Ultrasound Imaging of Human Bone with High Resolution

The School of Engineering at London South Bank University is an ambitious and progressive centre of research strength, ranked 25th nationally for research power in the last Research Excellence Framework. We have a fabulous central London location and are looking for talented potential students interested in research to work with our academic faculty in areas of strength. We are offering a number of funded PhD scholarships below. These studentships are available to UK nationals & EU citizen’s and overseas applicants*. Those in possession of their own funding (e.g. via a non-EU government scholarship) are also welcome to apply for a place of study.

Further details on each PhD project as well as application information are provided via this link but all PhD scholarships benefit from the following:
• Training in advanced engineering topics
• Group and individual research projects
• Mentoring from industry on the application and context of research
• Bespoke technical training
• Enterprise and innovation skills training
• Transferable skills development opportunities to increase employability
• 3-year studentships of ~£15,000 per annum living stipend (usually tax free)
• Payment of all tuition fees*
• A school supported consumables and travel budget to support additional specialist research training courses, access to specialist equipment and travel to international conferences, seminars and workshops
• Industry sponsored* cutting-edge research projects
• Wide choice of PhD projects ranging from applied to blue-sky research
• State-of-the-art research facilities in the centre of London
• Opportunities for overseas secondments to industrial partners and universities
• Excellent career prospects on completion of the PhD
* for eligible students only

LSBU Research Centres Website: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/research/centres-groups, please click on the link here to see the specific PhD posts available (https://www.lsbu.ac.uk/research/research-degrees).

Closing date for applications: 1st August 2020
PhD Start: September/October 2020

Description
According to Age UK, almost 3 million people in the UK have osteoporosis (bone loss). Osteoporosis causes an average of 300,000 fractures every year, which costs the UK economy an estimate of £4.4 billion.

NHS mostly uses Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) for fracture risk assessment. DXA is far from perfect; it can overestimate the bone density in some patients, and it uses ionizing radiation, which is not suitable for frequent monitoring. Therefore, there is a clinical need for a safe bone imaging method. Ultrasound imaging technology has excellent potential to fulfil this clinical need.

The aim of this research project is to develop a new bone image technology with high-resolution ultrasound. This new imaging technology will use a high frame-rate imaging system that can record over 10,000 fps (most clinical scanners are around 50 fps). After a few seconds of data acquisition, thousands of frames can be combined to generate a single super-frame with much better image resolution and quality. Based on this approach, PhD student will develop new techniques to combine ultrasound frames and enhance imaging performance.

PhD student and our research team will develop a new imaging method that can visualise the pores inside human bone and separate cortical and trabecular regions. From the final images, it will be possible to detect bone porosity and measure the cortical thickness. This will help clinicians to assess bone loss with high accuracy.

The outcomes of this project for the PhD candidate are:
• understand ultrasound imaging;
• gain experience in ultrasound signal and image processing techniques;
• learn existing imaging formation algorithms and adapt them to bone imaging;
• perform experimental measurements with a high-frame rate ultrasound system;
• present the findings of the project in international conferences;
• perform high-quality research and publish it as journal articles.

This will be a 3-year fully funded studentship for an EU/UK and overseas applicants who are keen to conduct research in ultrasound imaging at LSBU.

Supervisory Team
The successful applicant will be working Dr Sevan Harput (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=oel2ZHcAAAAJ&hl=en) at the Ultrasound research lab (https://sevanharput.github.io/). You will join the Bioengineering Research Centre (http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/research/centres-groups/biomedical-engineering-communications-bimec) and work alongside a range of new and experienced PhD students in a collaborative environment.

Enquiries should be directed to Dr Harput ([Email Address Removed]). Please send a copy of your CV with a covering letter before applying.

Requirements
Applicants must be of outstanding academic merit and should have (or be expected to gain) either a first-class or an upper second-class Honours degree (or equivalent), or an MSc/MRes with distinction. Enthusiastic and self-motivated candidates from all countries with a background in Engineering, Physics or Mathematics are encouraged to apply.
A good knowledge and experience in ultrasound imaging, signal processing, programming and/or computational modelling would be advantageous.