Research Scientist/Engineer, Two-Photon Imaging & Holographic Optogenetics

Responsibilities

• Perform stereotaxic rodent surgeries including AAV viral vector delivery, chronic cranial window implantation, and GRIN lens or miniscope head-mount installation
• Design, build, and iterate on a miniaturized two-photon microscope incorporating spatial light modulators for holographic photostimulation
• Develop and optimize two-photon optogenetics protocols for single-cell and ensemble-level activation
• Lead computational analysis of large-scale neural population data using dimensionality reduction, population decoding, and generalized linear models
• Collaborate with optical engineers, software developers, and neuroscientists to integrate hardware, software, and biology
• Contribute to publications and internal technical documentation

Requirements

• PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent expertise
• Hands-on rodent surgery experience (stereotaxic injection, cranial window preparation, implant fixation)
• Practical experience with two-photon imaging systems, optical alignment, and in vivo use
• Proficiency in scientific computing for neural data analysis using Python and/or MATLAB
• Familiarity with Suite2p, CaImAn, or comparable pipelines
• Strong foundational understanding of nonlinear optics, ultrafast laser physics, and fluorescence microscopy

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with two-photon optogenetics (SLM-based holography, temporal focusing, or spiral scanning)
• Custom optical engineering with ultrafast pulsed lasers (Ti:Sapphire, fiber)
• Experience with miniaturized imaging systems
• Rat-scale stereotaxic surgery and freely moving behavioral paradigms
• Machine learning applied to neural data

About the Company

Astera Neuro is a neuroscience research company building the tools and infrastructure required to understand how the brain works at scale. We develop cutting-edge hardware and recording systems to enable the next generation of discoveries about neural circuits, cognition, and behavior.