We are looking for a PhD candidate who, together with our team, will substantially improve quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image quality using deep learning approaches.

Quantitative MRI allows healthcare providers to quantitatively assess and characterize the state of a tumour and its microenvironment. This information can be used to personalize cancer treatments. For example, a well-perfused tumour (quantified with MRI) will be more likely to react to chemotherapy than a tumour that is not perfused, as the chemo will need to reach the tumour. As personalizing a treatment based on such biomarkers can substantially improve the efficacy of the treatment, we have multiple research lines that utilize quantitative MRI at Amsterdam UMC.

However, current quantitative MRI approaches have notoriously poor image quality, low resolution and poor precision. Consequently, quantitative MRI is not used routinely in cancer care. If we can improve the image quality of quantitative MRI, it can be used in clinical routine to select the optimal treatment for each patient, greatly improving treatment outcomes worldwide.

Therefore, in this PhD-trajectory, the candidate will fundamentally change how qMRI is obtained and develop innovative explainable unsupervised physics-informed AI approaches for generating qMRI images that are of clinical quality. This will open the way to personalised treatments. These AI-driven frameworks will be tailored to suit the specific needs of qMRI. The candidate will further develop explainable AI and produce uncertainty estimates alongside the parameter maps. Finally, the candidate will test how accurately responding versus non-responding head-and-neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy can be distinguished.

The position is financed by the NWO (TTW VIDI 2022).

Your main task will be to implement, optimize and test new approaches to AI-driven quantitative MRI.

• You will work on the entire MRI acquisition chain. You will operate state-of-the-art MRI machines (3 Tesla), acquire MRI data, write and alter the MRI-scanner software to improve the acquisition (C++), develop and perform MRI reconstructions using deep learning (Python), and analyse the MRI data;
• You, or your medical colleagues, will be scanning qMRI in head-and-neck cancer patients;
• You will conduct new academic research combining machine learning and medical physics;
• Your research will be published in reputable peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, you will regularly present your work at (international) conferences and assist in relevant teaching activities.

We are searching for candidates who want to apply their technical expertise to improve healthcare. We expect the candidate to be able to learn and understand the technical details of MRI acquisition and reconstruction and advanced deep learning.

The candidate must function in a multidisciplinary team and collaborate with health care providers and MR-physics researchers.

A candidate must have:

• An MSc degree in Artificial intelligence, (Medical) Physics, or a similar study (please state your average grade and most relevant courses);
• Programming experience in Python;
• English communication, presentation, and writing skills;
• An interest in health care and, in particular, MRI;
• Highly motivated and creative.

Additional skills we would like to see:

• Experience with machine learning (i.e. in PyTorch or Tensorflow);
• Experience with MRI and MR-physics.

• A flying start to your career in scientific research.
• Plenty of room for personal development with a wide range of training & development of academic skills
• Working on large-scale and own research, with motivated colleagues
• A contract for 12 months that will be extended (after evaluation) for another 36 months.
• Salary scale: OIO: € 3.017 tot € 3.824 bruto (based on a fulltime workweek), depending on qualifications and experience and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus. Calculate your net salary here.
• Vacation hours: 172 per year and an option to save additional hours.
• Your pension is accrued at BeFrank. A modern, understandeble en fair pension
• Excellent accessibility with public transportation and reimbursement of a large portion of your travel expenses. Additionally, we have plenty of parking spaces at the AMC location and a good bicycle scheme.
• Terms of employment according to University Medical Center collective agreements (UMC-CAO);
• An active staff association and the Young Amsterdam UMC association, both of which organize fun (sports) activities and events.

Amsterdam UMC

You will be part of the MRI-physics group at Amsterdam UMC (location AMC). Dr. Oliver Gurney-Champion will be the co-promotor and daily supervisor and Prof. Aart Nederveen will be the promotor. The MRI-physics research group offers a resourceful and stimulating scientific environment. We are an energetic and enthusiastic team of roughly 15 BSc/MSc students, 20 PhD candidates, 3 postdocs, 5 assistant professors and two professors. The MRI-physics group is part of the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine.

At Amsterdam UMC, we are equipped with 10 state-of-the-art 1.5/3 Tesla MRI scanners and a 7 tesla MRI scanner. We have reserved MRI research hours on most scanners.

Working at Amsterdam UMC means working in an inspiring and professional environment in which developing one`s talents and skills are encouraged. As a PhD candidate, you have access to the Graduate School to further develop your skills.