[EXPIRED] A postdoc in unpacking Bradykinesia (“slowness of movement”) in Parkinson’s Disease with MRI

Parkinson’s disease affects how people move, think, and feel. Yet, despite decades of research, one of its central motor symptoms, bradykinesia, is still not fully understood. Although often described simply as “slowness of movement,” bradykinesia actually covers several different types of motor difficulties. Some improve with dopaminergic treatment, others don’t, and we still lack a clear framework for how these components fit together. That’s the gap this project aims to close.

What is this project about?

If you enjoy tackling big questions with modern tools, join us on the Components of Bradykinesia (CoBra) project, funded by the Lundbeck Foundation. Our goal is to disentangle the different elements of bradykinesia by combining high‑resolution movement tracking (cameras, accelerometers, etc.) with structural and functional MRI. You’ll help identify hidden patterns in movement behavior and link them to underlying neural signatures.

We are seeking a motivated postdoctoral scientist to conduct cutting-edge research at the intersection of clinical neuroscience, advanced analysis methods and magnetic resonance imaging.

Who will you be joining? You will be working in the Movement Disorders group where researchers with different backgrounds and expertise combine theoretical and clinical knowledge with advanced assessment and analysis methods. You will be interacting with many different projects within the field of Movement Disorders and there is ample opportunity for close cooperation with DRCMR-researchers from a great variety of disciplines as well as clinicians. We act in concert, and make sure no-one is left alone with difficult tasks.

The Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) is one of the leading research centers for biomedical MRI in Europe (www.drcmr.dk). Our mission is to triangulate MR physics, basic physiology, and clinical research. Approximately 75 researchers from a diverse range of disciplines are currently pursuing basic and clinically applied MR, electrophysiology, and brain stimulation research with a focus on structural, functional, and metabolic MRI of the human brain and its disorders. The DRCMR is embedded in the Department for Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre. In 2025, Copenhagen has again been rated as the most liveable city in the world (https://www.eiu.com/n/copenhagen-replaces-vienna-as-worlds-most-liveable-city/).

The position:

You will be employed as a postdoc for a two-year period at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance with high possibilities of extension. You will join the Movement Disorders group led by senior researcher David Meder.

Your daily tasks will vary according to the flow of the projects, but will mainly be centered around:

Developing an assessment battery of bradykinetic symptoms based on existing theories and frameworks of bradykinesia.
Acquiring data in people with Parkinson’s disease and control participants
Use unsupervised data-driven as well as hypothesis-driven analysis methods to uncover the component structure of bradykinesia
Acquiring and analyzing structural and functional MRI data in people with Parkinson’s disease in an MRI-compatible sub-set of tasks
engaging in teaching, knowledge dissemination, and publication of results in international, recognized scientific journals

The ideal candidate

You hold a PhD degree in Neuroscience, Sports Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine or a related field.
You enjoy working in the lab: developing an experimental setup with technical equipment, piloting and assessing data
You have experience in conducting experiments with human subjects—preferably including patients.
As you will be interacting with patients, Danish language skills are an advantage, but not a prerequisite.
You have good programming skills (preferably in Matlab or Python).
Additional expertise in data-driven analysis methods (principal component analysis, clustering methods etc.) or Bayesian modeling is a major advantage.
You enjoy being part of a multidisciplinary and international research team and integrating technological innovations into your neuroscience research.
You have excellent written and interpersonal communication skills.

The project will be supervised by Senior Researcher David Meder in close collaboration with Prof. Hartwig Siebner.

Starting date: is expected to be in April 2026.

Salary and Terms of Employment

You will be employed as a postdoc for a period of 24 months with good possibilities of extension. 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. Further, supplements can be negotiated. 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.

Applications should include a cover letter, CV and list of publications. References are also highly welcome. Applications must be submitted on-line through the RegionH job portal - click HERE.

Application deadline: 13th March 2026 at 23:59 (CET)

For further information regarding the position, please contact David Meder.
Direct line: +45 3862 1184; Email:

Selected Publications

2021

Albers KJ, Ambrosen KS, Liptrot MG, Dyrby TB, Schmidt MN, Mørup M. 2021. Using connectomics for predictive assessment of brain parcellations. NeuroImage. 238:1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118170

He Y, Aznar S, Siebner HR, Dyrby TB. 2021. In vivo tensor-valued diffusion MRI of focal demyelination in white and deep grey matter of rodents. NeuroImage. Clinical. 30:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102675

Lundell H, Ingo C, Dyrby TB, Ronen I. 2021. Cytosolic diffusivity and microscopic anisotropy of N-acetyl aspartate in human white matter with diffusion-weighted MRS at 7 T. NMR in Biomedicine. 34(5):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.4304

