We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate to join the Neuroimaging Group at the Spinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital (Zurich, Switzerland). The position is fully funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant entitled: “High-Resolution Imaging of Spinal Cord Function After Injury: Advancing Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment Monitoring”.
The PhD project will be supervised by Dr. Gergely David and Prof. Dr. Patrick Freund. The Neuroimaging Group is a multidisciplinary team of neuroscientists, clinicians, physicists, engineers, and biologists, with access to state-of-the-art MRI infrastructure, including a 3T Siemens Prisma and 7T Siemens TerraX scanner.
Project
Spinal cord injury leads to profound changes in neuronal function, yet current clinical and imaging tools offer limited insight into functional integrity below the injury level. This PhD project aims to advance spinal cord functional MRI (fMRI) to non invasively map neuronal function with high spatial specificity. Building on recent methodological advances, the project will develop and apply clinically feasible 3T fMRI protocols combined with peripheral nerve stimulation and advanced data analysis. The ultimate goal is to better characterize changes in neuronal excitability and to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment monitoring in patients with spinal cord injury.
If interested, please submit your application containing a motivation letter, a curriculum vitae, and the contact details of two referees.
