PhD in gadolinium-based brain MRI

Working at Amsterdam UMC

PhD in gadolinium-based brain MRI

Gadolinium-based contrast agent is the standard of care for many brain MRI indications, especially in tumor imaging or multiple sclerosis. Is it still necessary? Or can AI help improve images that were acquired with less or even no contrast agent to look like standard dose images?

The project

The TKI-funded SECURO project is a collaboration between Amsterdam UMC and Danish Start-up Cerebriu. Together we hope to develop a software that can reliably create either AI-enhanced or even fully synthetic post-contrast brain MR images. For this purpose, we have four years of funding time starting this spring. There is already an algorithm prototype, but we will create additional data to improve it, and test different models under the sharp eyes of human experts. We will also initiate a first-time trial to use synthetic MR-weightings, generated from the MR-Stat MRI sequence, to create synthetic post-contrast images with the new tool.

Would you like to know more about the different phases within the PhD trajectory? You can read more about this on this page.

About your role

We are looking for a new PhD researcher at our Amsterdam UMC site to closely collaborate with another computer scientist PhD student working locally at Cerebriu in Copenhagen. This is what the position will look like:

• You will recruit about 200 mainly Dutch-speaking patients for the prospective part of the study.
• You will export, organize, label and quality-assess large sets of different MRI data. It may be necessary to learn scanning independently or to support MR technician staff.
• You will analyze the outputs of the jointly developed software, publish scientific articles on the results, and provide feedback for improving the software.
• You will be trained in assessing brain MRI pathologies to be able to sort data or even rate data yourself in terms of clinical and visibility aspects.
• The focus of your scientific work will be on the human-perceived quality of the synthetic, AI-augmented data. This involves analyses such as lesion visibility, technology acceptance and more.

About you

• It is mandatory that you speak sufficient Dutch to safely recruit patients for the study. For that reason, you also need a medical background (or associated).
• You have basic programming skills, solid statistical skills, and experience with using brain image processing software, or you are willing to acquire those early in the PhD program.
• The same applies to skills in using brain image processing software, which are either brought in or must be developed.
• Ideally, you are therefore a medical doctor with a keen technical interest, or a medical technologist with a heart for clinical imaging.
• You consider yourself an independent team player, eager learner and emotionally balanced person.
• We are searching for a well-organized also English-speaking person as this project involves large amounts of data and coordinating efforts at three sites (Amsterdam UMC, Copenhagen and Utrecht). You should feel socially confident to converse with research partners of different backgrounds as well as patients.

Our offer

• A flying start to your career in scientific research.
• Plenty of room for your drive to shape tomorrow's healthcare.
• Working on large-scale and in-house research, with motivated colleagues from all over the world.
• You will be employed by Amsterdam UMC Research BV.
• A contract for 12 months, with the intention to extend for a total of 4 years. The Guideline PhD contract applies to this vacancy.
• Salary scale OIO: € 3.017 to € 3.824 gross based on full-time employment (depending on education and experience) and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.
• Holiday hours: 190.4 per year for full-time and a possibility to save additional hours.
• Pension accrual with BeFrank, a modern, comprehensible and fairly priced pension.
• For >7 km each way, 100% reimbursement for public transport travel costs and, for private transport, €0.18 per km up to a maximum of 40 km each way.
• Do you prefer walking or cycling? Take advantage of our good bike scheme. Moreover, you will receive a reimbursement of €0.18 per km.

About your workplace

Amsterdam UMC Research BV supports non-profit scientific research. In doing so, we provide researchers with everything they need to excel. Our principal investigators (PIs) and project leaders offer support in the field of project management, finance and human resources. In medical scientific research projects, legal support is also provided.

The research group you will become a part of focuses on brain tumor imaging and is led by Vera Keil. However, the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine imaging science team is a far larger family whose members you will meet soon once hired. We care for each other and support each other. Our collaborating partner Cerebriu is a dynamic start-up from Copenhagen, Denmark, and you may need to visit them once or twice.

Amsterdam UMC has an open culture. This means that we hope that everyone feels welcome in our organization and that we strive to offer equal opportunities to everyone. We therefore cordially invite all interested parties to respond to this vacancy.

Note: You will receive a reply from us before May 5, 2025. However, please be patient as CV review may take up to 2 weeks. During the publication period, applications will be handled continuously.

If you have any questions about this position, please feel free to contact Vera Keil via v.c.w.keil@amsterdamumc.nl.