Radboud PhD: Multisynaptic Plasticity in Dendrites

Radboud PhD: Multisynaptic Plasticity in Dendrites

How do several neighbouring synapses coordinate change within a dendrite? This salaried PhD in Corette Wierenga’s team combines physiological and optical evidence to address that question. It is particularly relevant to applicants with advanced imaging or single-cell electrophysiology experience in living brain tissue. The research offers a focused mechanistic problem and complementary measurement expertise; a clinical application is not promised.

Radboud's vacancy lists reference 62.154.26 and application-system job 977748 in the Faculty of Science and Donders Centre for Neuroscience. It gives a deadline of 8 November 2026 at 22:59 UTC and a preferred start of 1 January 2027. Whether the portal is still accepting applications should be confirmed before applying.

The research question and actual work

Species is not consistent across the saved materials: the English vacancy says hippocampal CA1 neurons in brain slices without naming a species, while the earlier Chinese summary calls them mouse slices. Confirm the species, required training and approvals. Single-synapse plasticity does not automatically explain what happens when several neighbouring synapses change together. The project addresses how molecular pathways interact within dendrites of hippocampal CA1 neurons in brain slices. It combines single-cell electrophysiology, advanced optical measurement and biosensor-based interpretation. The advertised aims concern internal calcium stores, interactions involving PKA and PKC, distinct patterns of spine growth, and the timing and location of retrograde signalling. Neuromodulatory context is another part of the question. The pilot observations motivate hypotheses rather than constitute a finished mechanism. Applicants should be prepared to distinguish correlated signals from causal interactions, account for cell-to-cell variability and connect imaging with physiological evidence. Programming is useful for analysis but is explicitly learnable after entry; this is not advertised as a purely computational PhD. Brain-slice research is central, so ask about the tissue species, required training, approvals and support, without assuming direct human or behavioural validation.

University and doctoral training

Radboud ranks joint 283rd overall in QS 2027. That is an institutional comparison, not a neuroscience subject ranking. The more direct research signal is the Donders environment and the lab’s documented focus on inhibitory synapses and their coordination with excitatory inputs. Wierenga’s university profile identifies her as a professor at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience; the degree-awarding university is Radboud, not a separate Donders university. Donders Graduate School requires a personal Training and Supervision Plan within the first three months. Its training combines general, specialised and practical courses, with introduction, academic-integrity and graduate-school activities. Faculty or teaching responsibilities can add requirements. Relevant research-Master’s courses may be taken through approved arrangements, while external courses may require prior approval and payment. The July 2025 thesis guidelines explicitly prioritise coherent research quality over a fixed number of chapters or published articles. They describe a portfolio and broader thesis requirements, with an 18-ECTS or 504-hour course threshold associated with applying for the Graduate School Certificate. That certificate threshold should not be represented as a universal substitute for doctoral assessment. The supervision team and manuscript committee still assess thesis quality, and formal university rules apply.

Supervisor and recent papers

The lab lists postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates and technical support, making an active team more tangible than an institutional reputation alone. Its public grant list includes older projects ending in 2024 or 2026. Those demonstrate research continuity but cannot be used as proof that this appointment is paid from a particular grant throughout 2030. Herstel and Wierenga’s 2024 eNeuro paper compares how synaptic strengthening changes HCN-related current in excitatory and inhibitory hippocampal neurons. Its complete accepted manuscript, including results and discussion, identifies Wierenga as the corresponding/senior author with a supervisory role. The studied interneurons showed downregulation, whereas pyramidal cells could respond in either direction. This supports the importance of cell identity when interpreting plasticity. It does not show that every inhibitory subtype behaves alike, or directly resolve the new project’s calcium and kinase interactions. Peerboom and colleagues’ 2023 study concerns delayed developmental changes in GABA signalling. Its accessible primary abstract reports indirect, cell-type-specific membrane effects rather than the anticipated direct change in synaptic development. The full text is unavailable in the cited material, so detailed methods and effect sizes are not asserted. Kazmi and Wierenga’s 2025 Neuron contribution is a commentary on vulnerability of deep cortical circuits in Alzheimer’s models; the available bibliographic record and abstract identify it as a commentary, not a new Wierenga clinical experiment. An independent 2024 Nature Communications study by Chater and colleagues reports in its main results and discussion that multi-spine responses can involve competition for shared molecular resources, with spatial arrangement affecting the outcome. It supplies useful field context, not prior results from this supervisor’s lab or proof of the proposed mechanism.

