03 Jul 23. Job – PhD Studentship

DEADLINE: Open until filled

DIRECT APPLICATIONS TO: Dr Michael Stringer (m.stringer@ed.ac.uk)

JOB TITLE: Determining cerebral small vessel function and flow in small vessel disease

JOB ID: NA - (studentship rather than a job and will be added to EdNeuroscience / Find-a-PhD in due course)

SALARY: Grade  (£ - £) Tax-free stipend at RCUK doctoral rate plus tuition and £5000 training allowance

FURTHER INFORMATION: 

Supervisors: Dr Michael Stringer, Dr Michael Thrippleton, Prof Joanna Wardlaw

Description:  Small vessel disease (SVD) causes many cases of stroke and dementias.¹ While what causes SVD is poorly understood, in patients with higher SVD severity their blood vessels are less responsiveness to increased demand.¹ We can measure cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), how well blood vessels respond to increased demand, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans during hypercapnic gas challenge. However, existing methods to calculate CVR have several limitations.² More accurate quantification would improve understanding of SVD pathophysiology and patient stratification.¹

In this project, the successful student will:

• support acquisition of brain MRI scans and further their MRI physics knowledge
• develop novel CVR methods to analyse several large existing datasets with extensive contextual data
• learn about clinical brain imaging, how scans are interpreted and clinical presentations of SVD
• expand their statistical skills to run complex multifactorial analyses
• develop their scientific writing and presentation skills

References

1. Wardlaw JM, Smith C, Dichgans M. Small vessel disease: Mechanisms and clinical implications. The Lancet Neurology. 2019 18:684-696.

2. Sleight E, Stringer MS, Marshall I, Wardlaw JM, Thrippleton MJ. Cerebrovascular reactivity measurement using magnetic resonance imaging: A systematic review. Frontiers in Physiology. 2021

Small Vessel Diseases Research Group

The post will be based in the Small Vessel Diseases Research Group (Prof Joanna Wardlaw) linked with the Row Fogo Centre for Research into Ageing and the Brain and UK DRI: UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh. The group also has exceptional links with other world leading SVD research centres in the UK and internationally. 

Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme

The Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme is a 3.5-4 year PhD programme funded by the Medical Research Council, University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow. It trains PhD in both quantitative skills and their application to medical data sources giving the interdisciplinary skills needed to put precision medicine into practice.

For full details see: https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/precision-medicine/about-the-programme

Contact details

If you would like to apply or have any questions, please contact Dr Michael Stringer (m.stringer@ed.ac.uk).