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Education at DRCMR

An education in neuroimaging is challenging for many reasons. Students come from many disciplines each with their own terminologies, and the range of topics and techniques to master is often very wide. We have an educational programme that teaches everyone the basics on everything no matter what your previous training.

 There are a number of problems faced by most neuroimaging centres. Apart removing ferrous-metallic objects from every possible pocket, these include issues as basic as how to understand one another. Part of the challenge is that students come from diverse backgrounds, mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, economics, psychology, and even further afield. This means that most students are good at some things but ill-equipped for others. Typically it’s hard to know what it is you need to know, and what it is you don’t know.  Our solution to this problem is to provide a wide-ranging curriculum that covers all the basic knowledge and skills necessary to follow what is going on at DRCMR and to be able to make an intellectual contribution whatever the topic. Everyone is expected to be able to ask questions and offer contributions in fields outside of your own. The curriculum comprises several modules that most students are expected to take whilst at DRCMR. 

Neuroimaging Foundations

In Neuroimaging Foundations you will work on the most foundational skills necessary to learn the methods and techniques that are commonly employed at DRCMR. This foundations course assumes almost no prior knowledge and teaches you philosophy of science, foundational maths, and statistics, and programming in Matlab. All PhD / Masters / Researchers-new-to-the-field are expected to attend. Accommodations can be made for those with special constraints (e.g. dual affiliation), or with pre-existing training (e.g. already done similar courses), on a case-by-case basis. Neuroimaging Foundations acts as a primer for our methods specific course, Neuroimaging Basics. 

Neuroimaging Basics

Neuroimaging Basics is taught as a peer2peer course where students teach each other with expert help. We cover every major technique used at DRCMR, our philosophy is that everyone should have a basic grasp of everyone else’s research, such that we can critique and think creatively about cross-disicplinary and cross-methodological collaborations. We also have stand alone workshops in Brain stimulation techniques, Neuroanatomy, Basic Neuroscience, Data quality and much else, on a rolling basis. 

Neuroimaging Pragmatics

Neuroimaging Pragmatics is an informal series of lectures, organised by the student group, on pragmatic skills such as grant writing, giving talks, paper writing, ergonomics, and so on. How to give a project presentation, How to write a paper, How to review a paper, How to give a talk, How to prioritize time, How to apply for funding, How to find a problem worth solving, Responsible conduct of research, Stimulus delivery, Psychopy, psychtoolbox, triggers, picolog, button boxes, force transducers, Recording Electrophysiological signals, Physiological monitoring, Data quality checking, Data management and backup, Producing figures in Matlab & Inkscape, Auditory stimulation, Strategies for literature searching, Ethics applications and practice. 

MR Driver License

Scanner safety and scanner license courses are organised by the physics group. This gives students the basic training necessary to work in an MR environment, and the scanner license is the qualification that students need to acquire in order to autonomously operate an MR machine.  

MRI Acquisiiton

MRI acquisition course is our course on MR physics. It teaches all of the fundamental physics underlying the magnetic resonance techniques are employed at DRCMR. The course introduces MRI starting from a level requiring little or no MR experience. Lectures cover MR understanding, acquisition methods and parameters. The target audience is employees and students at the DRCMR but the course is open and free for external participants. A technical background is not required. The main aim is to provide a basis for understanding pitfalls and literature. It covers the MR prerequisites needed to follow the more technical course Medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging offered as part of the Medicine & Technology program at the Technical University of Denmark in the spring, and which is also available for non-DTU-students (offered under "Open University"). Besides knowledge of MR basics, the DTU course also requires math and programming skill.

Selected Publications

Gregersen, F., Eroğlu, H. H., Göksu, C., Puonti, O., Zuo, Z., Thielscher, A. & Hanson, L. G.
MR imaging of the magnetic fields induced by injected currents can guide improvements of individualized head volume conductor models.
Imaging Neuroscience. 2, p. 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00176 (2024).

Göksu, C., Gregersen, F., Scheffler, K., Eroğlu, H. H., Heule, R., Siebner, H. R., Hanson, L. G. & Thielscher, A. Volumetric measurements of weak current-induced magnetic fields in the human brain at high resolution. Magn Reson Med.  DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29780 (2023).

Hosseini, S., Puonti, O., Treeby, B., Hanson, L. G. & Thielscher, A.
A Head Template for Computational Dose Modelling for Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation. NeuroImage. p. 120227. DOI: 0.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120227 (2023).

Rahbek, S., Mahmood, F., Tomaszewski, M. R., Hanson, L. G. & Madsen, K. H. Decomposition-based framework for tumor classification and prediction of treatment response from longitudinal MRI, Phys in Med and Biol. DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/acaa85, 2023.

