Prof. Dr. Denis Burdakov

Research area

The Burdakov lab (part of ETH Neurobehavioural Dynamics Lab ) enjoys thinking about general principles of brain function and malfunction, in relation to our body. They measure fast activity dynamics and functional interconnectivity of specific neurons, to ask big cross-disciplinary questions, overlapping with fields such as engineering (what control algorithms are best for performance in an uncertain world? what are their strengths and weaknesses?) and medicine (how can we target specific brain signals to treat common diseases?). Their experimental entry-point to these questions are genetically-defined "brain orchestrator" neurons of the lateral hypothalamus, chosen because their project CNS-wide, closely track internal variables, and are so important that brain function is dramatically altered if these cells are lost. Such neurons - for example orexin/hypocretin neurons, are increasingly implicated in disorders of energy balance, sleep, motor control, mood, and cognition.  

Joining Burdakov lab for training: In general, we will consider applicants who 1) want to obtain hands-on training in modern tools of cellular/systems neuroscience in mouse models [optogenetics; chemogenetics; 2-photon and miniscope calcium imaging of neural circuit dynamics; fiber photometry; psychological, physiological and behavioural metrics at high temporal resolution in vivo; data time-series and other relevant analysis and coding in Matlab/Python] ; 2) are interested in our research focus as summarise here and in our publications - for lay overviews, see ETH press releases (e.g.  eyes as windows into brain,  neural basisof some"irrational" behaviour,  tuning behaviour with diet); 3) possess excellent writing and coding skills, and curiosity and initiative to find and consume scientific information (eg from google scholar or similar databases). 

Masters: If you are registered as master student in any course at ETH or another Swiss or European university, you could join the lab for a long (ca 6 months) full-time project. This will be typically be part of a larger, already established research study. If you are interested, contact Denis Burdakov directly.

PhDs: In addition to general criteria above, you need to have a masters (or equivalent) degree, fit intellectually and socially to our lab, and have a PhD stipend equivalent to ETH minimal stipends for doctoral students. The fit, and PhD stipend award, are decided directly by Denis Burdakov (at ETH most PhD stipends come from professors not programs). You can contact him if you are interested. Note: while all PhD projects are within our lab's general research focus described above, we usually do not discuss specific projects at application stage, because in our lab the precise PhD topic is decided in the second year of PhD. In the first year, we train the student in our on-site technologies and analyses*, determine their ability within the latter, collect preliminary data, and based on this (and latest literature!) identify specific hypotheses to test. Our PhD projects last 3-6 years.

Postdocs: Please contact Denis Burdakov if you are interested and satisfy our general conditions above.