Doctoral CRP in "Advances in Medical Imaging Techniques"

Diagnostic imaging, as is performed in the frame of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, is one of the major factors that contributed to the advance of modern medicine during the last century. Diagnostic radiology has been built on the basis of x-rays that are utilized to discriminate between tissues or organs of different X-ray attenuation characteristics, in a planar representation. Nowadays technological advances aim for always better performance in terms of the characterization of different tissues and lesions, with respect to their morphology, composition and functionality. Worldwide, new technologies are introduced to achieve this goal, such as digital imaging, 3D imaging, spectral imaging, etc. New procedures have resulted in reducing dose from several standard procedures, but also new procedures have emerged which may require higher doses.  The opportunity of characterizing functionality through imaging, that is a challenge for diagnostic radiology, has been the base, upon which the whole structure of nuclear medicine has been built. However, nuclear medicine itself faces challenges associated with the poor count statistics. The use of improved image processing and the implementation of corrections, such as for attenuation and scatter, can greatly improve the integrity of the resultant image. The ability to reliably quantify activity in nuclear medicine has a number of increasingly important applications. Two such applications are targeted radiotherapy treatment planning and advanced kinetic analysis.  This CRP will scientifically support medical physics PhD students in developing countries, whose work is related to the enhancement or introduction of modern medical imaging techniques. PhD students will have a supervisor from the host nation, connected to a local degree conferring institution, which will bear the full responsibility for the progress of the graduate student. Students will also be paired with scientists in developed countries (remote mentor) with appropriate specialized knowledge in the selected research topic, who will assist in guiding the project to successful fruition. The core research part of this doctoral CRP project will be the study of their effectiveness, the potential applications, optimization and the safe use of these advanced imaging techniques. Candidates will develop abilities to be engaged into state of the art research and to clinically support advanced imaging techniques.