This project is available through the iCASE scheme integrated with the MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme, which involves the student spending at least 3 months over the lifetime of the PhD with a non-academic partner. This collaborative programme between the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh addresses key MRC skills priorities in Quantitative Skills (mathematics, statistics, computation, developing digital excellence) as applied to variety of data sources (from ‘omics’ to health records) or Interdisciplinary Skills including imaging, and stratified medicine.

We are looking for a physicist or engineer to participate in a major initiative to develop the Precision Medicine Living Lab at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. This will integrate medical research across a range of disciplines, including technology development for clinical MRI, based in the Imaging Centre of Excellence (ICE), which houses one of the first 7T MRI scanners in a clinical setting. The PhD project is a partnership with a local technology company, MR CoilTech, and there is close collaboration with the NHS and Siemens Healthcare.

The project will use 7T MRI to develop an advanced imaging capability for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Compared to standard MRI at 1.5T or 3T, this field strength allows a higher spatial resolution and improved precision of quantitative parameters, providing the potential for a detailed characterisation of prostate disease in individual patients. The successful candidate will be involved in the design and construction of dedicated radiofrequency hardware, as well as software modules to control data acquisition and processing. The candidate will contribute to a clinical study to assess the benefits of this new technology and to support its integration into a wider programme of precision medicine for prostate cancer.

For details of this project with Prof David Porter and Prof Hing Leung at the University of Glasgow, go to https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/mrc-precision-medicine-icase-quantitative-magnetic-resonance-imaging-of-the-prostate-at-7-tesla/?p123309

The deadline for application is 7 September 2020