Scientific Engineer F/m Unveiling Neuroscience with

Le descriptif de l’offre ci-dessous est en Anglais_

**Contrat renouvelable **:Oui

**Niveau de diplôme exigé **:Thèse ou équivalent

**Fonction **:Ingénieur scientifique contractuel

**A propos du centre ou de la direction fonctionnelle**:
Located at the heart of the main national research and higher education cluster, member of the Université Paris Saclay, a major actor in the French Investments for the Future Programme (Idex, LabEx, IRT, Equipex) and partner of the main establishments present on the plateau, the centre is particularly active in three major areas: data and knowledge; safety, security and reliability; modelling, simulation and optimisation (with priority given to energy).

The 450 researchers and engineers from Inria and its partners who work in the research centre's 28 teams, the 60 research support staff members, the high-level equipment at their disposal (image walls, high-performance computing clusters, sensor networks), and the privileged relationships with prestigious industrial partners, all make Inria Saclay Île-de-France a key research centre in the local landscape and one that is oriented towards Europe and the world.

**Contexte et atouts du poste**:
Neuroscience is at an inflection point. The 150-year old cortical specialization paradigm, in which cortical brain areas have a distinct set of functions, is experiencing an unprecedented momentum with over 1000 articles being published every year. However, this paradigm is reaching its limits. Recent studies show that current approaches to atlas brain areas, like relative location, cellular population type, or connectivity, are not enough on their own to characterize a cortical area and its function unequivocally. This hinders the reproducibility and advancement of neuroscience.

Neuroscience is thus in dire need of a universal standard to specify neuroanatomy and function: a novel formal language allowing neuroscientists to simultaneously specify tissue characteristics, relative location, known function and connectional topology for the unequivocal identification of a given brain region.

The vision of NeuroLang is that a unified formal language for neuroanatomy will boost our understanding of the brain. By defining brain regions, networks, and cognitive tasks through a set of formal criteria, researchers will be able to synthesize and integrate data within and across diverse studies. NeuroLang will accelerate the development of neuroscience by providing a way to evaluate anatomical specificity, test current theories, and develop new hypotheses.

NeuroLang will lead to a new generation of computational tools for neuroscience research. In doing so, we will be shedding a novel light onto neurological research and possibly disease treatment and palliative care. Our project complements current developments in large multimodal studies across different databases. This project will bring the power of Domain Specific Languages to neuroscience research, driving the field towards a new paradigm articulating classical neuroanatomy with current statistical and machine learning-based approaches.

**Mission confiée**:
**Assignments**:

- Dadi, K. _et al._ Fine-grain atlases of functional modes for fMRI analysis. _NeuroImage_ **221**, 117126 (2020).
- Menon, V. _et al._ Microstructural organization of human insula is linked to its macrofunctional circuitry and predicts cognitive control. _eLife_ **9**, e53470 (2020).
- Chen, L. _et al._ The visual word form area (VWFA) is part of both language and attention circuitry. _Nat Commun_ **10**, 5601 (2019).
- Sydnor, V. J. _et al._ A comparison of three fiber tract delineation methods and their impact on white matter analysis. _NeuroImage_ **178**, 318-331 (2018).

**Principales activités**:
**Examples of activities**:

- Analyse the requirements of our congitive neuroscience partners, specifically in the area of cortical specialization and systems neuroscience.
- Propose original cognitive neuroscience research which can be formalised into a logical protocol to imporve its reproducibility

**Compétences**:
Technical skills and level required : Analysis of neuroimaging data, knowledge in neuroanatomy,

Desired skills: Machine Learning, discrete mathematics, programming language theory, data analytics, databases. Python programming and version control through Git/Github will be appreciated

Languages : Good English conversational and written skills

Relational skills : good Interpersonal Abilities and Problem-Solving/Reasoning/Creativity

**Avantages**:

- Subsidized meals
- Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
- Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
- Possibility of teleworking (after 6 months of employment) and flexible organization of working hours
- Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
- Social,