Research project title
Processing of MRI data from the brain and spinal cord
Education level
Master or doctorate
Director/co-director
Director: Julien Cohen-Adad
End of display
June 29, 2025
Areas of expertise
Life sciences research related to human health and disease
Unit(s) and department(s)
Department of Electrical Engineering
Biomedical Science and Technologies Research Centre (GRSTB)
Detailed description
MRI is routinely used in clinics to detect certain diseases such as multiple sclerosis or stroke. However, clinical MRI is limited due to its low sensitivity for detecting abnormalities in the white matter (axons). New MRI techniques now allow characterization of myelin from axons, and therefore provide a better diagnosis. However, these techniques require particular image processing before they can be interpreted by radiologists. The goal of this research theme is to develop new methods that can then be used clinically to quantify abnormalities of axons in the brain and spinal cord. Examples of projects:
- Set up an analysis pipeline to automatically process MRI scans, perform quality control of the analysed datasets (eg: identify failed automatic processes and find solutions);
- Interpret the results with the help of neurologists, perform statistics to find best biomarkers from MRI data (eg: spinal cord cross-sectional area, MS lesion load).
- Create MRI templates, representing the average anatomy across several individuals.
Collaboration
These projects are usually performed in collaboration with international neuroimaging institutions (eg: Harvard-MGH Martinos Center, UCL, Stanford, U. of Toronto), with possibilities for internship abroad.
REcommanded skills
image analysis | python | git/GitHub | analysis pipeline | computer vision | statistics
selected Publications
- Karthik et al. MICCAI 2024
- Lemay et al. Journal of Machine Learning for Biomedical Imaging 2022
- Kerbrat et al. Brain 2020
- Eden et al. Brain 2019
Contact
Financing possibility
Possibilities of funding.
Julien Cohen-Adad
Full Professor
