Developing new medical imaging technologies

An exciting opportunity exists to work on a PhD project where you will develop new medical imaging technologies that account for patient motion during CT scans (e.g. imaging the lungs as a patient breathes and their heart beats). Our work to date has led to more than ten clinical trials with technologies developed by members of the Institute now forming the standard of care for lung cancer radiation therapy. The work will primarily be applied to radiation therapy for cancer treatment as well as to a new treatment for cardiac disease called radiation ablation. Other application areas include musculoskeletal imaging.

As the work in this project is cross disciplinary, the project suits a broad range of students. For example, we currently have mathematicians working on the image reconstruction part of the project (inverse problems) and optimisation, biomedical engineers working on embedded programming and control systems, medical physicists working with linear accelerators and CT scanners, and, computer scientists working on software development and machine learning.

The work will be conducted in the ACRF Image X Institute at the University of Sydney where we have a reputation for translational research through to clinical trials and commercialisation (3 spinoff companies). The Institute has access to high end research machines (linear accelerators, CT scanners, etc) and currently has 20 to 30 full time researchers. We offer a highly collaborative research team that will provide you with the opportunity to get support and mentoring for the entire duration of your studies.

Our previous PhD students have gone on to successful careers in hospitals, industry and academia including leading the formation of spinout companies. We strongly encourage you to reach out to Associate Professor Ricky O’Brien to discuss the project in more detail as well as discussing the research environment and support offered by the ACRF Image X Institute.