Perens J, Salinas CG, Skytte JL, Roostalu U, Dahl AB, Dyrby TB, Wichern F, Barkholt P, Vrang N, Jelsing J, Hecksher-Sørensen J. 2021. An Optimized Mouse Brain Atlas for Automated Mapping and Quantification of Neuronal Activity Using iDISCO+ and Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy. Neuroinformatics. 19(3):433-446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-020-09490-8

Skoven C, Tomasevic L, Kvitsiani D, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR. 2021. Profiling the transcallosal response of rat motor cortex evoked by contralateral optogenetic stimulation of glutamatergic cortical neurons. bioRxiv. 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.15.439619

2020

Ambrosen, K. S., Eskildsen, S. F., Hinne, M., Krug, K., Lundell, H., Schmidt, M. N., van Gerven, M. A. J., Mørup, M. & Dyrby, T. B. (2020). Validation of structural brain connectivity networks: The impact of scanning parameters. NeuroImage. 204, p. 1-13, 116207.

Andreasen, S. H., Andersen, K. W., Conde, V., Dyrby, T. B., Puonti, O. T., Kammersgaard, L. P., Madsen, C. G., Madsen, K. H., Poulsen, I. & Siebner, H. R. (2020). Limited Colocalization of microbleeds and microstructural changes after severe traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma. 37, 4, p. 581-592.

Cavaliere, C., Aiello, M., Soddu, A., Laureys, S., Reislev, N. L., Ptito, M. & Kupers, R. (2020).
Organization of the commissural fiber system in congenital and late-onset blindness.
NeuroImage. Clinical. 25, 102133.

Nath, V., Schilling, K. G., Parvathaneni, P., Huo, Y., Blaber, J. A., Hainline, A. E., Barakovic, M., Rafael-Patino, J., Frigo, M., Girard, G., Thiran, J-P., Daducci, A., Rowe, M., Rodrigues, P., Prčkovska, V., Aydogan, D. B., Sun, W., Shi, Y., Parker, W. A., Ould Ismail, A. A., Verma, R., Cabeen, R. P., Toga, A. W., Newton, A. T., Wasserthal, J., Neher, P., Maier-Hein, K., Savini, G., Palesi, F., Kaden, E., Wu, Y., He, J., Feng, Y., Paquette, M., Rheault, F., Sidhu, J., Lebel, C., Leemans, A., Descoteaux, M., Dyrby, T. B., Kang, H. & Landman, B. A. (2020). Tractography reproducibility challenge with empirical data (TraCED): The 2017 ISMRM diffusion study group challenge. Journal of magnetic resonance imaging: JMRI. 51, 1, p. 234-249.

Barrett, R. L. C., Dawson, M., Dyrby, T. B., Krug, K., Ptito, M., D'Arceuil, H., Croxson, P. L., Johnson, P., Howells, H., Forkel, S. J., Dell'Acqua, F. & Catani, M. (2020). Differences in frontal network anatomy across primate species. The Journal of Neuroscience. 25 p., 1650-18.

Benavides, F. D., Jin Jo, H., Lundell, H., Edgerton, V. R., Gerasimenko, Y. & Perez, M. A. (2020).
Cortical and Subcortical Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation in Humans with Tetraplegia. The Journal of Neuroscience.

Postans, M., Parker, G. D., Lundell, H., Ptito, M., Hamandi, K., Gray, W. P., Aggleton, J. P., Dyrby, T. B., Jones, D. K. & Winter, M. (2020). Uncovering a Role for the Dorsal Hippocampal Commissure in Recognition Memory. Cerebral Cortex. 15 p., bhz143.

Romascano, D., Barakovic, M., Rafael-Patino, J., Dyrby, T. B., Thiran, J-P. & Daducci, A. (2020).
ActiveAxADD: Toward non-parametric and orientationally invariant axon diameter distribution mapping using PGSE. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

2019

Bauer, C. (2019). Structural correlates of fatigue in multiple sclerosis assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Alexander, D. C., Dyrby, T. B., Nilsson, M. & Zhang, H. (2019). Imaging brain microstructure with diffusion MRI: practicality and applications. N M R in Biomedicine. 32, 4, p. 1-26, e3841.

Borg, L., Sporring, J., Dam, E. B., Dahl, V. A., Dyrby, T. B., Feidenhans'l, R., Dahl, A. B. & Pingel, J. (2019). Muscle fibre morphology and microarchitecture in cerebral palsy patients obtained by 3D synchrotron X-ray computed tomography. Computers in Biology and Medicine. 107, p. 265-269.

Innocenti, G. M., Caminiti, R., Rouiller, E. M., Knott, G., Dyrby, T. B., Descoteaux, M. & Thiran, J-P. (2019). Diversity of Cortico-descending Projections: Histological and Diffusion MRI Characterization in the Monkey. Cerebral Cortex. 29, 2, p. 788-801.

