Ph.D. student in Medical Radiation Physics with a focus on MR-Physics

The Department of Medical Radiation Physics is engaged in research and education in ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and its use mainly in medical applications. The major areas are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), radiation therapy, X-ray physics, and nuclear medicine.

The MR physics research group (https://www.msf.lu.se/research/mr-physics-group), situated in the expanding Öresund region in southern Sweden, is active in the field of medical magnetic resonance, and has its primary focus on development of new techniques for assessment of functional information related to perfusion, diffusion, cortical activation/fMRI, flow, CEST as well as quantitative MRI.

Description
Diffusion MRI (dMRI) measures microscopic properties in the tissue by studying random motion of water molecules. In dense tissue, diffusion is slow, while it appears to be faster in looser tissue. Diffusion MRI can therefore detect cancers that cause the tissue to be abnormally dense. Unfortunately, current dMRI methods have a poor clinical performance. This shortcoming can be remedied by performing a wider range of diffusion encoding, and thereby learning more about the tissue microstructure. For example, we aim to distinguish properties like cell density, cell shape, cell size, blood volume, and cell membrane permeability. Once estimated, these parameters can serve as biomarkers to improve the diagnostics and monitoring of disease.

Assignments
The main assignment is to undergo doctoral training within the MR physics group, including research projects on the development of prostate cancer diagnostics and radiotherapy monitoring in both the clinical and pre-clinical environment. We will strive to map tissue microstructure and link it to clinically relevant biomarkers. Moreover, we continuously work on improving our technical approach, meaning that the work can include image reconstruction, machine learning and programming of the actual MRI system. The research group has a large international collaborative network, which means that travel for planning and execution of various future collaborative projects will be encouraged.

Admission requirements
An applicant meets the general entry requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes if he or she has been awarded a second-cycle qualification, or

has satisfied the requirement of courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second cycle or has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Additionally, to be admitted to the third-cycle programme in Medical Radiation Physics the student must have:

• an MSc in Medical Physics or an equivalent international degree, or
• another degree meeting the general admission requirements (240 credits), including courses within this programme comprising at least 60 credits of direct relevance to the doctoral student’s third-cycle studies, and a degree project of at least 30 credits.

Other requirements:

• Ability to communicate well in spoken and written English, to a standard that allows writing of scientific publications.
• The holder of this position must have the ability and willingness to teach, as part of the departmental duties.

Evaluation criteria: 

• Knowledge of MR physics
• Knowledge of radiation therapy
• Knowledge of diffusion MRI
• Knowledge of super resolution methods
• Completed degree project aimed at diffusion and/or super resolution MRI or similar
• Previous experience of research in the field of diffusion MRI
• Knowledge of various programming languages such as Matlab, C++ or Python
• Ability to work independently and collaborate with colleagues in other fields

Admission to third-cycle (doctoral) studies is based primarily on the evaluated ability of the student to pursue and benefit from such studies.

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statutes 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to third-cycle studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from third-cycle studies shall be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work (not more than 20%) with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

Conditions
Starting date according to agreement but no later than September 1st 2024

Application
The application is to be made online. An incomplete application will not be processed.

The application must contain: 

• CV
• A short cover letter explaining how the applicant fullfills the requirements and evaluation criteria as stated above
• A copy of the 30 credit master's degree project thesis (or equivalent)
• Contact information to two references
• Copies of certificates and documents that the applicant wishes to claim.

Type of employment
Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.