Dear FSL users
On behalf of Dr Nikolaus Weiskopf, I am distributing the following job ad:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
PhD Studentship: Developing Robust and Fast Quantitative MRI for
Clinical Deployment
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship at the Wellcome Trust
Centre for Neuroimaging (WTCN) under the supervision of Dr. Nikolaus
Weiskopf (Head of Physics at WTCN) and in collaboration with Siemens
Healthcare. The anticipated start date is 23rd September 2013.
Project:
The main goal of the PhD project is to develop and optimize
quantitative anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human
brain for clinical or clinically related applications in collaboration
with Siemens Healthcare. Quantitative MRI addresses the shortcomings
of standard clinical MRI, which suffers from limited specificity and
comparability, but it is not used in clinical neuroimaging. This makes
standard clinical images difficult to compare across sites and time
points, complicating patient follow up and defining reference values
for healthy and pathological brain tissue.
The PhD project is founded on previous work on quantitative
multi-parameter mapping at the WTCN, which has been successfully used
for in-vivo parcellation of cortical microstructure and investigation
of healthy aging and disease (see for examples:
http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/Research/physics.html and key
publications below).
This PhD project aims to significantly improve the quantitative
multi-parameter mapping approach and deploy these improvements on MRI
scanners world-wide in collaboration with our industrial partner
Siemens. Primary improvements will include acceleration of image
acquisition, desensitizing against physiological/motion artifacts. The
PhD will work in close collaboration with the Siemens MR development
team.
Environment:
The student will be tightly integrated in our world-leading lab with
access to the latest 3T MRI facilities (Siemens 3T TIM Trio,
32-channel) including a system for optical prospective motion
correction (Kineticor) that is unique in the UK. The intensive
collaboration with Siemens Healthcare is an excellent opportunity for
the student to work in a leading academic and industrial environment.
Funding: The studentship is funded for 3 years. The studentship will
cover UK/EU university tuition fees and an enhanced annual stipend of
£18,500 (tax free). Note that overseas candidates (i.e., non EU/UK)
can only be considered if they provide formal proof, at the time of
application, of a scholarship which funds the additional overseas
tuition fees.
Entry requirements:
A good degree in physics, medical physics, engineering, biomedical
sciences or related disciplines, with a high final average. Candidates
short-listed for interview will be required to give a short research
presentation.
Informal enquiries:
Please email Dr. Nikolaus Weiskopf for further information about the
project (n.weiskopf(a)ucl.ac.uk).
Application procedures: Application is by CV and covering letter
(including motivation for applying) emailed to:
ion.educationunit(a)ucl.ac.uk
Please put “WTCN Physics Studentship” in the subject line.
Closing Date: 9am, Monday 5th August 2013
Key publications:
1. Dick, F. et al. In vivo functional and myeloarchitectonic mapping
of human primary auditory areas. J. Neurosci. 32, 16095–105 (2012).
2. Weiskopf, N. et al. Unified segmentation based correction of R1
brain maps for RF transmit field inhomogeneities (UNICORT). Neuroimage
54, 2116–2124 (2011).