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DESCRIPTION: This work is in keeping with the general pattern of a research project supported by the Picardie region in France, involving a team of Amiens’ university hospital (Dept of biophysics and medical image processing) specialized in MRI flow measurements and a team of the University of technology of Compiegne specialized in fluid biomechanics (UMR CNRS 6600 Biomechanics and Biomedical engineering).

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non invasive medical imaging technique that allows visualizing organs and tissues and also quantifying blood flow rates in vessels.
Amiens’ university hospital is fitted out with a 1.5T and a 3T MRI scanner of the last generation. The research team has a thorough knowledge of flow image processing softwares development using IDL environment. Those softwares are used for segmentation and plotting of vascular flow curves during a cardiac cycle. http://www.u-picardie.fr/labo/UGBM/Frames.htm
Departments of image processing, radiology and gastro-enterology of Amiens’ hospital take an interest in the characterization of liver haemodynamics using MRI flowmetry as many hepatic pathologies like cirrhosis or tumours lead to hepatic blood flows alterations.

The first objective of the project is to calibrate and optimize the MRI measurement protocol. We will build a “hydraulic phantom” compliant with MRI constraints. This physical system will be numerically constructed (3D segmentation techniques) then exported towards a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) flow modeling software reproducing the pulsed flow in a deformable vessel. A comparison between the physical and numerical models is expected. In the middle term, a physical model of the hepatic vessels’ arborescence will be achieved from angiographic imaging.

In a second step, we will apply our acquisition and treatment protocol to the characterization of vascular flows for a population of healthy subjects in order to establish a hepatic vascular flow reference table. In the long term, the clinical application should lead to a better diagnosis of certain pathologies like cancer and cirrhosis.

Keywords: flow MRI, image processing, biomechanics modeling, fluids

CANDIDATE PROFILE: PhD in sciences with knowledge of signal or image processing Biomedical engineering, applied fluid mechanics, preferably. Interest for the medical field and programming. Experimental skills (realization of hydraulic bench, MRI images acquisition).

RESEARCH TUTORS: Prof. M.E. Meyer (Amiens’ hospital) and Dr C. Legallais (DR2 CNRS UTC Compiegne)

DURATION: envisaged 18 months
SALARY: From the Picardy Regional Counsel (in the neighbourhoods of 2000 euros i.e. 2600 US dollar)
Contacts : bouzerar.roger@chu-amiens.fr , Medecine-Nucleaire.Secretariat@chu-amiens.fr

Please kindly mention ScholarshipNet when applying for this position