Rahbek, S., Schakel, T., Mahmood, F., Madsen, K. H., Philippens, M. E. P. & Hanson, L. G. Optimized flip angle schemes for the split acquisition of fast spin-echo signals (SPLICE) sequence and application to diffusion-weighted imaging. Magn Reson Med, DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29545, 2023.

Laustsen, M., Andersen M., Xue, R., Madsen, K. H., & Hanson, L. G.Tracking of rigid head motion during MRI using an EEG system, Magn Reson Med, DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29251, 2022.

Gregersen, F., Göksu, C., Schaefers, G., Xue, R., Thielscher A., & Hanson L. G., Safety evaluation of a new setup for Transcranial Electric Stimulation during Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Brain Stimulation. 14, 3, p. 488-497, 2021.

Göksu, C., Scheffler, K., Gregersen, F., Eroğlu, H. H., Heule, R., Siebner, H. R., Hanson, L. G. & Thielscher, A. Sensitivity and resolution improvement for in vivo magnetic resonance current-density imaging of the human brain. Magn. Reson. Med. 86, p. 3131-3146, 2021.

Rahbek, S., Madsen, K. H., Lundell, H., Mahmood, F. & Hanson, L. G. Data-driven separation of MRI signal components for tissue characterization. J. Mag. Res. 333, p. 1-11. 2021.

Busoni, S., Bock, M., Chmelik, M., Colgan, N., De Bondt, T., Hanson, L. G., Israel, M., Kugel, H., Maieron, M., Mazzoni, L. N., Seimenis, I. & Vestergaard, P. ADDENDUM to EFOMP Policy statement No.14 "The role of the Medical Physicist in the management of safety within the magnetic resonance imaging environment: EFOMP recommendations". Physica Medica. 89, p. 303-305, 2021.

Sánchez-Heredia, J. D., Olin, R. B., McLean, M. A., Laustsen, C., Hansen A., Hanson, L.G., & Ardenkjaer-Larsen, J. H., Multi-Site Benchmarking of Clinical 13C RF Coils at 3 T, J Magn Reson, 318:106798, 2020.

Olin, R. B., Sánchez-Heredia, J. D., Schulte, R. F., Bøgh, N., Hansen, E. S. S., Laustsen, C., Hanson, L. G. & Ardenkjaer-Larsen, J. H. Three-dimensional accelerated acquisition for hyperpolarized 13 C MR  with blipped stack-of-spirals and conjugate-gradient  SENSE. Magn Reson Med 84, p. 519-34, 2020.

Pedersen, J. O., Hanson, C. G., Xue, R. & Hanson, L. G. Inductive measurement and encoding of k-space trajectories in MR raw data. MAGMA 32, p. 655-667, 2019.

Göksu, C., Scheffler K., Siebner H. R., Thielscher, A., & Hanson, L. G. The stray magnetic fields in Magnetic Resonance Current Density Imaging (MRCDI), Phys Med 59, p. 142-150, 2019.

Pedersen, J. O., Hanson, C. G., Xue, R. & Hanson, L. G. Regularization of Digitally Integrated, Inductive k-Space Trajectory Measures.
ISMRM 27th Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2019.

Pasquinelli, C., Hanson, L. G., Siebner, H. R., Lee, H. J. & Thielscher, A. Safety of transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation: A systematic review of the state of knowledge from both human and animal studies. Brain Stimulation. 12, 6, p. 1367-13802019.

Hansen, R. B., Sánchez-Heredia, J. D., Bøgh, N., Hansen, E. S. S., Laustsen C., L. G. Hanson & Ardenkjær-Larsen,  J. H. Coil profile estimation strategies for parallel imaging with hyperpolarized 13 C MRI, Magn Reson Med 82, p. 2104-17, 2019.

Göksu, C., Scheffler K., Siebner H. R., Thielscher, A., & Hanson, L.G. The stray magnetic fields in Magnetic Resonance Current Density Imaging (MRCDI), Phys Med 59, 142-150, 2019.

Magnusson, P., Boer, V., Marsman, A., Paulson, O. B., Hanson, L. G. & Petersen, E. T. Gamma-aminobutyric acid edited echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) with MEGA-sLASER at 7T, Magn Reson Med, 81(2), p. 773-780, 2019.

Pedersen, J. O. Encoding of non-MR signals in Magnetic Resonance Imaging data. PhD thesis, Technical University of Denmark, Electrical Engineering, 2018.

Pedersen, J. O., Hanson, C. G., Xue, R.  & Hanson, L. G. General Purpose Electronics for Real-Time Processing and encoding of non-MR Data in MR Acquisitions, Concepts in Magn Reson B, 48B(2), e21385, 2018.

