Modern medicine depends on advances in imaging technologies, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), to provide increasingly detailed diagnostic information that helps to choose the right treatment for each individual patient. Development of MRI technology requires the expertise of physicists and engineers.
The objective of this doctoral project is to develop MRI techniques that show the human brain’s rate of energy use and how well its blood supply is working. Such techniques would help researchers to understand better the causes and evolution of brain diseases such as dementia, multiple sclerosis and brain tumours. In longer term, new MRI methods may be used to better diagnose and monitor brain diseases.
The project will involve developing MRI experiments to improve the image data collection and applying computer models that relate brain function to the collected MRI signals. The research is based in the Methods and Instrumentation section of the Department of Neurosciences, Imaging and Clinical Sciences at the University “G d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara. Imaging will be conducted at the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies on a newly installed research-dedicated state-of-the-art 3 Tesla MRI system in collaboration with the industrial partner, Siemens. The project also offers the opportunity to spend a period abroad at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre in the UK.
The project would suit a candidate from a numerate discipline such as Physics or Engineering as the candidate will need to learn about MRI physics and data analysis techniques. This is an exciting opportunity to begin a career at the interface of physics and medicine in a rapidly developing field that promises important research and industrial innovations in the coming years.
Applications close at 1pm Italian time on 4 August 2023.
For informal enquires concerning the project please contact Prof. Richard Wise
(richard.wise@unich.it).
The formal advertisement describing the requirements and procedures for applying are found at the link below. The relevant PhD course is “Neuroscience and Imaging” while the scholarship is that co-funded by Siemens, https://www.scuolasuperiore.unich.it/bandi/bando-di-concorso-lammissione-al-dottorato-di-ricerca-xxxix-ciclo-aa-20232024