In the Department for Scientific Computing and Numerical Analysis at Simula, we now have an opening for 1 Postdoctoral fellow to join our research project: aCleanBrain - BRAIN FLUIDS - TRANSPORT AND CLEARANCE.
The successful candidate will join the aCleanBrain core research team consisting of several other PhD candidates, Postdoctoral fellows, senior researchers as well as national and international collaborators, and become an integral part of the large, vibrant and open research environment within scientific computing, applied mathematics and computational physiology at Simula.
The aCleanBrain research project is all about developing new mathematics, algorithms, and software tools in order to better understand the process of brain clearance, in particular during sleep. This project is a highly interdisciplinary project involving collaborations with medical experts, scientific software development, the use of both traditional simulation methods such as finite element methods as well as machine learning in order to answer deep questions of basic brain functions. The research questions require deep mathematics in terms of novel numerical analysis, advanced scientific software development, and new models of the physics of brain fluids. While a Postdoctoral fellow does not need deep competence in all aspects, such a modeling challenge can only by a team with members of different expertise.
Scientific breakthroughs in neuroscience attempt to explain the need for sleep and the develop- ment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in terms of fluid dynamics: the waste created during the day is cleared away as we sleep or it accumulates. However, a decade of research after the original theory was posed has revealed that the underlying physical mechanisms are still not understood and that advanced mathematical tools are needed.
In this project we propose a research program addressing:
1.
new fluid dynamics mechanisms
2.
novel numerical analysis for advanced multi-physics brain simulations
3.
a framework for patient-specific simulations.
We will exploit reduced order and machine learning methods in addition to finite element solutions. With successful delivery, aCleanBrain will establish the main drivers of brain fluid dynamics, provide a foundation for accurate, efficient and robust algorithms for multi-physics problems and develop a software framework for advanced biomechanical brain simulations.