Postdoc/Scientist - Psychiatry and Neuronal Health

About the role

The Psychiatry and Neuronal Health group at Eli Lilly is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join an active in vivo pharmacology program studying reward, arousal, and stress-related neural circuitry.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute in vivo experiments in rodent behavioral models relevant to CNS drug discovery, including chronic IV self-administration, extinction, and cue-induced reinstatement paradigms
• Perform rodent survival surgeries: stereotaxic viral injection, IV catheter implantation, and fiber optic cannula placement
• Conduct in vivo fiber photometry recordings (genetically encoded calcium and/or neuropeptide biosensors) to characterize real-time circuit dynamics during behavior, including during cue-triggered reinstatement testing
• Conduct in vivo microdialysis paired with LC/MS or immunoassay quantification to measure neurotransmitter/neuropeptide efflux across relevant brain nuclei
• Apply circuit-dissection techniques to map projections and test causal sufficiency/necessity in the behaviors under study
• Perform multiplex fluorescence and routine histological experiments
• Characterize sleep/arousal architecture (EEG/EMG) as relevant to project needs
• Support processing and molecular analysis of human postmortem brain tissue, including coordination with external tissue repositories
• Analyze and interpret multimodal datasets (behavioral, neurochemical, imaging, transcriptomic) using established computational pipelines
• Author manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication and present findings at internal reviews and external scientific conferences
• Maintain rigorous documentation, IACUC protocol compliance, and data integrity standards

Requirements

• Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience, or a closely related field, completed within the last 1–3 years (or near completion)
• Hands-on experience with in vivo fiber photometry (calcium/neuropeptide sensor recording, signal processing, and analysis)
• Demonstrated expertise in rodent stereotaxic surgery, viral vector delivery, and fiber optic cannula implantation
• Experience with rodent operant/behavioral pharmacology models (IV self-administration, extinction, and/or cue reinstatement paradigms strongly preferred; IV catheterization experience a plus)
• Familiarity with in vivo microdialysis and downstream analytical quantification (HPLC/LC-MS or similar)

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of reward, arousal, and/or stress-related neurocircuitry
• Proficiency in behavioral pharmacology and rodent handling (rat and/or mouse)
• Strong quantitative/analytical skills (MATLAB, Python, or R for photometry/behavioral data analysis)
• Track record of first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience with optogenetics and/or chemogenetics for circuit manipulation
• Experience with unbiased stereology
• Experience with multiplex fluorescence and in situ hybridization
• Experience with dual-site or multi-site simultaneous fiber photometry recording
• Experience with EEG/EMG sleep-wake scoring and vigilance state analysis
• Experience with genetically encoded biosensors