Our intricate social brain is implicated in a range of brain disorders, where social dysfunction emerges as a common neuropsychiatric feature cutting across diagnostic boundaries in anxiety disorders, major depressive disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and Schizophrenia. Understanding the underlying neurocircuitry mechanisms responsible for social dysfunction and exploring avenues for its restoration will present a transformative and transdiagnostic approach to overcoming therapeutic challenges in these disorders. Based on our earlier clinical and preclinical findings from the PRISM funded EU project, we have shown that the brain's default mode network (DMN) plays a crucial role in social functioning and is implicated in various neuropsychiatric conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. This is highly supported by other studies showing that the DMN emerges as neurobiological system involved in shaping our complex social phenotype.

To further our mechanistic understanding of this transdiagnostic symptom, we propose that the DMN integrates diverse social processes, and that disruptions in brain communication at regional and network levels (e.g., the salience network (SN) and the frontal parietal network (FPN)) due to disease hinder the seamless integration of these social functionalities. Consequently, this leads to an altered balance between self-referential and attentional processes, along with a compromised ability to adapt to social contexts and anticipate future social interactions. To test this hypothesis, we will test for causality of the pathophysiological link between dysregulation of the specific DMN brain network nodes, social information processing, and components of social functioning in mice.

Research environment
Research will be mainly performed in the Neurobiology group at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), which comprises several other strong, internationally recognized research groups in the field of evolutionary biology and behavioral neuroscience. In addition, this project is based on a partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach (Germany), allowing for active collaborations with an excellent industrial partner organization.

Organization
Founded in 1614, the University of Groningen enjoys an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative institution of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Flexible study programs and academic career opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 34,000 students and researchers alike to develop their own individual talents. As one of the best research universities in Europe, the University of Groningen has joined forces with other top universities and networks worldwide to become a truly global center of knowledge.

You have:
- A Master degree in biology or biomedical science, with relevant experience in the areas of behavioral and EEG experimentation and analyses.
- Programming skills to apply and further expand an EEG data analysis pipeline for multi-channel signals, power spectral analysis and statistical analysis of neural time series data.
- Experience with complex data analyses methods using tools like R, Matlab and/or the Python data science stack.
- Preferably, experience with rodent EEG surgical techniques and data acquisition.
- A good command of English (oral and written).
- Excellent communication skills (indicated by the ability to write scientific papers and deliver presentations).

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

- A salary of € 2,872 gross per month in the first year, up to € 3,670 gross per month in the final second year, based on a full-time position.
- A full-time position (1.0 FTE) for 48 months (4 years). The successful candidate will first be offered a temporary position of one year with the option of renewal for another 3 years.
- Prolongation of the contract is contingent on sufficient progress in the first year to indicate that a successful completion of the PhD thesis within the next 3 years is to be expected.
- A PhD training programme is part of the agreement and the successful candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen.

Martien Kas
m.j.h.kas@rug.nl

GELIFES