Contract, pay and living costs

The initial employment term is 1.5 years. A positive evaluation permits a further 2.5 years for the full-time four-year route, or 3.5 years for the 0.8-FTE five-year route. The application system displays a four-year end date, so the part-time timetable should be reconciled in the individual contract. Teaching can take up to 10% of working time. Advertised salary scale P starts at EUR 3,204 gross monthly on a 38-hour full-time basis and rises to EUR 4,051 from the fourth year, with 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end payment. A part-time appointment should not be budgeted using the full-time amount; confirm the applicable proportion with HR. Pension and flexible working are described. Full-time staff may choose the applicable 30- or 41-day annual-leave arrangement rather than the statutory 20 days; 41 days is not automatic for every appointment. There is no verified individual net-pay estimate or tax concession. The university’s student housing advice quotes EUR 500–1,000 monthly rent and recommends starting early. Its accommodation guide offers staff-related routes but makes availability market-dependent. Housing is not guaranteed. A separate student-cost table cites 2024 expenditure and includes later undergraduate tuition; it cannot simply be copied as a 2027 salaried PhD budget. Obtain actual rent, utility, health-insurance and arrival-deposit estimates before deciding what remains after tax.

Application, fit and decision

Applicants need a relevant Master’s degree, interest in intracellular signalling and optical methods, and experience in advanced microscopy and/or patch-clamp electrophysiology in living brain tissue. Fluent English, initiative, independence and teamwork matter. Dutch is not a stated requirement, and no mandatory IELTS score is supplied. Applicants lacking both practical methods should recognise a substantive experience gap. Show your own analysis and quality checks, distinguishing independent work, assisted participation and skills still to learn. Apply through the online button. The vacancy directs the application letter to Corette Wieringa, while the contact profile and application system spell her surname Wierenga; verify the intended addressee. The vacancy directs applicants to the application form for attachment requirements, but the vacancy text does not give a complete attachment list or a required number of references. First interviews are planned for late November, with possible second interviews in early December.

Career Relevance and Acceptance Decision

The project builds skills in quantitative imaging, electrophysiology, reproducible analysis and mechanistic interpretation, useful in neuroscience research and some instrumentation or data-facing roles. Donders publishes historical alumni tracking, but those institute-wide cohorts do not predict a current student’s placement. Recommended for relevant experimental neuroscientists. Before accepting, clarify evaluation criteria, the part-time contract schedule, daily supervision, analysis support, training and project costs, housing assistance and thesis expectations.

Evidence and Sources

Whether the vacancy is still accepting applications is unconfirmed; check the application portal before applying. Paper evidence is limited as described in the discussion above: Herstel and Wierenga's complete accepted manuscript and the main results and discussion of Chater et al.; Peerboom et al.'s accessible abstract; and the bibliographic record and abstract identifying the Kazmi and Wierenga contribution as a commentary.

Source list

• Official multisynaptic plasticity vacancy
• Official recruitment system 977748, reference 62.154.26
• Corette Wierenga official faculty profile
• Synaptic Physiology lab people and research
• Herstel and Wierenga 2024: cell-specific Ih modulation
• Peerboom et al. 2023: delaying GABA shift
• Kazmi and Wierenga 2025: deep cortical vulnerability
• Chater et al. 2024: competitive multi-synapse plasticity
• Donders Graduate School training programme
• Donders training opportunities and course conditions
• Donders July 2025 PhD thesis guidelines
• Working as a PhD candidate at Radboud
• Radboud official salary scales
• Radboud application procedure
• University guide to Nijmegen accommodation
• Radboud student-cost table, dated 2024 inputs
• University current student accommodation advice
• QS 2027 Radboud overall profile
• Donders career perspectives
• Donders historical PhD alumni career tracking

Paper identities and versions

• Herstel and Corette Wierenga, Distinct Modulation of Ih by Synaptic Potentiation in Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons. 2024, eNeuro; accepted manuscript.
• Peerboom and colleagues, including senior coauthor Corette Wierenga, Delaying the GABA Shift Indirectly Affects Membrane Properties. 2023; abstract only.
• Kazmi and Corette Wierenga, Deep cortical layers are more vulnerable in Alzheimer disease. 2025, Neuron 113, 2218–2220; commentary.
• Chater and colleagues, Competitive processes shape multi-synapse plasticity along dendritic segments. 2024, Nature Communications 15:7572; independent team.