FMRI signal models and computational simulations for assessing the health of ageing blood vessels in the brain

In an ageing population, neurological problems related to control of brain blood flow are increasing, generating an unsustainable socioeconomic burden. There is evidence to suggest that poor blood flow is a contributing factor in conditions associated with ageing, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. If the smooth muscle around small arteries in the brain is not functioning well, too little blood may be supplied, causing problems for neurological function. Currently, we are developing pragmatic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tools to assess the health of the brain’s blood vessels. FMRI is an ideal method to do this because the signals it measures are derived from the properties of the brain’s blood vessels.

In this PhD project, you will be helping to develop methods that assess the health of the brain’s blood vessels to track deterioration with age and disease. Computational models will be built that link changes in arterial blood volume to fMRI signals. Blood flow in feeding arteries is described in terms of two mechanistically differing physiological processes: cerebral autoregulation (CA) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR). Both processes change the fMRI signal; the amount of change is an index of cerebrovascular function. We would like to be able to predict what types of signals we can expect to measure at different points in the vascular tree. Therefore, you will combine current mathematical models of CA/CVR with a realistic vascular tree model and the Bloch equations that determine MRI signals into one software simulation package. We will use these simulations to inform the development and optimisation of new MRI sequences and test if they can better extract vascular health signals. This PhD project would be well suited to students who would like to combine physics, mathematics and computational knowledge to help combat a current key societal health challenge.

This project will start on 01/10/2018

Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.