THE PHD COURSE IS NOW FULLY BOOKED! AN UPDATE WITH COURSE MATERIAL WILL SOON BE UPLOADED AND MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PARTICIPANTS.

Learning objectives:

A new PhD course is now available. A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

1. Describe and understand the basic principles of an MRI scanner and the possibilities in using ultra-high-field MRI.
2. Explain and understand central sequences and experimental concepts for neurovascular MRI, quantitative MRI, diffusion MRI and spectroscopy.
3. Characterize the MRI signal contrast obtained from neurovascular MRI, quantitative MRI, diffusion MRI, and spectroscopy in relation to the true underlying physiological and microstructural environment.
4. Justify multimodal MRI experiments and identify relevant data analysis and modelling strategies to map a biological functional, microstructural and metabolic feature in tissue. 

Contents:

The PhD course provides an overview of how Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can be used in neuroimaging. Four cutting edge MRI topics will be introduced, addressing the increasing need for combining several MRI modalities. It covers how to 1) improve the specificity for mapping anatomical features for precision medicine, and 2) create a better link between brain structure and function, which is partly missing today. The four MRI topics covered are: Neurovascular contrast imaging, Quantitative MRI, Diffusion MRI and Spectroscopy. The possibilities of using the Danish National Ultra-High Field human 7T MRI will be integrated within the lectures. The course combines lectures and practical hands-on exercises for introducing the participants to the state-of-art experimental designs within each of the topics, their possibilities and challenges. Exercise presentations and discussions between participants are emphasized. International keynote speakers will inspire the discussions of multi-modal imaging within the four MRI topics.

With emphasis on each of the MRI modalities we will cover the topics:

• Introduction to MRI: How does a MRI scanner work? Basic tissue contrast mechanisms, T1 and T2 relaxation useful for tissue characterization, Ultra-High Field MRI  (7 tesla) and MR safety.
• Functional MRI: Blood-oxygen-level dependent contrast imaging (BOLD) and Arterial Spin labelling (ASL) for hemodynamic assessment of changes in CBF, CBV, OEF and CMRO2 during neural activation, potential and analysis.
• Quantitative MRI: T1/T2/T2* relaxations, magnetization transfer, susceptibility weighted imaging, analysis and tissue compartment modelling.
• Diffusion MRI: Basic diffusion concepts, non-parametric (diffusion tensor and kurtosis imaging) and parametric tissue compartment models e.g. axon diameters, diffusion sequences, tractography, pre-processing pipeline.
• Spectroscopy: Basic spectroscopy concepts, detectable metabolites and their significance, acquisition strategies (water suppression, single voxel, spectroscopic imaging), data processing/analysis, quantification, multinuclear spectroscopy.

Participants:

The target participants are PhD students with interest in neuroscience, clinical research as well as those more technically interested in neuroimaging. It is beneficial but not required having insights into basic MRI. Students need to study provided material in advance to follow the introductory MRI lectures.

Language:

English

Form:

Lectures and practical hands-on sessions and discussions

Dates:

Monday 26 January-Friday 2 March 2018

Course location:

Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Section 714, Kettegård Alle 30, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark

You can find the program here.

Sign-up requirement:

If you wish to participate in the course, you need to apply BEFORE 26 January 2018. To do so, use this link.