Background
MRI is an incredibly successful medical imaging modality, with 3.8 million scans acquired in the NHS in the year preceding March 2022. However, MR imaging in young children is difficult. Scanners are built to fit the largest adults, resulting in suboptimal equipment designs for children. Movement during a scan degrades image quality, and children often find it difficult to remain still during the multiple minutes a scan requires, particularly because of the loud and distracting acoustic noises made during a conventional scan.
Zero Echo-Time (ZTE) is a unique form of MRI that is near silent and can incorporate motion correction “for-free”, with no additional acquired data or extra devices in the scanner. This has been previously demonstrated for the specific case of adult T1-weighted imaging.
Aims
The PhD candidate will develop motion correction techniques for child and adolescent MRI scanning based on ZTE. They will incorporate multiple MRI contrasts (e.g. T2, diffusion, ASL, BOLD) and new Radio Frequency (RF) coil technology to ensure that a complete clinical scan can be conducted silently and be immune from motion artefacts during non-sedated examinations including sleep.
Techniques & Skills
The candidate will learn MRI physics, advanced mathematics and programming skills, including convex optimization and potentially artificial intelligence/deep learning. There will be an option to learn RF engineering skills.
Timeline
Year 1 – Evaluate existing MR motion correction techniques and how they interact with ZTE imaging.
Year 2 – Implement motion correction for multiple contrasts in a complete silent clinical protocol.
Year 3 – Demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented protocol in a cohort of children and adolescents.