Research Associate, Rodent Surgery & Behavior

Astera is a private foundation on a mission to steer science and technology toward a better future. We believe the coming years will bring an era of unprecedented scientific and technological advancement as exponential progress in AI converges with central advances in other fields to accelerate innovation. This inflection point provides an unparalleled opportunity to fundamentally rethink the institutions systems and tools that drive progress. We have committed a $3.5B endowment to that work and fit the form of our support to the function it serves: grants investments and in-house research programs. We accept meaningful risk in the research we back and expect some of it to fail because transformative ideas are rarely the ones already proven. Our projects and the foundation itself operate like high-velocity startups with a high performance bar and competitive compensation to match. We are searching for leaders who are compelled by the challenge of driving high-impact change in the way science is funded conducted and communicated. You can read more about our mission vision and programming at Overview

Astera Neuro seeks to understand and engineer consciousness. We believe consciousness is the process by which the brain builds a coherent internal model of the world and the self. We aim to understand this model and to develop the technologies to write experience directly into the brain. By combining large-scale neural recording causal perturbation and brain-based AI we seek to move neuroscience from observing correlates of experience to engineering it. The same tools carry direct therapeutic promise for neurological and psychiatric diseases that alter perception thought and sense of self. Because the science and tools required do not yet exist we are assembling a founding team of neuroscientists theorists and engineers to create them. We do high-risk high-reward science in a well-resourced collaborative environment with competitive pay and share everything openly under Asteras Open Science Policy.

Were hiring a research associate to join Astera Neuros rodent neuroscience team. Your initial assignment is to run the surgery and behavior training that prepare animals for an all-optical program: reading writing and perturbing working memory in the mouse cortex. Chronic cranial-window and headbar implants are the core of the job from day one.

The ideal candidate is meticulous and fast with their hands with experience performing cranial-window surgeries. You can implant a window in the morning run a behavior-training session in the afternoon and keep the colony and the rigs in order. A clear long-lived window is what makes a write-in experiment possible so surgical yield and preparation quality set the ceiling on what the team can attempt.

• Perform mouse survival surgeries: stereotaxic AAV viral-vector delivery chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation.

• Run head-fixed behavior training on the sequence working-memory task including daily training data collection and rig upkeep.

• Build and maintain behavior rigs including Bonsai and Harp control and lickport hardware.

• Run the mouse colony and coordinate animal sourcing health and readiness with the vivarium.

• Keep careful shared records of surgeries training histories and preparation quality so others can build on the work.

• Work closely with the scientists running the all-optical experiments to keep preparation imaging and perturbation tightly coupled.

Required:

• BS or BA with 0-6 years of experience in neuroscience biology bioengineering or a related field or equivalent hands-on experience. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.

• Current hands-on experience performing mouse survival surgery: chronic cranial-window implantation and headbar installation plus stereotaxic viral injections. This is the requirement that matters most: these are hard skills to learn and we need them on day one.

• A track record of high surgical yield and healthy long-lived window preparations.

• Meticulous fast hands and the ability to sustain high-quality work at volume.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• Head-fixed behavior-training experience ideally with working-memory or sequence tasks.

• Scripting in Python and familiarity with Bonsai and Harp or comparable behavior-control tools.

• Experience building and maintaining behavior rigs including lickport and other custom hardware.

• Experience with two-photon imaging or optogenetic stimulation in awake mice.

• Colony management experience and comfort coordinating with vivarium staff.

• Conviction that the brains internal model can be understood in full and that getting there requires a kind of science no single academic lab can do; were betting on scale deep collaboration and open sharing of ideas in a full-stack environment.

• Willingness to be held to an engineering this role that standard lands on the preparation: we treat surgical yield and window quality as scientific results not support work.

• Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects; rigs surgical preparations and records are standardized so they can be shared across the team.

• Care for the animals: healthy well-handled calm mice supported by dedicated veterinary oversight are the foundation of both the science and its credibility independent of what regulation requires.

• Commitment to open science. We release tools data and methods and aim to create a new dynamic of rapid open exchange in neuroscience.

Research Associate at Astera Neuro preparing animals for an all-optical program to read write and perturb working memory in mouse cortex. You will perform the surgeries the program depends on run behavior training and keep the colony and rigs in order. This work sits within Astera Neuros larger effort to answer the hardest and least understood questions in neuroscience: how the brain generates thoughts intelligence and consciousness.

Astera Neuro provides a comprehensive benefits package and total compensation that is competitive and commensurate with the level of experience and qualifications.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion!