Staff Research Associate 1 (9613C), Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute - #89097

About the role

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are dedicated to fostering a community where everyone feels welcome and can thrive. Our culture of openness, freedom, and belonging makes it a special place for students, faculty, and staff, who are among the most talented and accomplished anywhere, including Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and MacArthur Fellows. Since our founding in 1868, we have been an engine for innovation - driving intellectual, economic, and social progress that benefits California, the U.S., and beyond. Together, we change the world. At Berkeley, the best careers are built on a foundation of continuous learning and growth. We actively support professional development by providing all full-time staff employees with at least 80 hours of paid time per year and provide space for supportive colleague communities via numerous employee resource groups. We invite applicants who are inspired by our Principles of Community and who are eager to be part of our exciting Strategic Plan, which charts Berkeley's next era of excellence. Learn more about some of our accomplishments at Points of Pride.

The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (HWNI) is the nexus for campus-wide multidisciplinary neuroscience research at UC Berkeley. We are a research unit within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, with over 70 faculty members from many different academic departments and schools. This unique cross-departmental structure brings together experts from a variety of fields to use the power of interdisciplinary research to achieve breakthroughs in the study of the brain and the rest of the nervous system, and to drive the development of novel treatments and technologies. We support our faculty and their labs in their research aims, foster opportunities for collaboration, sponsor major research initiatives, and run innovative neurotechnology and research centers. We also help train the next generation of neuroscientists through our support of the Neuroscience Department’s PhD program. Our research mission is to deepen our understanding of the nervous system — from single molecules to human behavior — through original research and paradigm-shifting neurotechnology innovation, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and use-inspired research. Our scientists investigate how the nervous system functions, develops, changes, and ages, including the mechanisms underlying sensation, perception, behavior, learning, cognition, and neurological disease. We are building next-generation experimental, analytical, and theoretical approaches to probe the nervous system and develop new ways to diagnose and treat neurological diseases and disorders.

The Staff Research Associate 1 serves as the key staff member responsible for data management and data analysis of PET and MRI imaging data obtained as part of SCAN, a large multicenter observational study of aging and dementia. This position handles quantitative image data extraction, database management, and statistical reporting. Additionally, the Staff Research Associate 1 supports the Berkeley Aging Cohort Study by reviewing screening results, assisting with participant scheduling, and periodically assisting during neuropsychological testing and imaging sessions. Reporting to the lab Principal Investigator, this position interacts with students, postdoctoral fellows, and other lab members to analyze brain imaging data obtained using positron emission tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI), and functional MRI (fMRI) from studies including ADNI, SCAN, POINTER Imaging, and the Berkeley Aging Cohort Study (BACS). This position uses and modifies existing software and scripts to extract quantitative data, perform statistical hypothesis testing, and generate reports.

Responsibilities

• Data Extraction - 25%: Use existing software, modify existing software and write new software to extract quantitative data from a variety of image types.
• Statistical Analysis - 10%: Use standard statistical software to perform statistical hypothesis testing
• Reporting and Database Management - 20%: Prepare reports in written and graphical forms. Manage databases with results; downloads and collates data from multiple databases; assembles data into datasets suitable for analysis.
• Research Collaboration - 10%: Work with other researchers and principal investigators to develop analyses and explore data.
• Participant Recruitment and Testing - 35%: Assist with recruiting older individuals to the Berkeley Aging Cohort Study by reviewing results of screening questionnaires and reviewing results of neuropsychological tests to determine whether the subject has undergone substantial change; periodically performs neuropsychological testing and assists during imaging studies (MRI and PET scanning).

Requirements

• Familiarity with python, matlab, R or other programming languages
• Experience with statistics and statistical software such as SPSS or R