Doktorander/Utbildningsplatser

Doktorander/Utbildningsplatser
med placering vid Sahlgrenska akademin

Sista ansökningsdag: 2010-04-20

Sahlgrenska akademin utlyser doktorandplatser med placering vid institutionen för biomedicin, institutionen för kliniska vetenskaper, institutionen för medicin och institutionen för neurovetenskap och fysiologi.

Doktorandplatserna avser två års utbildningsbidrag och två års doktorandanställning, alternativt fyra års doktorandanställning, och beräknas leda fram till doktorsexamen.

För mer information och ansökningsblankett se:
http://www.sahlgrenska.gu.se/doktorandportalen/Doktor_Fran_start_till_mal/doktorandplatser


Functional properties of unmyelinated tactile (CT) afferents
Application deadline: 2010-04-20

Description of the research project
The sensory system of unmyelinated tactile (CT) afferents has only recently been described in the human hairy skin.These afferents respond vigorously to light touch or stroking and it has been suggested that they are important for signaling pleasantness of light touch.In this project we will investigate this sensory system's relationship to the pain and temperature senses, both regarding peripheral mechanisms and processing of sensory information in the brain and spinal cord.The methodological approach is to study the system at several levels in the human nervous system in an integrated fashion: We will explore how healthy participants rate various touch stimuli applied to the hairy or glabrous skin using psychophysical techniques, where strictly controlled mechanical, thermal or chemical stimuli and rigorous experimental protocols are used together with advanced statistical methods.In concurrent experiments, we record the activity from single identified afferents using the microneurographic technique, where a fine needle electrode is inserted into the nerve in an awake human participant.Finally, we record brain activity related to activation of CT-afferents using two different methods: First, we will record electroencephalography (EEG) using scalp electrodes and use mathematical techniques to compute patterns of brain activity.Second, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be done in collaboration with the Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
The project is important for our fundamental understanding of the sense of touch as well as for several areas in medicine such as the neurological disciplines, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and occupational medicine.One further aim is to directly apply findings from this project to develop new tools for clinical neurophysiological examination, for example for diabetic or other patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Desired background
It is desirable that the candidate has a background in human and cognitive neuroscience, including methods for psychophysical experiments, statistical methods and software (primarily, SPSS and MATLAB), and EEG and fMRI (including software for data analysis).