PhD position in multi-modal neuroimaging analyses of Alzheimer's disease. Contribute to efforts of a large pan-European consortium!
The European project ‘Amyloid Imaging to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease’ (AMYPAD) is a collaborative research initiative aiming to improve the understanding, diagnosis and management of AD through the utilization of amyloid-PET imaging. In collaboration with 11 cohorts, including our sister project ‘European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia’ (EPAD), the AMYPAD Prognostic and Natural History Study (PNHS) has completed its inclusion of over 1600 unique participants with a broad range of biomarkers, including (advanced) MR and amyloid-PET imaging, neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric assessments, cerebrospinal fluid, genetics, and functional performance. This study was initiated and sponsored by the VUmc Amsterdam and involves 17 sites in over 10 countries across Europe. The wealth of available data requires a dedicated PhD student to further our understanding of the earliest brain changes associated with AD!
You will work with the available multimodal and multicenter MRI dataset of the pan-European consortium. During the course of the PhD, you will contribute to the creation of standardized pipelines for the processing, quality control, and harmonization of this diverse dataset, which includes structural (T1w, T2w, FLAIR, SWI), functional (fMRI and ASL) and diffusion (DTI) sequences. A particular focus of your research will be on using multivariate analysis to investigate the single- and multi-modal MRI phenotypes, their interaction with risk factors, and association with AD disease progression. This project is a continuation of previous and ongoing works with a focus on multimodal brain network alterations, assessed through these different modalities. For example, within our group we have shown that early amyloid deposition is related to a loss of white microstructure as measured with DTI, changes in functional eigenvector centrality as measured through fMRI, and initial increases in cerebral blood flow as measurd with ASL. In the next step of this work, we would like to combine imaging modalities to shed further light on the interplay between alterations in neuroimaging biomarkers.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious researcher with a strong interest to work in a large consortium and neurosciences. In addition, you have:
A masters degree in Neuropsychology, Neurosciences, Technical Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, or similar field;
Experience with neuroimaging processing and analyses;
Significant programming skills (such as R, Matlab, Bash, Python);
An affinity with Alzheimer’s disease and/or neurodegeneration;
Good communication skills in English (written and oral).
To view the vacancy, visit: https://werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org/en/vacatures/research/multimodal-brain-networks-in-alzheimers-disease
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