PhD Quantitative Multi-Tracer PET

PhD Quantitative Multi-Tracer PET

Positron emission tomography is conventionally performed with one radiotracer at a time. Yet tumour biology is not one-dimensional: metabolism, receptor expression and immune-related pathways provide complementary information, while separate examinations on different days increase burden and complicate direct biological comparison.

This doctoral project will exploit the exceptional sensitivity of long-axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET to make clinically feasible, same-session multi-tracer imaging a reality. The goal is to derive complementary quantitative biomarkers from a single patient visit - with reduced injected activity, improved temporal correspondence and direct clinical relevance.

You will join the Total-Body PET Physics Group led by Dr Fabian Schmidt at the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Molecular Imaging & Werner Siemens Imaging Center at the University Hospital Tübingen, the first university hospital in Germany to install a Siemens Biograph Vision Quadra LAFOV PET/CT. The project spans PET physics, advanced computation and validation in clinical Total-Body PET datasets.

The successful candidate will collaborate closely with leading European academic and industrial partners, participate in international secondments and contribute to the translation of novel quantitative PET methodologies into clinical applications. Research is performed on the Siemens Biograph Vision Quadra, the first long-axial field-of-view PET/CT installed at a German university hospital, providing access to state-of-the-art imaging infrastructure and unique clinical datasets.

Tasks

• Development of quantitative multi-tracer PET imaging methods
• Analysis of clinical Total-Body PET datasets and Monte Carlo simulations
• Development of image-processing and kinetic-modelling approaches
• Presentation of scientific results at international conferences
• Preparation of scientific publications and doctoral thesis

Profile

• Master's degree in physics, medical physics, biomedical engineering or related discipline
• Programming experience in Python, MATLAB or comparable scientific languages
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Interest in quantitative PET imaging and translational medical research

Benefits

Research combines PET physics, image reconstruction, kinetic modelling, deformable image registration, quantitative image analysis and Monte Carlo simulation with validation in large clinical Total-Body PET datasets.

• innovative university hospital
• state-of-the-art technology
• world-class international research
• excellent career prospects
• cutting-edge research at the highest level
• support from PhD to professorship
• structured onboarding
• in-house academy
• diverse training opportunities
• targeted career development