Innocenti, G. M., Dyrby, T. B., Girard, G., St-Onge, E., Thiran, J-P., Daducci, A. & Descoteaux, M. (2019). Topological principles and developmental algorithms might refine diffusion tractography. Brain structure & function. 224, 1, p. 1-8.

Lundell, H., Nilsson, M., Dyrby, T. B., Parker, G. J. M., Cristinacce, P. L. H., Zhou, F-L., Topgaard, D. & Lasič, S. (2019). Multidimensional diffusion MRI with spectrally modulated gradients reveals unprecedented microstructural detail. Scientific Reports. 9, 1, p. 1-12, 9026.

Sangari, S., Lundell, H., Kirshblum, S. & Perez, M. A. (2019). Residual Descending Motor Pathways Influence Spasticity after Spinal Cord Injury. Annals of Neurology. 86, 1, p. 28-41.

Schilling, K. G., Nath, V., Hansen, C., Parvathaneni, P., Blaber, J., Gao, Y., Neher, P., Aydogan, D. B., Shi, Y., Ocampo-Pineda, M., Schiavi, S., Daducci, A., Girard, G., Barakovic, M., Rafael-Patino, J., Romascano, D., Rensonnet, G., Pizzolato, M., Bates, A., Fischi, E., Thiran, J-P., Canales-Rodríguez, E. J., Huang, C., Zhu, H., Zhong, L., Cabeen, R., Toga, A. W., Rheault, F., Theaud, G., Houde, J-C., Sidhu, J., Chamberland, M., Westin, C-F., Dyrby, T. B., Verma, R., Rathi, Y., Irfanoglu, M. O., Thomas, C., Pierpaoli, C., Descoteaux, M., Anderson, A. W. & Landman, B. A. (2019). Limits to anatomical accuracy of diffusion tractography using modern approaches.
NeuroImage. 185, p. 1-11.

Lasič, S., Topgaard, D., Nilsson, M. & Lundell, H. (2019). A method of performing diffusion weighted magnetic resonance measurements on a sample. IPC nr. G01R33/56341, G01R33/4835, G01R33/543, G01R33/5608, A61B5/055, Patentnr. 16348580, 9 nov. 2017, Prioritetsdato 9 nov. 2016, Prioritetsnr. SE1651469-7 2019.

Lindhøj, M. B., Henriksen, T., Pedersen, L. & Sporring, J. (2019). Using a high-level parallel programming language for GPU-accelerated tomographic reconstruction. (Accepteret/In press) Using a high-level parallel programming language for GPU-accelerated tomographic reconstruction. p. 27-32.

2018

Lasič, S., Lundell, H., Topgaard, D. & Dyrby, T. B. (2018). Effects of imaging gradients in sequences with varying longitudinal storage time-Case of diffusion exchange imaging. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 79, p. 2228-2235.

Nielsen, J. S., Dyrby, T. B. & Lundell, H. (2018). Magnetic resonance temporal diffusion tensor spectroscopy of disordered anisotropic tissue. Scientific Reports. 8, 2930.

Sickmann, H. M., Skoven, C., Bastlund, J. F., Dyrby, T. B., Plath, N., Kohlmeier, K. A. & Kristensen, M. P. (2018). Sleep patterning changes in a prenatal stress model of depression.
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. 9, 1, p. 102-111.

Alexander, D. C., Dyrby, T. B., Nilsson, M. & Zhang, H. (2018). Imaging brain microstructure with diffusion MRI: practicality and applications. N M R in Biomedicine.

Dogonowski, A. M., Andersen, K. W., Sellebjerg, F., Schreiber, K., Madsen, K. H. & Siebner, H. R. (2018). Functional neuroimaging of recovery from motor conversion disorder: A case report. NeuroImage.

Dyrby, T. B., Innocenti, G., Bech, M. & Lundell, H. (2018). Validation strategies for the interpretation of microstructure imaging using diffusion MRI. NeuroImage.

Innocenti, G. M., Caminiti, R., Rouiller, E. M., Knott, G., Dyrby, T. B., Descoteaux, M. & Thiran, J-P. (2018). Diversity of Cortico-descending Projections: Histological and Diffusion MRI Characterization in the Monkey. Cerebral Cortex.

2017

Røge, R., Sandø Ambrosen, K. M., Albers, K. J., Eriksen, C. T., Liptrot, M. G., Schmidt, M. N., Madsen, K. H. & Mørup, M. (2017). Whole Brain Functional Connectivity Predicted by Indirect Structural Connections.

