OBI Scholars Faculty Position

O'Donnell Brain Institute Scholars Program

The Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute(OBI) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center invites applications to the OBI Scholars Program for exceptional early career scientists of any discipline whose research includes mechanistic studies relevant to human nervous system disease. The program is open to PhD, MD, or MD/PhD applicants seeking their first tenure-track assistant professor position or currently serving as Assistant Professors or recently promoted Associate Professors.

OBI Scholars will receive a generous ~$3M recruitment package and laboratory space in the recently opened, state-of-the-art O'Donnell Biomedical Research Building, which houses a diverse set of investigators, including basic and human neuroscientists, immunologists, biochemists, and structural biologists. The program supports individuals pursuing either laboratory-based or human subject research.

All primary faculty recruited by OBI enter through this single OBI Scholars process. Within OBI, recruitment is guided by several scientific priorities, and a major one is the Program for Memory Longevity (PML), a signature program of OBI in hippocampal circuit biology and memory, led by Attila Losonczy, MD, PhD. PML sits within OBI, and candidates with an interest in PML apply through this same process.

Exceptional applicants from any discipline will be considered. We are particularly focused on three key areas: (1) circuit biology relevant to movement, memory/cognition, and pain; (2) molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration and regeneration, including neuroimmune and endolysosomal mechanisms; and (3) theoretical and computational neuroscience, including models, algorithms, or theory that probe mechanisms of neural circuit function across levels of biological organization.

Within these priorities, research may explore fundamental aspects of neuron or CNS function or broadly relevant disease mechanisms, without requiring direct use of disease models.

OBI Scholars will also have access to:

• Advanced imaging and data analysis resources
  , including two-photon and light-sheet microscopy, STED, spatial transcriptomics (Xenium and Merscope), cryo-EM, and high-performance computing
• Human neuroscience infrastructure
  , including academic neurosurgeons providing access to human brain recordings and tissue, magnetoencephalography (MEG), high-density EEG, and focused ultrasound for blood-brain barrier modulation and lesioning
• Extensive cross-campus collaboration
  , spanning more than a dozen departments and centers, including Neuroscience, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases
• OBI programs supporting high-risk/high-reward neuroscience (Visionary Neuroscience Program), trainee development (Sprouts Program, Neural Scientist Training Program, Travel Grant Program), multidisciplinary Research Interest Groups, and clinical research career development (Clinical Neuroscience Research Excellence Initiative)

OBI Scholars receive a primary appointment within OBI and a secondary appointment in the basic science or clinical department most aligned with their work. Candidates whose career includes clinical care must have or be eligible for a Texas Medical License.

UT Southwestern ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world, with 4 Nobel Laureates, 3 Lasker awardees, 28 National Academy of Sciences members, and 26 National Academy of Medicine members on faculty.

Candidates must hold a PhD, MD, or MD/PhD in neuroscience, immunology, engineering, computer science, biology, physics, or a related discipline, and be…