Postdoctoral Fellow (m/f/d) Sleep & Autonomic Neuroscience

At the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, we study how and why people develop differently over the course of their lives, and how physical, societal, and technological aspects of the environment shape this process. Working across disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, computer science, economics, and sociology, we do research within a context that fosters academic freedom, curiosity, and collaborative work to generate insights that help shape living conditions for individuals and societies to thrive. We combine pioneering interdisciplinary research infrastructures with local and international collaboration to generate knowledge that strengthens individuals and society. Our vision is that of a healthy environment and an open society that allows individuals to realize their potential.

The to-be-established Center for Affective and Autonomic Neuroscience (CAAN) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin invites applications for a

(EG 13 TVöD; 39 hours/week)

with expertise in sleep physiology to lead the integration of polysomnography into our human research program and to analyze the resulting multimodal sleep data. The position is a four-year fixed-term contract. The start date could be anytime from September 1, 2026 through the first half of 2027.

CAAN's research program investigates the role of midlife autonomic changes in setting the stage for neurodegenerative disease, with an emphasis on the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC), Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, and emotion–cognition interactions across the adult lifespan. Sleep is a critical node in this work: sleep architecture, autonomic tone during sleep, and slow-wave activity are tightly linked to LC function, glymphatic clearance of amyloid-β and tau, and downstream cognitive and affective outcomes. The successful candidate will play a central role in establishing CAAN's capacity to characterize sleep with polysomnography and in connecting these data to our imaging, biomarker, and intervention work.

CAAN's current scientific priorities include: (1) tracking autonomic trajectories from age 20–60 and identifying their causes and consequences, including a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study with CSF biomarker collection and longitudinal LC imaging; (2) randomized clinical trials of breathing-based interventions (e.g., slow breathing, 4-7-8 breathing) to test causal roles of autonomic activity on emotion, brain, and cognition; (3) advancing brainstem imaging methods; and (4) understanding brain mechanisms of emotion–cognition interactions in aging. The Fellow's sleep program will interface directly with each of these priorities.

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