The ‘Sleep and Memory’ lab (UvA) is looking for one or more interns to be involved in research and development of a new, non-invasive approach to the treatment of sleep problems, based on closed-loop acoustic sleep stimulation.

Project

Our lab developed a unique technique for reading and predicting brain activity in real time, called closed-loop neurostimulation (Cox et al. 2014, PLoS One). Closed-loop neurostimulation can f.i. be used to boost deep sleep oscillations and make sleep deeper. Up till now most of this research has been done using high-density polysomnography in complex lab settings.

In this project interns will be involved in the development of home-usable EEG sleep technology and software, integrating user feedback into the design.

An internship in our lab offers students the possibility to become acquainted with some of the most advanced EEG techniques available today and to get familiar with sleep research and its applications.

Your work will consist of:

·    Performing whole night and/or nap-time high-density EEG polysomnographic recordings (together with another student or investigator)

·    Data-analysis (the type and complexity of these analyses will depend on your background and the length of the internship)

·    Contributing to software and product development (depending on your programming background and length of internship)

·    Critically reviewing the existing literature

·    Writing a research report

Requirements

Experience with EEG recording and analysis, signal analysis, programming (in Matlab and C#), sleep studies, IT and electrotechnical engineering will all come in handy in our lab.

Research internships in our lab tend to be technically, theoretically and logistically quite demanding and require working out of office hours, including at night. We expect applications from highly motivated students.

Applying

To apply or ask more information, email Stefan Jongejan (s.l.jongejan@uva.nl) and cc Lucia Talamini (l.m.talamini@uva.nl). With your motivation letter, please include your CV, a list of your academic courses and grades and, if applicable, a description of previous research (internship) experience.

Project title: ‘Sleep stimulation using a home-usable EEG device’

Start date:     January 2021 (Spring semester)

Duration:       6 months or longer

Lab:                  Sleep and Memory Lab, Psychology Department, Brain &

Cognition program, University of Amsterdam

Supervisor:    Stefan L. Jongejan (s.l.jongejan@uva.nl)

Dr. Lucia M. Talamini (l.m.talamini@uva.nl)