PhD position in "Novel high performance bio-electromagnetic solvers for broadband and high fidelity intracranial imaging" - MSCA Cofund SEED programme

2 Feb 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

IMT Atlantique

Department

Doctoral division

Research Field

Engineering

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

France

Application Deadline

14 Feb 2024 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

37

Offer Starting Date

1 Sep 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

HE / MSCA COFUND

Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number

101126644

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description
The PhD position is offered under a standard track (30 months at IMT Atlantique + 3 months at Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy + 3 months in an industry partner.
1.1. Domain and scientific/technical context

Epilepsy affects 50 million people globally [1]. Patients that cannot undergo the surgery [2] are at risk of a seizure occurring at any time, which causes anxiety [3] and injuries. Continuous monitoring of electrophysiologic biomarkers can help predict occurrences of seizures [4] and localize the seizure onset zone. Hence, continuous, real-time monitoring of neuroimaging biomarkers, is a game changer in medicine and research [5].

Continuous monitoring is limited by the size, resolution, and cost of the measurement device; electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the only viable candidates but has poor spatial resolution [6]. This can be fixed via high-resolution EEG that combines EEG readings with bio-electromagnetic models to reconstruct the intracranial activity from the EEG readings and anatomical models using (i) a bioelectromagnetic model and (ii) an inverse problem (IP) solver. The challenges are: the accuracy of the forward problem and the ill-posedness of the IP.

1.2. Scientific/technical challenges

The objective of this project is to lay the groundwork for a game-changing EEG intracranial biomarker monitoring framework for seizure-forecasting and early diagnosis, via a complete overhaul of the electroencephalography (EEG) analysis chain. This will be achieved through the scientific objectives (SO):

• SO1 - Superseding current neuroimaging bioelectromagnetic BEM solvers: the new high-fidelity broadband solver will be capable of imaging a wide array of electrophysiological biomarkers including emerging multi- frequency connectome and anatomic biomarkers (e.g. multi-frequency EIT);
• SO2 - Obtaining a new learning framework for biomarker extraction and detection: create an innovative and robust framework of learning-based technologies for detecting neuroimaging biomarkers using the SO1 and demonstrate their capabilities in early epileptic seizure detection;
• SO3 - Validating the new technologies: a new type of hyper realistic head phantoms will be used to validate the new technologies.

1.3. Considered methods, targeted results and impacts

Societal impacts: (i) the present project aims at significantly improving the quality of life of patients suffering from epilepsy by providing them an early warning of soon to occur seizures through continuous, real-time biomarker monitoring; (ii) the technology developed to achieve this first objective will also provide precious tools to the medial research community by enabling access to new electrophysiological biomarkers for treatment and early diagnostics (e.g early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease). The collaborations of the submitting research team with neurosurgeons at the Brest CHU will ensure that the outcome of the project are compatible with the needs of medical practitioners.

Targeted technical and scientific impact: to achieve the goal of the project, several scientific results will have to be reached that will each have a significant impact in their corresponding fields:

• Completing SO1 will provide a significant improvement in terms of resolution and fidelity of bio- electromagnetic head modelling by:
  • shattering the need for approximating the Maxwellian physics involved thanks to groundbreaking technology [7];
  • reaching extremely high tissue model resolutions, compatible with ultrahigh magneticresonance imaging (> 7𝑇) through the new concept of operator spectral filtering [8];
  • handling complex tissue properties such as anisotropy (whitematter, spongiosa, compacta) while maintaining the previous two advantages;
• Completing SO2 will introducing a new paradigm for reconstructing the intracranial electrophysiologic from EEG readings in which deterministic knowledge of the physics informs the inverse learning algorithm, early results are promising [9].
• Completing SO3 will lead to the development of realistic head phantoms, that are orders of magnitude more complex than what is currently found in the literature, and that will be capable of reproducing complex electrophysiologic activity with inhomogeneous head media profiles, complex geometries, white matter anisotropy, and electrode nonidealities and complex electrophysiologic activity.

