[EXPIRED] The Capital Region of Copenhagen is looking for a PhD candidate in EEG and ultra-high field MRI within developmental neuropsychiatry

Are you interested in unravelling how alterations in developing brain function and structure contribute to developmental psychiatric disorders? Do you thrive working in inspiring multidisciplinary teams, bridging between brain mapping, computational modelling, and clinical neuroscience? Then you are the person we are looking for!

The Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) at Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre (Denmark) is seeking a 3-year PhD candidate in EEG and ultra-high field MRI within the field of developmental psychiatry. Together with our strong clinical collaborators at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, we are currently running the prospective Danish High Risk and Resilience Study (VIA) (www.drcmr.dk/via). The VIA study longitudinally follows the largest register-based cohort of children (n=522) in the world born to parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or none of these disorders. Children were assessed at the ages of 7, 11, and 15 years with neuroimaging included at age 11 and onwards. We are currently running the second longitudinal neuroimaging follow-up at age 19 years.

You will mainly be working on the longitudinal VIA data, with a focus on EEG data and 7T spectroscopy data. The project involves collection of both EEG and MRI data in the VIA cohort as well as analyses of EEG and MRI data, with a strong focus on the EEG part.

You will be a member of the “Developmental Psychiatry” group (www.drcmr.dk/developmental-psychiatry) where the VIA project is embedded (www.drcmr.dk/via). You will thereby have ample possibilities to interact with researchers who are working on related multimodal neuroimaging studies.

The PhD candidate position involves a tight collaboration with Prof. Merete Nordentoft (Region Hovedstaden - Psychiatry and University of Copenhagen) as the main PI of the VIA cohort study and the VIA neuroimaging group, including neuroimagers at DRCMR and the Center of Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus, Denmark.

Qualifications:

Master's degree in neuroscience, computational science and engineering, psychology or equivalent.
Experience with EEG and/or MRI data acquisition and/or data analyses.
Experience in Matlab or Python programming is highly desired.
Experience with signal processing and data analyses is desired.
You have a good team spirit, innovative and constructive thinking and are excited about research.
You have an interest and/or experience in mechanisms/pathophysiology related to child- and adolescent mental health and developmental neuropsychiatry.
You enjoy being part of a multidisciplinary and international research team and integrating technological innovations into your neuroscience research.
You possess good English communication skills.

The project will be carried out at the DRCMR, which is a leading research centre for biomedical MRI in Europe (www.drcmr.dk) focusing on the brain. Approx. 75 researchers from more than 20 countries and a diverse range of disciplines are currently pursuing basic and clinically applied MR research and its validation with a focus on structural, functional, and metabolic MRI of the human brain and its disorders. The DRCMR is embedded in the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, a large diagnostic imaging department including all biomedical imaging modalities at the Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre.

The DRCMR has a state-of-the-art research infrastructure for preclinical and human medical imaging, which includes six whole-body MR scanners (one 7T, four 3T and one 1.5T scanners), a preclinical 7T scanner, a High-Performance Computer cluster and several state-of-the-art laboratories for electrophysiology and non-invasive brain stimulation.

The postdoc project will be supervised by Senior Researcher Melissa Larsen and Professor Hartwig Siebner.

Salary and Terms of Employment:

You will be employed as a PhD candidate for a period of 3 years. Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Regions (Danske Regioner) and the relevant professional organization. The salary depends on background education and seniority. Note that candidates coming from abroad may be eligible for tax reductions. The position is open for candidates of all nationalities.

We see diversity as strength and encourage all persons regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, disabilities, or religion to apply.

Recent Publications

Beha GH, Stemmerik MG, Boer VO, van der Ploeg AT, van der Beek NAME, Andersen H, Marsman A, Jacobsen LN, Theunissen MTM, Petersen ET, Vissing J. 2025. Quantification of muscle glycogen distribution in Pompe disease using 7 Tesla 13C NMR spectroscopy. JNNP. Accepted.

Güler S, Zivkovic I, Boer VO, Zhurbenko V, Petersen ET. 2025. The mode of operation of high-impedance coils and shielded coaxial cable coils: A comparative study. NMR Biomed. 38(8): e70071. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.70071

London A, Schaufuss A, Povazan M, Dichman M-L, Merhout J, Dirksen C, Madsbad S, Siebner HR, Lundsgaard A, Fritzen AM, Kiens B, Bojsen-Møller KN. 2025. Effects of acute iso- and hypocaloric carbohydrate restriction on liver fat and glucose and lipid metabolism. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. dgaf382, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaf382

Güler S, Povazan M, Zhurbenko V, Zivkovic I. 2025. An 8Tx/32Rx head-neck coil at 7T by combining 2Tx/32Rx Noval coil with 6TRx shielded coaxial cable elements. Magn Reson Med. 93(2): 864-872. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.30297

Madelung CF, Løkkegaard A, Fuglsang SA, Marques MM, Boer VO, Madsen KH, Hejl A-M, Meder D, Siebner HR. 2025. High-resolution mapping of substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease using 7 tesla magnetic resonance imaging. Npj Parkinsons Dis. 11(113). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-025-00972-7

London A, Richter MM, Sjøberg KA, Wewer Albrechtsen NJ, Povazan M, Drici L, Schaufuss A, Madsen L, Øyen J, Madsbad S, Juul Holst J, van Hall G, Siebner HR, Richter EA, Kiens B, Lundsgaard A, Bojsen-Møller KN. 2024. The impact of short-term eucaloric low- and high-carbohydrate diets on liver triacylglycersol content in males with overweight and obesity: a randomized crossover study. Am J Clin Nutrition. 120(2): 283-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.06.006