Eldirdiri, A., Posse, S., Hanson, L. G., Hansen, R. B., Holst, P., Schøier, C., Kristensen, A. T., Johannesen, H. H., Kjaer, A., Hansen, A. E.  & Ardenkjær-Larsen, J. H. Development of a Symmetric Echo Planar Spectroscopic Imaging Framework for Hyperpolarized 13C Imaging in a Clinical PET/MR Scanner, Tomography, 4(3), p. 110-22, 20184(3), p. 110-22, 2018.

Wilhjelm J. E., Duun-Henriksen J. & Hanson L. G., A virtual scanner for teaching fundamental magnetic resonance in biomedical engineering, Comput Appl Eng Educ, 26(6), p. 2197-2209, 2018

Göksu, C., Hanson, L. G., Siebner, H. R., Ehses, P., Scheffler, K. & Thielscher, A. Human in-vivo brain magnetic resonance current density imaging (MRCDI). NeuroImage. 171, p. 26-39, 2018.

Göksu C, Scheffler K, Ehses P, Hanson L.G & Thielscher A. Sensitivity Analysis of Magnetic Field Measurements for Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT), Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 79, p. 748-760, 2018.

Laustsen, M., Andersen, M., Lehmann, P. M., Xue, R., Madsen, K. H. & Hanson, L. G. Slice-wise motion tracking during simultaneous EEG-fMRI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018.

Petersen, J. R., Pedersen, J. O., Zhurbenko, V., Ardenkjær-Larsen, J. H. & Hanson, L. G. Ultra-low power transmitter for encoding non-MR signals in Magnetic Resonance  recordings. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018.

Göksu, C., Hanson, L. G., Siebner, H. R., Ehses, P., Scheffler, K. & Thielscher, A. Comparison of two alternative sequences for human in-vivo brain MR Current Density Imaging (MRCDI). Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018.

Göksu, C., Hanson, L. G., Siebner, H. R., Ehses, P., Scheffler, K. & Thielscher, A. Human In-vivo Brain MR Current Density Imaging (MRCDI) based on Steady-state Free Precession Free Induction Decay (SSFP-FID). Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018.

Andersen, M., Hanson, L. G., Madsen, K. H., Wezel, J., Boer, V., van der Velden, T., van Osch, M. J. P., Klomp, D., Webb, A. G. & Versluis, M. J. Measuring motion-induced B0 -fluctuations in the brain using field probes. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 75(5):2020-30, 2016.

Andersen, M., Towards Motion-Insensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Dynamic Field Measurements. PhD thesis, Technical University of Denmark, Electrical Engineering. 109 p., 2016.

Hanson, L. G. The Ups and Downs of Classical and Quantum Formulations of Magnetic Resonance. Book chapter in Anthropic Awareness: The Human Aspects of Scientific Thinking in NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry. Edited by: C Szantay, Jr. Elsevier, Chap. 3, p. 141-171, 2015.

de Nijs, R., Miranda, MJ., Hansen, LK., Hanson, LG. Motion correction of single-voxel spectroscopy by independent component analysis applied to spectra from nonanesthetized pediatric subjects. Magn Reson Med 2009, 62(5), 1147-1154.

Hanson, LG. Is quantum mechanics necessary for understanding magnetic resonance? Concepts in Magnetic Resonance Part A 2008, 32A(5), 329-340.

Hanson, LG. A graphical simulator for teaching basic and advanced MR imaging techniques. Radiographics 2007, 27(6), e27.

Hanson, LG., Lund, TE., Hanson, CG. Encoding of electrophysiology and other signals in MR images. J. Magn Reson Imaging 2007, 25(5), 1059-1066. 

Hanson, LG., Lund, TE., Hanson, CG. Encoding and transmission of signals as RF signals for detection using an MR apparatus. WO/2005/116676, PCT/DK2005/000343 2005.

Andersen, IK., Szymkowiak, A., Rasmussen, CE., Hanson, LG., Marstrand, JR., Larsson, HB. & Hansen, LK. Perfusion quantification using Gaussian process deconvolution. Magn Reson Med 2002, 48(2), 351-361.

Hanson, LG., Adalsteinsson, E., Pfefferbaum, A., Spielman, DM. Optimal voxel size for measuring global gray and white matter proton metabolite concentrations using chemical shift imaging. Magn Reson Med 2000, 44(1), 10-18.

Hanson, LG., Schaumburg, K., Paulson, OB. Reconstruction strategy for echo planar spectroscopy and its application to partially undersampled imaging. Magn Reson Med 2000, 44(3), 412-417.

News & Events

Group Members

Lars G. Hanson

Group Leader

External Collaborators

Section for MR, DTU Health Tech

Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby


Institute of Biophysics

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China


Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics

Tübingen, Germany