Research Scientist, All-Optical Investigation of Rodent Cognition

Astera Institute · Alameda, California · Posted 2026-08-16

Company 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 Astera's Open Science Policy.

Position Summary ----------------

We are seeking an experimental neuroscientist to join Astera Neuro's rodent neuroscience team and use all-optical methods to investigate how the brain builds and uses an internal model of the world. You will help define the cognitive processes and behavioral paradigms that make this question experimentally tractable in mice.

You will use two-photon imaging and holographic photostimulation to read, write, and perturb neural activity at single-cell resolution, with the goal of predictably changing an animal's cognitive state and ultimately controlling the contents of its internal model. This is an end-to-end experimental role spanning task design, surgery, all-optical experimentation, and large-scale neural data analysis.

What You'll Do --------------

Help define the cognitive processes and experimental questions we pursue in mice, and design and iterate head-fixed behavioral paradigms to probe them.

Run two-photon imaging and holographic photostimulation experiments to read, write, and perturb specific neural activity patterns at single-cell resolution during behavior.

Run holographic targeting, power calibration, and closed-loop stimulation on the all-optical rig, working with our optics engineering team.

Lead computational analysis of large-scale neural population data, including dimensionality reduction, population decoding, GLMs, and circuit-level inference.

Set the viral and transgenic expression strategy, including soma-targeted ChRmine and GCaMP.

Perform mouse survival surgery: stereotaxic viral injection, chronic cranial-window implantation, and headbar installation.

Mentor research associates and technicians and, at the senior or principal level, more junior scientists; contribute to hiring, onboarding, and lab culture.

Contribute to publications, talks, open data and tooling releases, and engagement with the broader scientific community.

Who You Are -----------

Required:

PhD in neuroscience, bioengineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent research experience. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.

Hands-on mouse survival surgery experience: chronic cranial windows, headbars, and stereotaxic injections.

Hands-on experience with in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and/or holographic (SLM-based) optogenetics in rodents.

Practical experience with two-photon systems: optical alignment, system characterization, and in vivo use.

Proficiency in scientific computing for neural-data analysis; Python and/or MATLAB, with Suite2p, CaImAn, or comparable pipelines.

Preferred/Nice to Have

Experience with head-fixed rodent behavior and task design; closed-loop and real-time experiments.

Prior systems neuroscience research on cognition, including working memory, decision-making, perception, or motor/premotor circuits.

Experience with ultrafast pulsed lasers (Ti:Sapphire, fiber) and nonlinear optics.

Two-photon optogenetics (SLM-based holography, temporal focusing, or spiral-scanning photostimulation); soma-targeted opsins such as ChRmine.

What We Value -------------

Conviction that the brain's internal model can be understood in full, and that getting there requires a kind of science no single academic lab can do; we're betting on scale, deep collaboration across science and engineering, and open sharing of ideas in a full-stack environment.

Willingness to be held to an engineering standard. Our decisive tests are write-in experiments: constructing a specific percept, thought, or internal state, not merely decoding one. What we cannot build, we do not understand.

Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects; rigs, surgical preparations, and analysis pipelines are standardized so they can be shared, and datasets are designed to stitch across sessions and animals.

Care for the animals: healthy, well-handled mice, supported by dedicated veterinary oversight, are the foundation of both the science and its credibility.

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

Why Join Us -----------

Research Scientist at Astera Neuro running an all-optical program to read, write, and perturb neural activity in mouse cortex at single-cell resolution. You will help define the cognitive processes we pursue, design the behavioral tasks they require, perform the surgeries those tasks depend on, and run the two-photon holographic optogenetics that causally manipulates an animal's internal model. This work sits within Astera Neuro's 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!

About Astera Institute

Astera Institute is a non-profit that supports science and technology projects.

Research Scientist, All-Optical Investigation of Rodent Cognition

About Astera Institute

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