1.4. Environment (partners, places, specific tools and hardware)

This project will take place in the computational electromagnetics thus granting full access to a high-resolution EEG system (256 electrodes), a photogrammetry dome for electrode placement, a GHz range anechoic measurement chamber, and several 3D scanners for the creation of head CAD models. These tools will prove invaluable in the validation phases of the project and attest of the expertise that the student will be exposed to in the domain. In addition, through interactions with the CEREBRO project team, the candidate will be exposed to top level researchers in the fields of medicine (Brest CHRU), algorithmics (ERC holder at Politecnico di Torino), machine learning (ERC holder in the LaTIM), bio-engineering (EPFL) as well as industry-leading EEG experts (g.tec). The secondments will also give the candidate access to world class supercomputing centers to take their discoveries to the next level and greatly facilitate the early prototyping phases in which the technology will not yet have reached optimal computational efficiency.

2. Partners and study periods
2.1. Supervisors and study periods

• IMT Atlantique: Adrien Merlini , IMT Atlantique, Brest, France

  The PhD student will stay 30 months at @NAME@'s lab.

• International partner: Prof. Francesco P. Andriulli , Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

  The PhD student will stay three months at Prof. Andriulli's lab.

• Industrial partner(s): The industrial partner for a 3-month stay has not yet been determined.

2.2. Hosting organizations
2.2.1. IMT Atlantique

IMT Atlantique , internationally recognized for the quality of its research, is a leading French technological university under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Digital Technology. IMT Atlantique maintains privileged relationships with major national and international industrial partners, as well as with a dense network of SMEs, start-ups, and innovation networks. With 290 permanent staff, 2,200 students, including 300 doctoral students, IMT Atlantique produces 1,000 publications each year and raises 18€ million in research funds.

2.2.2. Politecnico di Turino

Politecnico di Torino  is rated among the top European technical Universities for education and research, with 38,700 students and a teaching staff of more than 1,000. The university's main goal is to become a driving force for a societal sustainable development.

Requirements
Requirements

Research Field

Engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

The project is intrinsically interdisciplinary since it will require research to be conducted in the field of electromagnetic modeling—that is already at the junction between numerical analysis and high performance computing—, of bioengineering, and of medicine. These expertise will be made accessible to—and absorbed by— the PhD candidate through the challenging but stimulating environment of the partnerships created during the CEREBRO that involves hospitals, bioengineers, computational engineers, and an industry-leading EEG company and that will overlap with the thesis in its entirety.

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Excellent

Research Field

Engineering

Additional Information
Benefits
A PhD programme of high quality training : 4 reasons to apply

• SEED is a programme of excellence that is aware of its responsibilities: to provide a programme of high quality training to develop conscientious researchers, including training in responsible research and ethics. 
• SEED’s unique approach of providing interdisciplinary, international and cross-sector experience is tailored to work in a career-focused manner to enhance employability and market integration.
• SEED offers a competitive funding scheme, aiming for an average monthly salary of EUR 2,000 net per ESR, topped by additional mobility allowances as well as optional family allowances.
• SEED is a forward-looking programme that actively engages with current issues and challenges, providing research opportunities addressing industrial and academic relevant themes.

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria. In accordance with MSCA rules, SEED will open to applicants without any conditions of nationality nor age criteria. SEED applies the MSCA mobility standards and necessary background. Eligible candidates must fulfil the following criteria

• Mobility rule: Candidates must show transnational mobility by having not resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the three years immediately before the deadline of the co-funded program's call (Jan 31, 2024 for Call#1). Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.
• Early-stage researchers (ESR): Candidates must have a master’s degree or an equivalent diploma at the time of their enrolment and must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research career. Moreover, they must not have been awarded a doctoral degree.
  Extensions may be granted (under certain conditions) for maternity leave, paternity leave, as well as long-term illness or national service.

Selection process

The selection process is described on the guide for applicants available here: https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed/documents

Additional comments

Applications can only be provided through the application system available under the SEED website: https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/seed

Website for additional job details

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

IMT Atlantique

Country

France

City

Brest

Street

Campus de Brest Technopôle Brest-Iroise

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Contact

City

Brest

Website

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Street

Campus de Brest Technopôle Brest-Iroise

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED