Postdoctoral Research Fellowship – Molecular MR Imaging of Glutamate Metabolism in Brain Tumors
A post-doctoral research fellowship is available in the Farrar and Paech labs at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). This NIH-funded project seeks to develop improved methods for imaging glutamate (Glu) with chemical exchange based magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF). Increasing evidence has implicated the neurotransmitter glutamate as playing a critical role in driving glioma growth and invasion. The goal of the project is therefore to optimize and validate chemical exchange based MRF methods for measuring glutamate metabolism in glioma patients, thus aiding in drug development and early treatment response assessment.
The successful candidate will work on the development and validation of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) and chemical exchange spin-lock (CESL) based MRF methods for imaging Glu. Machine learning based tools will be used to optimize the CESL and CEST MRF methods. The developed Glu-MRF methods will be used to study response to tumor therapies targeting glutamate metabolism that are currently in clinical trials. For more details about our research efforts, please see some of our recent publications.
- Perlman, et al., Magn Reson Med 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.29173
- Perlman, et al., Nature Biomed Eng 2021. https://rdcu.be/cBemp
QUALIFICATIONS
The successful candidate will be a highly motivated researcher with a desire to pursue an independent research career in MR molecular imaging and machine learning. Candidates should have a PhD in biomedical engineering, biophysics, medical imaging, or related fields. Candidates with strong programming skills (Matlab, Python, C++, Tensorflow, PyTorch) and experience in clinical MRI (Siemens IDEA pulse programming) or machine learning are highly desired. Candidates should be enthusiastic about working in a fast-paced, interdisciplinary environment. The successful candidate will be able to work both independently and collaboratively in a multi-institutional project. Strong written and oral English communication skills are required.
APPLICATION
Interested applicants should send a cover letter describing research experience, interests, and future research and career goals, as well as an up-to-date curriculum vitae and contact information for three references, to Christian Farrar (cfarrar@mgh.harvard.edu) or Daniel Paech (dpaech@bwh.harvard.edu).
This position is full-time with benefits and is available immediately. The Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.
