Projects offered

Description

We are looking for a graduate student or post-doctoral fellow for a Mitacs internship in Antoine Godin's group in collaboration with Bliq Photonique, a dynamic young company. Antoine Godin's research program, a Sentinel North Partnership Research Chair, trains highly qualified researchers at the frontiers of photonics, nanotechnology, mathematics and neuroscience. Its research uses cutting-edge methodological approaches and offers new insights into the functioning of the brain and its diseases. Bliq Photonique is part of the photonic optics industrial cluster, a group of companies that promotes innovative, cutting-edge technologies and is internationally renowned in the Quebec City region. Bliq Photonique's mission is to provide the most useful microscopy systems for in vivo imaging from Quebec City to researchers around the world.

The project presented here consists in designing a photostimulation system integrating several excitation lasers and developing three independent and flexible excitation modules. The use of light to stimulate a sample can allow the activation (e.g. photoactivation, uncaging) of spatially localized regions (focal), or of much larger fields (wide field) with high temporal accuracies. Recently, deformable mirrors composed of several small rotating mirrors organized in a grid that may or may not reflect light, depending on their position/state, have been used in microscopy. A digital micromirror device (DMD) allowing to produce new illumination patterns with a high spatio-temporal resolution will be integrated in the photostimulation module.

This project consists of an integration of three distinct excitation modes and a thorough comparison of these modes for neuroscience applications. The ability to simultaneously stimulate using multiple modalities with different lasers and on distinct regions by modulating the excitation sequences (e.g., position, intensity, and frequency) independently is an option with strong innovative potential and will be tested during the internship. DMDs will offer a flexible option to generate illumination patterns on demand.

This Mitacs internship, at the CERVO research center, will focus on the integration, optimization and characterization of these three stimulation modules. During this project, the student or postdoctoral fellow will be exposed to the following techniques:
- Optical microscopy
- Fluorescence imaging at video rate
- Optogenetics
- Biophotonics
Internship Requirements:
- Experience in optical design
- Programming skills (Python, Matlab, or Swift)
- Undergraduate degree in physics or engineering

We are looking for motivated people who are not afraid to try new things and step out of their comfort zone while learning modern microscopy techniques and neuroscience. Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Research Field

- Optical microscopy
- Fluorescence imaging at video rate
- Optogenetics
- Biophotonics

Research Supervisor

Antoine Godin

Research Environment

CERVO Brain Research Centre

The CERVO Research Center, one of Canada's leading neuroscience and mental health centers, focuses on the root causes of brain diseases. It brings together some sixty researchers in charge of research teams with more than 400 people, offering multidisciplinary expertise, ranging from membrane biophysics to social intervention, and the psychology of cognition.

The CERVO Research Center is devoted to the study of neurosciences and mental health. Its mission is to advance knowledge about the causes and treatment of neurological and psychiatric illnesses by developing new technologies and methodologies to unravel the mysteries of the brain and by continuously linking basic and clinical research.

cervo.ulaval.ca/en/about-cervo

Web Site

Financial Aid Available by Program of Study

Doctorate in Biophotonics, Doctorate in Neurosciences, Master's Degree in Biophotonics with thesis, Master's Degree in Neurosciences with thesis

Desired Profile

- Physics
- Physics Engineering

Required Documentation

- Cover letter
- Curriculum vitæ
- Student transcript

Find Out More

Antoine Godin
Professeur adjoint
Département de psychiatrie et de neurosciences
antoine.godin@cervo.ulaval.ca