PhD Position Heart Monitoring with Innovative Ultrasound Technology

at  TU Delft

JOB DESCRIPTION

You will be part of a project that will develop ground-breaking wearable heart-monitoring technology based on ultrasound sensors. This is a critical advancement as the aging population increasingly demands better healthcare solutions to chronic diseases. Proper monitoring has the potential to improve quality of life for patients while reducing the burden on healthcare professionals - provided that the monitoring devices deliver reliable data and autonomous interpretation. Your PhD topic at the Delft University of Technology will be the hardware development of the ultrasound-based heart monitoring device and its data processing. Together with our technicians and supervisors, you will build several prototypes of the ultrasound device, develop the electronics, and further develop the data pre-processing and data-interpretation techniques. This will require the use of wave physics, numerical simulations, experimental laboratory work, human testing, and clever reviewing and interpretation of the measurement data. Your device will not aim for high-resolution imaging, but will have the unique aspect of being able to select and continuously record good-quality data that enables novel autonomous data interpretation techniques. How to select and process the useful data is part of the intellectual challenge that you will accept with your supervisors, fellow technical-clinical PhD students, cardiologists, and industry collaborators.
The project involves technical development at Delft University of Technology, clinical implementation at Erasmus MC and close collaboration with industry. You will work within a challenging and diverse overlap area of biomedical research, acoustical and electrical engineering, cardiac routine care, and commercial exploitation. You will be based at the Medical Imaging cluster of the department of ImPhys, Delft University of Technology, which combines fundamental science (physics) and engineering to improve ultrasound imaging. Your academic training will be oriented towards both your hard and soft skills, and involves learning-on-the-job, following dedicated courses, and contributing to the group’s educational activities. The scientific aims of your job are to develop innovative technology, publish the results, and to finish your PhD studies with a thesis and successful defence in four years time.
For further information, see https://www.tudelft.nl/en/faculty-of-applied-sciences/about-faculty/departments/imphys/about-the-department/verweij-martin and https://www.erasmusmc.nl/en/research/researchers/vos-rik

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• A master’s degree in physics or engineering, at least demonstrating an extended knowledge of wave physics, signal processing, and basic electronics
• Experience in programming (Matlab and/or Python and/or C)
• Analytical mindset
• Hands-on approach
• Good interpersonal and interdisciplinary communications skills
• Proven autonomous attitude in research
• Good knowledge of written and spoken English

Preferences:

• Affinity with medical imaging
• Affinity with both experimental work and numerical simulations
• Motivation for teaching and supervision of students

Please refer the Job description for details