Silent MRI for Monitoring Multiple Sclerosis

Conventional wisdom states that MRI scans are loud and long, but conventional wisdom is wrong. By carefully programming the MRI scanner, it is possible to make scans near silent [1], and modern image reconstruction methods are enabling ever faster, more informative scans [2]. Both issues are crucial in monitoring Multiple Sclerosis over long periods of time – quiet, quick, quantitative scans will enable more people living with MS to have more scans more frequently and provide richer information to clinicians. In turn this will enable earlier MS diagnosis and better, more informed prognoses.

This PhD will optimise the acquisition and analysis of silent quantitative Magnetisation Transfer (MT) MRI for use in MS disease course prediction in both the brain and spinal cord. The student will be supervised in the Department of Neuroimaging at King’s College London, a world-renowned imaging centre with access to multiple state-of-the-art MRI scanners. The supervision team includes physicists, clinicians, and international MS experts. Applicants should hold or be about to receive an undergraduate or master’s degree in a relevant subject such as Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or Computer Science.

For further details on how to apply please see https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/study/research-funding/neuroim-gbtw-apr22