Our postdoctoral scholars program provides research support and a community of mentors and peers to extraordinary Stanford postdocs advancing our understanding of the mind and brain in health and disease.
Our postdoctoral scholars program provides research support and a community of mentors and peers to extraordinary Stanford postdocs advancing our understanding of the mind and brain in health and disease. Our postdoctoral scholars program provides research support and a community of mentors and peers to extraordinary Stanford postdocs advancing our understanding of the mind and brain in health and disease.
Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar Award
Since 2015, the Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars program has supported innovative young researchers who engage in highly interdisciplinary research in the neurosciences, broadly defined. Our postdoctoral scholars have backgrounds in basic and clinical neurosciences, biomedical sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, engineering, education, law, business and humanities, and are all engaged in cutting edge research that will advance our understanding of the mind, brain and behavior in health and disease.
Brain Resilience Postdoctoral Scholar Award of the Knight Initiative
The Brain Resilience Postdoctoral Scholars award of the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience generate paradigm shifting insights on the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and/or how to maintain brain resilience into old age.
Application Components
Our next postdoc applications will open in Winter Quarter 2024.
This program is open to current Stanford postdocs.
Our Model
This program awards two years of fellowship funding and is pleased to provide parental leave. Postdoctoral scholars also receive $5,000 of discretionary research funds annually.
Mentorship
The program provides scientific and career-growth opportunities and guidance under the leadership of program co-directors and faculty mentors Professors Miriam Goodman and Liqun Luo. Scholars meet monthly with their cohort and program faculty mentors to share ideas and discuss approaches to scientific and career challenges, visit each other’s labs to learn about different research techniques and areas of study, and practice communicating their research to scientific and general audiences.
In addition, Brain Resilience Postdoctoral Scholars attend events and seminars hosted by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, and are stewarded by Knight Initiative Associate Director Natasha Hussain and faculty mentor Elizabeth Mormino to learn from one another and build community around the topic of neurodegeneration and brain resilience.
Diversity
The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Postdoctoral program brings together cohorts of postdocs representing the broad range of demographic, experiential and scientific diversity. Women and postdocs from groups underrepresented in the neurosciences are strongly encouraged to apply.
| Key Dates for 2024 POSTDOCTORAL Scholar Awards | |
|---|---|
| Application Opens | Friday, August 11, 2023 |
| Application Deadline | Sunday, September 24, 2023, at 5:00pm PST Including faculty sponsor statement(s) and recommendation letters |
| Notification of Awards | Late November, 2023 |
| Award Start Date | Funding may begin between February 1, 2024 and June 1, 2024 |
Funding Period | Two years of funding from start date |
| To Apply | Apply here |
Funded Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar projects
Improving BCI generalizability with multi-task modeling and autocalibration
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are systems that enable using neural activity to control and interact with external devices. For people who lose the ability to move or speak due to injury or disease, BCIs provide a potential avenue to restore this loss of function.
The molecular and cellular basis of magnetosensation: quantum effects in biological systems
For decades we have known that a wide variety of animals use the earth’s magnetic field for navigation, although the means by which they sense it has remained a mystery. There is a long-standing idea that animals like migratory birds use small magnetic deposits in their beaks to act as a compass, however, this idea remains unverified and is currently questioned by many in the field.
Determining the microstructural basis of diffusion MRI
The aim of this project is to improve the accuracy and reliability of dMRI fiber tracking through comparison with a gold standard that unambiguously relates the measured water diffusion patterns to the underlying tissue structure.
Reprogramming organismal lifespan through modulation of neuropeptidergic circuits
Aging is the number one risk factor for debilitating diseases such as neurodegeneration. Can manipulation of neurons in the brain alter the body’s physiological state to extend lifespan? Neuropeptides are key modulators of short-term homeostasis such as feeding, temperature, and sleep.