Ion Imaging Researchers Website

PhD position - Combined X-ray and ion image guidance in particle therapy

2021-11-16T00:00:00+01:00

Job announcement

At the Chair of Medical Physics of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, offers:

1 PhD position (m,f,d) (TVL-E13 at 65% position, 3 years)

Particle therapy with protons and light ion beams is an emerging form of external beam radiotherapy, which takes advantage of the favorable interaction properties of swift ions in matter, particularly their enhanced energy deposition at the end of their range. This results in a characteristic maximum in the depth dose depo- sition, so called Bragg Peak, which can be optimally placed inside the tumor, with better sparing of surrounding normal tissue and organs at risk with respect to conventional photon therapy. However, full clinical ex- ploitation of this advantage requires accurate knowledge of the Bragg Peak position within the patient.

Treatment planning of ion beam therapy is typically performed on X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) images, which are empirically calibrated to ion stopping power ratio relative to water, with a remaining uncertainties of approximately 1-3%, limiting the precision of Bragg Peak placement within the tumor. Moreover, in-room volumetric imaging aiming to verify patient position and anatomy, and to trigger adaptive corrections in case of significant changes from the treatment panning, is typically performed on X-ray cone-beam CT images of even lower quality than planning CT images. Several studies have shown that imaging with the ion beam itself has the potential of directly measuring the tissue stopping power properties to overcome inaccuracies in (CB)CT-based treatment planning and adaptation.

To this end, this project aims at investigating the optimal combination of X-ray imaging with ion radiog- raphies to minimize inaccuracies in the CT calibration for treatment (re)planning. Conventionally, this minimization relies on optimization algorithms that are limited by intrinsic inconsistencies of the forward- projection model of the ion radiographies. Moreover, these optimization algorithms have been investigated so far only for application to the treatment planning CT image. In this project, also the in-room X-ray CBCT images typically acquired for treatment planning adaptation (being anatomically correspondent to the ion radiographies) are adopted for such a minimization. To overcome the limitation of the model-based ap- proach, unconventional data-driven machine learning (including deep learning) algorithms and architectures will be considered. The project will thus devise new solutions for combined X-ray and ion imaging, for application at all clinically viable ion species and different concepts of so-called list-mode and integration- mode detectors.

The PhD position is financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the project Hybrid ImaG- ing framework in Hadrontherapy for Adaptive Radiation Therapy (HIGH-ART). The project, led by Dr. Chiara Gianoli and Prof. Katia Parodi, will be carried out at the LMU Chair of Medical Physics, which offers a multi-disciplinary environment and works on various core-topics of ion beam therapy. The working place is at the Forschungszentrum Garching, which is well-connected with public trans- portation to the city center of Munich and the collaborating Department for Radiation Oncology of the Klin- ikum der Universität München.

Requirements

MSc in physics or engineering, ideally with a background in medical physics or biomedical engineering
Good understanding of the physics of medical imaging
Experience and interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning
Proficiency in coding and documentation standards, Monte Carlo simulations and programming lan- guages, preferably C/C++, Python, MATLAB and related imaging libraries and machine learning tools, along with Linux and Windows OS
High level of creativity and motivation to pursue interdisciplinary research
Fluent English knowledge (spoken and written)

How to apply

If you are interested in the position, please send us your application (letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, last school certificate, university degree including grades, publication list [if applicable], other qualification certificates like TOEFL) until the 20th of December 2021 via email to

Katia Parodi

Chiara Gianoli

indicating the earliest possible entry date, ideally early 2022. Disabled candidates are preferentially considered in case of equal qualification. Applications from women and minorities are strongly encouraged.

Download the job offer as PDF.

Postdoc - Medical Physics - Proton Therapy - PET-based range monitoring

2020-02-18T00:00:00+01:00

Job announcement

IFJ PAN offers a Postdoctoral position (1 year, PLN 10000/month brutto) aiming at development of a new proton beam therapy range monitoring method based on plastic scintillator positron emission tomography (J-PET technology). The fellow will conduct GATE Monte Carlo simulations of beta+ isotopes produced with proton beams for different J-PET setup configurations, phantoms and patient data as well as PET image reconstruction using CASTOR/QETIR software. The fellow will be also involved in the analysis of results obtained in experiments and simulations with J-PET.

The project will be conducted in the framework of the NCBiR Lider project led by Dr. Antoni Rucinski in IFJ PAN in collaboration with the research group of Pawel Moskal at Jagiellonian University.

