A postdoctoral position in Neurobiology/Cerebrovascular Research is available for a highly motivated candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Woo-Ping Ge at Children Medical Center Research Institute (CRI), UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas (http://cri.utsw.edu).

An adult human brain accounts for 2% of body weight but consumes ~20% of the body’s energy. Interaction between the brain vasculature and neurons or glial cells is critical for brain metabolism. As a cross-disciplinary field, studies, concerning how the gliovascular interface develops, and how neurons/glial cells and the brain vasculature interact, have largely been overlooked by scientists from both the fields of neuroscience and cardiovascular biology. Using mouse models and a combination of in vivo imaging, electrophysiology, mouse genetics, and molecular biology, we will study on glial generation (Ge, et al., Nature, 2012, Ge et al., PNAS, 2009), neurovascular or gliovascular interaction, and glial role in brain repair. The short-term goal of my lab is to understand (1) the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the generation of astrocytes, (2) the cellular and molecular mechanisms for interactions between brain vasculature and glial cells/neurons/glial tumor cells, and (3) the cellular and molecular mechanisms for brain repair after injury or ischemia stroke.

UT Southwestern is an internationally recognized research institution consistently ranked among top 6 and 7 in Medical Research and Life Sciences in the U.S. Postdoctoral appointees at UT Southwestern receive a salary based on the NIH NRSA guidelines and a generous benefit package. The Dallas area combines the attractions of a major city with family-friendly and affordable lifestyle opportunities.