PhD Scholarship: rapid imaging of blood flow
(posted by Ian Marshall)
This project is offered under the University of Edinburgh (College of Medicine)
PhD Scholarship Competition for September 2005 entry.
Summary.
An important area of current MR research is that of speeding up the acquisition
of images to enable a wider range of data to be collected during a patient
examination. Emerging techniques reduce acquisition time by under-sampling in
the spatial domain (“parallel” imaging, e.g. “SMASH” (1) and “SENSE” (2))
and/or the temporal domain (“kt-BLAST” (3)). Ambiguities in the images are then
resolved using a priori information derived from low-resolution training scans.
In this exciting PhD project, these techniques will be developed and evaluated
on our research dedicated 1.5 T clinical scanner. This will involve detailed MR
sequence programming and the development of sophisticated image processing
techniques. Although the main focus of the work will be on accelerating the
acquisition of carotid blood flow measurements so that complete 3-dimensional
coverage is possible in an acute stroke examination, the techniques can also be
applied to other blood vessels and to cardiac imaging. The project will suit a
highly motivated physical scientist keen to contribute to the exciting field of
medical imaging and work within our large, dynamic, internationally competitive
stroke research group.
References
1. Sodickson DK et al, Magn Reson Med 1997; 38: 591-603
2. Pruessmann KP et al, Magn Reson Med 1999; 42: 952-962.
3. Tsao J et al, Magn Reson Med 2003; 50: 1031-1042.
The project will be based in the SHEFC Brain Imaging Research Centre for
Scotland (www.dcn.ed.ac.uk/bic) and supervised by Drs Ian Marshall
([log in to unmask]) and Mark Bastin ([log in to unmask]). Details of the
Scholarship Competition and the application procedure are available at
www.mvm.ed.ac.uk/research/schol.htm. This is Project 3.1. Closing date: Friday
14th January 2005.
--
Ian Marshall, PhD
Reader
Medical Physics
Medical and Radiological Sciences
University of Edinburgh
Western General Hospital
EDINBURGH
EH4 2XU
Tel +44 (0)131 537 1661 or +44 (0)131 537 2155
FAX +44 (0)131 537 1026
email [log in to unmask]
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