Research Scientist / Engineer, Two-Photon Imaging & Holographic Optogenetics

About this role

Astera Neuro seeks a scientist-engineer to lead development of a miniaturized two-photon microscope with integrated holographic optogenetics for imaging and stimulating neural circuits in behaving rodents. You'll combine hands-on surgery, optical engineering, and computational neuroscience to create tools for understanding brain function at scale.

What you'll do

• Perform stereotaxic rodent surgeries including viral vector delivery, cranial window implantation, and head-mount device installation
• Design and build a miniaturized two-photon microscope with spatial light modulators for holographic photostimulation
• Develop and optimize optogenetics protocols for precise single-cell and ensemble-level neural activation
• Analyze large-scale neural population data using dimensionality reduction, decoding, GLMs, and circuit inference
• Collaborate with optical engineers, software developers, and neuroscientists to integrate hardware and software
• Contribute to publications and technical documentation

What they're looking for

• Stereotaxic rodent surgery and cranial implantation
• Two-photon microscopy system design and optical alignment
• Two-photon optogenetics and SLM-based holography
• Python or MATLAB for neural data analysis
• Nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser physics
• Fluorescence microscopy and optical characterization
• Neural population analysis and machine learning
• Custom optical engineering with pulsed lasers

Benefits

• Competitive base salary ($180,000–$230,000)
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Institutional support and freedom to move quickly
• Collaborative team of optical engineers and neuroscientists
• IACUC-approved animal research with veterinary support
• Work on transformative neuroscience tools