Madsen MAJ, Povazan M, Wiggermann V, Lundell H, Blinkenberg M, Romme Christensen J, Sellebjerg F, Siebner HR. 2024. Association of cortical lesions with regional glutamate, GABA, N-Acetylaspartate, and Myoinositol levels in patients with multiple sclerosis. Neurology. 103(1): e209543. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209543

Stærkind H, Jensen K, Müller JH, Boer VO, Polzik ES, Petersen ET. 2024. High-field optical cesium magnetometer for magnetic resonance imaging. PRX Quantum. 5(2): 020320. https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.5.020320

Stærkind H, Jensen K, Müller JH, Boer VO, Petersen ET, Polzik ES. 2023. Precision measurement of the excited state Landé g-factor and diamagnetic shift of the Cesium D2 line. Phys Rev X. 13(2): 021036. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.021036

Boer VO, Pedersen JO, Arango N, Kuang I, Stockmann J, Petersen ET. 2022. Improving brain B0 shimming using an easy and accessible multi-coil shim array at ultra-high field. MAGMA. 35(6): 943-951. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-022-01014-6

Andersen M, Laustsen M, Boer V. Accuracy investigations for volumetric head-motion navigators with and without EPI at 7 T. 2022. Magn Reson Med. 88(3): 1198-1211. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.29296

Madsen MAJ, Wiggermann V, Marques MFM, Lundell H, Cerri S, Puonti O, Blinkenberg M, Romme Christensen J, Sellebjerg F, Siebner HR. 2022. Linking lesions in sensorimotor cortex to contralateral hand function in multiple sclerosis: a 7 T MRI study. Brain. 145(10): 3522-3535. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awac203

Sandström KO, Baltzersen OB, Marsman A, Lemvigh CK, Boer VO, Bojesen KB, Nielsen MØ, Lundell H, Sulaiman DK, Sørensen ME, Fagerlund B, Lahti AC, Syeda WT, Pantelis C, Petersen ET, Glenthøj BY, Siebner HR, Ebdrup BH. 2022. Add-on memantine to dopamine antagonism to improve negative symptoms at first psychosis – the AMEND trial protocol. Front Psychiatry. 13: 889572. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.889572

Madelung CF, Meder D, Fuglsang SA, Marques MM, Boer VO, Madsen KH, Petersen ET, Hejl A-M, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR. 2022. Locus coeruleus shows a spatial pattern of structural disintegration in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disord. 37(3): 479-489. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28945

Selected Recent Conference Abstracts

Engel K, Wiggermann V, Ronen I, Lundell H. Correction of phase fluctuations in diffusion-weighted MRS at high b-values with external phantom reference. ISMRM annual meeting. 05/2025,

Madsen MAJ, Christiansen L, Povazan M, Wiggermann V, Siebner HR. Regional glutamate but not GABA concentration scales with TMS-based measures of cortical excitability – a combined 7T MR spectroscopy and TMS study of the human primary motor hand area. Brain Stimulation, Kyoto, Japan, 02/2025 [Brain Stimulation 18(1) 576, 2025]

Madsen MAJ, Wiggermann V, Lundell H, Christiansen L, Romme Christensen J, Blinkenberg M, Sellebjerg F, Siebner HR. The impact of pathway-specific cortical and white matter pathology on trans-callosal conduction and inhibition in multiple sclerosis, ECTRIMS, Copemhagen, Denmark, 09/2024

Madsen MAJ, Wiggermann V, Christiansen L, Povazan M, Lundell H, Puonti O, Romme Christensen J, Sellebjerg F, Siebner HR. The ipsilateral silent period and its link to cortical lesions in multiple sclerosis, Brain Stimulation, Lisbon, Portugal, 02/2023, [Brain Stimulation 14(6) 1628, 2023]

Stemmerik M, Beha G, Boer V, Marsman A, Jacobsen L, Petersen E, Vissing J. 2022. Using high-field magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure muscle glycogen in patients with McArdle disease. Neuromuscular Disorders. 32. S73-S74.

Beha G, Stemmerik M, Boer V, Marsman A, Jacobsen L, Petersen E, Vissing J. 2022. Quantification of glycogen distribution in late-onset Pompe patients using 7 Tesla C13 NMR spectroscopy. Neuromuscular Disorders. 32. S73.

Madsen MAJ, Wiggermann V, Povazan M, Lundell H, Boer VO, Marsman A, Blinkenberg MB, Romme Christensen J, Sellebjerg FT, Siebner HR. 2022. Linking cortical demyelination to changes in brain metabolism in multiple sclerosis: a 7T MR spectroscopy study. ECTRIMS annual (virtual) meeting.

Güler S, Costa G, Boer V, Paulides M, Baltus P, Petersen E, Zivkovic I. 2022. Shielded coaxial cable coils: the array configuration for maximized central SNR at 7T MRI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, 31^st annual ISMRM meeting.

Güler S, Zhurbenko V, Zivkovic I, Boer V, Petersen ET. 2022. Second resonance mode ensure intrinsic low coupling between elements on shielded-coaxial-cable coil designs. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, 31^st annual ISMRM meeting.