The application deadline is February 28, 2020. Interviews are planned for the period March 1-15, 2020.

Download the job offer as PDF.

Post-doctoral fellow opportunity: Monte Carlo simulation in medicine, UCSF, California, USA

2019-08-22T00:00:00+02:00

Job announcement

University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has an immediate opening for a postdoctoral fellow to work with the UCSF-SLAC-MGH TOPAS team on a recently awarded NIH grant to extend the highly successful TOPAS system for Monte Carlo simulation of proton therapy to radiological imaging and conventional radiotherapy. The successful candidate will take responsibility for specific projects within the grant as well as contribute to the other on-going projects through informal participation and regularly scheduled group meetings.

Required qualifications:

PhD in physics, medical physics or closely related discipline.
Expert programmer (C++, UNIX) and algorithm developer.
Working knowledge of Monte Carlo simulation in medicine.
Peer-reviewed publications that contribute to the development and application of the Monte Carlo method in medical physics.

Preferred qualifications:

Knowledge of clinical radiotherapy physics.
Proficient in development of Geant4 and TOPAS.
Direct experience in development and application of Monte Carlo simulation in radiotherapy, especially regression testing, benchmarking, and simulation of radiotherapy treatment heads, imaging devices, patients and detectors.
Familiarity with radiotherapy treatment planning systems, dicomRT, deformable images, CAD and GUI development.
Experience collaborating with interdisciplinary teams.

The Department of Radiation Oncology at UCSF has a wide variety of equipment for radiotherapy: 4 Truebeams, a Versa, Artiste, Oncor, TomoHD, Cyberknife, and Gammaknife, 2 Mobetrons and Intrabeam for IORT, 2 HDR units and hyperthermia capabilities. A network of computers dedicated to Monte Carlo simulation includes 6 multi-processor MacPro’s with ample RAM and disk space as well as an FPGA-compatible PC. Monte Carlo systems include Geant4, TOPAS, TOPAS-nBio, and EGSnrc. The department has the Eclipse, RayStation and Precision commercial treatment planning systems capable of dose calculation using the Monte Carlo method.

Screening of applicants will begin immediately and will continue until a suitable applicant is found. Salary and rank will be commensurate with the applicants experience and training. The successful candidates will join a group of physics graduate students and postdocs working on research projects in radiotherapy, hyperthermia, and radiobiology, with 4 medical physics residents. The clinical and research facilities are combined in an environment that supports both formal and informal exchanges to keep research clinically relevant and treatment on the cutting edge. UCSF seeks candidates whose experience, teaching, research, or community service that has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. UCSF is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status.

Please email Bruce Faddegon with a letter describing how your background fits with this position and attach your CV, to Bruce.Faddegon@ucsf.edu

PhD position on proton radiography and tomography in Munich, Germany

2018-06-26T00:00:00+02:00

Job announcement

We have opened a PhD position within the ERC project SIRMIO (Small animal proton Irradiator for Research in Molecular Image-guided radiation-Oncology, PI Prof. Dr. Katia Parodi).

The LMU Chair of Medical Physics offers a multi-disciplinary environment and works on various core-topics of ion beam therapy. With the SIRMIO project, we aim to provide a novel platform for high precision, image guided proton irradiation of small animals. The main goal of your work will be to implement a novel proton transmission imaging system to enable pre-treatment imaging for positioning and treatment planning.

The working place will be at the Forschungszentrum Garching, which is well connected with public transportation to the city of Munich. Disabled candidates are preferentially considered in case of equal qualification. Applications from women are encouraged.

For more details: PhD position LMU Munich

katia.parodi@lmu.de and Andrea.Leinthaler@physik.uni-muenchen.de, indicating your earliest possible entry date.

Post-Doc position on proton CT reconstruction in Lyon, France

2018-06-26T00:00:00+02:00

Job announcement

We are looking for a bright candidate for a postdoc position on proton computed tomography (CT) reconstruction.

The position is funded by the fondation pour la recherche médicale (FRM) in the framework of a collaborative project between the biomedical imaging lab CREATIS and Institute of Nuclear physics of Lyon (IPNL). The postdoctoral fellow will be based at the radiotherapy department of the Léon Bérard Center which is a hospital focused on cancer care.

She/he will work in a dynamic research environment with scientists from mixed fields, ranging from physics, math, computer science to engineering in the beautiful city of Lyon, France.

You find more detailed information here.

We are looking forward to receiving your application.