Research Scientist, All-Optical Working Memory

Company Overview

Astera Neuro is a philanthropically funded research organization within the Astera Institute, working to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes underlying perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. The tools this requires do not yet exist, so we are assembling a founding team of experimental neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them, from recording and interface hardware to software and computational methods, and to use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct promise for treating neurological and psychiatric disease. We pursue high-risk, high-reward science in a collaborative, well-resourced environment with competitive compensation, and share our tools, data, and discoveries openly under Astera's Open Science Policy

Position Summary

We’re hiring a PhD-level scientist to join Astera Neuro’s rodent neuroscience team. Your initial assignment is to read, write, and perturb the content of working memory in mouse cortex at single-cell resolution.

The ideal candidate is an experimentalist who can carry the work end-to-end. You can design a working-memory task in the morning, run a closed-loop holographic write-in on the rig in the afternoon, and write the population-analysis pipeline that evening. You want institutional support and the freedom to move fast on a problem that matters.

What You’ll Do

• Design and iterate a head-fixed mouse working-memory task, and get animals performing it reliably.

• Run two-photon holographic photostimulation experiments: read population activity during the task, then write in and perturb the held representation at single-cell resolution.

• Run holographic targeting, power calibration, and closed-loop stimulation on the all-optical rig, working with our optics engineering team.

• Lead computational analysis of large-scale neural population data, including dimensionality reduction, population decoding, GLMs, and circuit-level inference.

• Set the viral and transgenic expression strategy, including soma-targeted ChRmine and GCaMP.

• Perform mouse survival surgery: stereotaxic viral injection, chronic cranial-window implantation, and headbar installation.

• Mentor research associates and technicians and, at the senior or principal level, more junior scientists; contribute to hiring, onboarding, and lab culture.

• Contribute to publications, talks, open data and tooling releases, and engagement with the broader scientific community.

Who You Are

Required:

• Hands-on mouse survival surgery experience: chronic cranial windows, headbars, and stereotaxic injections.

• PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or a related field. Equivalent demonstrated expertise will also be considered.

• Hands-on experience with in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and/or holographic (SLM-based) optogenetics in rodents.

• Practical experience with two-photon systems: optical alignment, system characterization, and in vivo use.

• Proficiency in scientific computing for neural-data analysis; Python and/or MATLAB, with Suite2p, CaImAn, or comparable pipelines.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• Experience with head-fixed rodent behavior and task design; closed-loop and real-time experiments.

• Prior systems neuroscience research in cortex, working memory, decision-making, or motor/premotor circuits.

• Experience with ultrafast pulsed lasers (Ti:Sapphire, fiber) and nonlinear optics.

• Two-photon optogenetics (SLM-based holography, temporal focusing, or spiral-scanning photostimulation); soma-targeted opsins such as ChRmine.

What We Value

• Conviction that the brain’s internal model can be understood in full, and that getting there requires a kind of science no single academic lab can do; we’re betting on scale, deep collaboration across science and engineering, and open sharing of ideas in a full-stack environment.

• Willingness to be held to an engineering standard. Our decisive tests are write-in experiments: constructing a specific percept, thought, or internal state, not merely decoding one. What we cannot build, we do not understand.

• Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects; rigs, surgical preparations, and analysis pipelines are standardized so they can be shared, and datasets are designed to stitch across sessions and animals.

• Care for the animals: healthy, well-handled mice, supported by dedicated veterinary oversight, are the foundation of both the science and its credibility.

• Commitment to open science; we release tools, data, and methods, and aim to create a new dynamic of rapid, open exchange in neuroscience.

Education

PhD with 0-4 years of experience in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent research experience. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.

Compensation

The posted salary range is based on location in the Bay Area. The successful candidate will receive a competitive compensation package, commensurate with their experience and location.

Why Join Us

Research Scientist at Astera Neuro running an all-optical program to read, write, and perturb the content of working memory in mouse cortex at single-cell resolution. You will design the behavioral task, perform the surgeries it depends on, and run the two-photon holographic optogenetics that causally manipulates a held memory. This work sits within Astera Neuro’s larger effort to answer the hardest and least understood questions in neuroscience: how the brain generates thoughts, intelligence, and consciousness.