PhD Student Position

Short Project Description

The National Institute on Aging together with the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) recently proposed the ATN classification which is based upon the pathological processes present in Alzheimer’s disease (amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration). The amyloid and tau status can be defined using cerebrospinal fluid analysis but also non-invasively using an amyloid or tau PET scan. The N status can be defined using an [18F]-FDG PET scan, which is in Belgium part of standard care. Recently, it has been demonstrated, using different amyloid PET tracers, that early-frame amyloid scans can be a surrogate for [18F]-FDG PET scan.

During this project, we will include healthy controls, patients with mild cognitive impairment, and mild Alzheimer’s disease, who will receive MRI, amyloid (only patients), tau, and FDG scans. The early phase amyloid and tau scans will be compared with the FDG PET scans both visually and quantitatively to examine the possibility of replacing the FDG PET scan with a very short early acquisition of both tracers. Secondly, a deep learning or similar method will be developed to investigate whether the tau scan can replace both the FDG and the amyloid scans.

The PhD student will be actively involved in healthy volunteer and patient scanning, validate and refine the acquisition protocols, and develop the artificial intelligence model to replace the FDG and amyloid scan by the tau scan. The student will interact regularly with psychologists, neurologists, nuclear medicine physicians, physicists, and neuroradiologists.

Requirements

• Interest in, or demonstrated knowledge in kinetic modelling and programming
• Knowledge of medical image processing (co-registration, artifact & motion correction, segmentation..)
• Open-minded, willingness to operate in a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, engineers, and psychologists
• Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical medicine, or medicine
• Start of PhD: 01/10/2024

We Offer

• Unique opportunity to translate basic science into clinical practice
• Collaboration with international experts in nuclear medicine, neuroradiology, and engineering
• Small but dedicated team of experts

Networking

• Active nuclear medicine community
• Attend future nuclear medicine conferences