JOB  DESCRIPTION : MRI Research engineer

Laboratory
Code unit: UMR7289
Name of Unit: Centre IRMf, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone UMR7289 CNRS & AMU
Director: Guillaume MASSON
Address:  Faculté de Médecine de la Timone 27 Bd Jean Moulin 13005 Marseille
Localisation of position: Marseille, FRANCE

Responsibilities
The MRI Research Engineer will be responsible for the set-up, implementation and validation of MRI acquisition methods necessary for the realisation of structural (high-resolution anatomical, diffusion) and functional neuro-imaging protocols. He/she is responsible for the proper functioning of the 3T MR system in liaison with the manufacturer. He/she will contribute to the set-up of the processing pipeline included in the services offered by the fMRI Centre.

Duties
* Perform initial tests, reception and set-up of the new 3T MR system in close relationship with the manufacturer to enable an efficient restart and fully functional follow-up.
* Examine the needs of researchers in integrative and cognitive neurosciences relative to their research objectives. Evaluate and propose the most appropriate imaging techniques and methods.
* Organise the choice, set-up, implementation and validation of MR acquisition methods in human and non-human primates, while encouraging scientific collaboration with the manufacturer, partner laboratories and neuroimaging platform networks.
* Pilot, interpret and validate measures for their scientific exploitation.
* Supervise R&D research work in MR physics and its application to neuroimaging.
* Keep up-to-date with technical advances in MR physics, its applications, acquisition protocols and advanced neuroimaging analysis methods.
* Present, distribute results.
* Supervise safe practice procedures. Study risks associated with hardware: train users on risks associated with MRI.
* Contribute to the exploitation of scientific data by setting up tools for organizing data processing.
* Supervision: yes
* Project leading: yes

Skills
Ph.D. and/or Engineering diploma: a biomedical physicist or an engineer specialised in MRI and clinical imaging.
The applicant will have a good knowledge of:
* MR Physics :
    - Acquisition sequences
    - Reconstruction algorithms
    - MR hardware (RF-coils, gradient system)
* Analysis and validation of data quality
* Processing and analysis of cerebral MR images
* Software development tools
* Office software tools
* Scientific and technical English

Abilities
* To understand cognitive and integrative neuroscience protocols in humans and non-human primates
* To propose pertinent acquisition solutions adapted to the capabilities of the 3T MR system, which emphasize collaborative links with the manufacturer and the Centre’s partner laboratories.
* To work in a multidisciplinary environment at the interface of a variety of scientific and technological domains

Context and working environment
The Marseilles' fMRI Centre (http://irmfmrs.free.fr/) is a neuroimaging platform belonging to the Institut des Neurosciences de La Timone (http://www.int.univ-amu.fr/), affiliated to the CNRS and Aix-Marseille University. It provides neuroscientists, psychologists and clinicians with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services and is involved in clinical, fundamental and methodological research as well as technical development through collaboration with local, national and international research groups, and has strong involvement in training and teaching.

The fMRI Centre operates a 3 Tesla MR system fully dedicated to neuroscience and psychology research in human and non-human primates, equipped with high-end stimulation and recording systems. The Centre is run by two CNRS Research Engineers (Drs Jean-Luc Anton and Bruno Nazarian) and a Scientific Director from Aix-Marseille University (Dr Pascal Belin). 

The fMRI Centre is currently engaged in an ambitious new development, with the ongoing purchase of the latest-generation, research-oriented 3T scanner equipped with ultra-high gradients and state-of-the art RF systems, and a move to the recently inaugurated European Centre for Research in Medical Imaging (CERIMED, http://cerimed-web.eu/), a new platform for multi-modality, multi-species in-vivo imaging on the La Timone campus, where the new scanner (Siemens Prisma) will be installed in November 2015. These developments are actively supported by Aix-Marseille University, CNRS and the France-Life Imaging infrastructure.

In the context of these developments, the fMRI Centre is recruiting an MRI Research Engineer, who will have three tasks. First he/she will participate in the reception and set-up of the new scanner, in liaison with the manufacturer, and will gauge technical requests from scientific users to ensure the most efficient restart and development of scanning activities.

Second, in order to best exploit the strong potential of the latest-generation 3T system, the engineer will implement, parametrize, test and validate the most recent acquisition sequences (multi-band EPI, local quantification of micro-structures, …) to enable and contribute to competitive scientific projects involving, e.g., high-resolution EPI and DTI, imaging in non-human primates, and foetuses. The engineer will play a leading role in the scientific partnership with the manufacturer, with partner laboratories (CRMBM, Neurospin, Maastricht, MGH, ...) and with the national and international networks of neuroimaging platforms (CENIR, CERMEP, ...).

Third, in interaction with the other engineers of the Centre and CERIMED, the engineer will contribute to the development of the services offered by the Centre in terms of data organization (set-up of databases) and data pre/post-processing (set-up of processing tool pipelines).