What are the responsibilities and job description for the Research Intern (Academic Credit) position at Cedars-Sinai Health System?
A systems neuroscience research laboratory within the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Center for Neural Science and Medicine is seeking an unpaid Research Intern for academic credit. This internship provides a structured, hands-on educational experience in systems neuroscience, computational neurophysiology, and neural data analysis. The role is designed to build proficiency in core analytical workflows used in the laboratory while fostering collaborative research and developing strong technical skills in both electrophysiology and EEG-based approaches.
The intern will support ongoing work in spike sorting of extracellular neurophysiology recordings and analysis of single-unit activity in rodent models of stroke recovery and sleep. The role will also contribute to characterization of neural modulation across the time course of motor recovery following stroke and development of proficiency in seizure detection through visual inspection of continuously recorded EEG data from ARX mutant animal subjects.
Role Activities & Timeline
Weeks 1–2: Onboarding & Foundational Training
- Complete all required institutional trainings, including HealthStream, CITI, IACUC/BAR requirements, and laboratory safety orientation
- Introduction to laboratory data infrastructure, including extracellular recording file formats, EEG data organization, and analysis software
- Exposure to Python, Kilosort/Phy, and custom EEG review tools
- Overview of rodent models of stroke recovery and sleep used in the laboratory
- Introduction to ARX mutant animal subjects used in EEG seizure studies
Weeks 3–5: Spike Sorting Fundamentals
- Learn principles of extracellular neurophysiology recording and theoretical basis of spike detection and clustering
- Perform supervised spike sorting on existing recording datasets using automated pipeline tools
- Participate in mentored manual curation using Phy
- Apply quality control metrics, including isolation distance, L-ratio, and ISI violations, to evaluate and document single-unit yield across sessions
Weeks 6–9: Neural Modulation Analysis & EEG Seizure Detection
- Assist with analysis of sorted single units to characterize firing rate modulation and neural dynamics across post-stroke motor recovery
- Extend spike sorting and unit analysis to sleep session recordings to examine neural activity patterns during sleep and motor memory consolidation
- Begin training in visual inspection of continuously recorded EEG data from ARX mutant animal subjects for seizure detection
- Learn to identify ictal and interictal events in support of ongoing epilepsy research
Weeks 10–12: Independent Analysis & Project Completion
- Conduct independent analysis activities with increasing autonomy under laboratory mentorship
- Support ongoing experimental studies through computational and data analysis contributions
- Summarize findings and participate in research discussions related to ongoing laboratory projects
Systems & Training Access
- Microsoft Suite
- HealthStream
- CITI
- IACUC/BAR training and compliance systems
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the internship, the intern will be able to:
- Perform spike sorting to isolate single units from extracellular neurophysiology recordings
- Apply quality control metrics to evaluate single-unit yield and data integrity
- Conduct quantitative analyses of neural modulation in the context of stroke recovery and sleep
- Detect and characterize seizure events through systematic visual inspection of EEG recordings
- Support ongoing experimental studies with computational and data analysis skills
- Develop foundational experience with neuroscience research workflows and electrophysiology analysis techniques
Job Info