). Hearing Research, pii: S0378-5955(15)00085-4.