Lundell, H. M. H., Ingo, C., Dyrby, T. B. & Ronen, I. (2017). Accurate estimation of intra-axonal diffusivity and anisotropy of NAA in humans at 7T.

Lundell, H. M. H., Nilsson, M., Dyrby, T. B., Parker, G. J. M., Cristinacce, P. L. H., Zhou, F., Topgaard, D. & Lasic, S. (2017). Microscopic anisotropy with spectrally modulated q-space trajectory encoding.

2016

Large I, Bridge H, Ahmed B, Clare S, Kolasinski J, Lam WW, Miller KL, Dyrby TB, Parker AJ, Smith JET, Daubney G, Sallet J Bell AH, Krug K, (2016). Individual differences in the alignment of structural and functional markers of the V5/MT complex in primates, Cerebral Cortex, Accepted.

Donahue C, Sotiropoulos S, Jbabdi S, Hernandez-Fernandez M, Beherens T, Dyrby TB, Kennedy H, Knoblauch K, Coalson T, Glasser M, Van Essen D, (2016). Using Diffusion Tractography to Predict Cortical Connection Strength and Distance: A Quantitative Comparison with Tracers in the Monkey, Journal Neuroscience, 36(25): 6758-6770

Innocenti GM, Dyrby TB, Winther Andersen K, Rouillier EM, Caminiti R (2016). The crossed projection to the striatum in two species of monkey and in humans: Behavioral and evolutionary significance, Cerebral Cortex, doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw161

2015

Reislev NL, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR, Kupers R, (2015). Simultaneous assessment of white matter changes in microstructure and connectedness in the blind brain, Neural Plasticity, Article ID 795865.

Ratzer R, Iversen P, Börnsen L, Dyrby TB, Christensen JR, Ammitzbøll C, Madsen CG, Garde E, Andersen B, Hyldstrup L, Sørensen PS, Siebner HR, Sellebjerg F, (2015). Monthly oral methylprednisolone pulse treatment in progressive multiple sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Journal (accepted).

Shemesh N, Jespersen SN, Alexander DC, Cohen Y, Drobnjak I, Dyrby TB, Finsterbusch J, Koch MA, Kuder T, Laun F, Lawrenz M, Lundell H, Mitra PP, Nilsson M, Özarslan E, Topgaard D, Westin CF, Conventions and nomenclature for double diffusion encoding NMR and MRI, Magn Reson Med, 2015 (accepted)

Barthélemy D, Willerslev-Olsen M, Lundell H, Biering-Sørensen F, Nielsen JB. (2015). Assessment of transmission in specific descending pathways in relation to gait and balance following spinal cord injury, Prog Brain Res. 218:79-101.

Knösche TR, Anwander A, Liptrot MG, Dyrby TB, (2015). Validation of Tractography – Comparison with Manganese Tracing, Human Brain Mapping, Human Brain Mapping, DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22902.

Reislev NL, KupersR, Siebner HR, Ptito M, Dyrby TB, (2015). Blindness alters the microstructure of the ventral but not the dorsal visual stream. Brain Structure and Function, DOI: 10.1007/s00429-015-1078-8.

Sickmann HM, Arentzen TS, DyrbyTB, PlathN, Kristensen MP, (2015). Prenatal Stress Produces Sex Specific Changes in Depression-like Behavior in Rats: Implications for increased vulnerability in females, Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, (Accepted).

Lundell H, Sønderby CK, Dyrby TB, (2015). Diffusion weighted imaging with circularly polarized oscillating gradients,Magn Reson Med., 73(3), 171:1176.

Daducci A, Canales-Rodriguez EJ, Zhang H, Dyrby TB, Alexander DC, Thiran JP, (2015). Accelerated Microstructure Imaging via Convex Optimization (AMICO) from diffusion MRI data, Neuroimage, 35, 32-44.

2014

Dyrby TB, Lundell H, Burke MW, Reislev NL, Paulson OB, Ptito M, Siebner HR, (2014).Interpolation of diffusion weighted imaging datasets, NeuroImage, 103, 202–213.

Jespersen SN, Lundel H, Sønderby C, Dyrby TB, (2014). Commentary on ”Microanisotropy imaging: quantification of microscopic diffusion anisotropy and orientation of order parameter by diffusion MRI with magic-angle spinning of the q-vector”, Frontiers in Physics, doi: 10.3389/fphy.2014.00028.

Lundell HM, Alexander DC, Dyrby TB, (2014). High angular resolution diffusion imaging with stimulated echoes: compensation and correction in experiment design and analysis, NMR in Biomedicine.

Liptrot GM, SidarosK, DyrbyTB, (2014). Addressing The Path-Length-Dependency Confound In White Matter Tract Segmentation, PLOS ONE, 9 (5), e96247.

Lyksborg M, SiebnerHR, SørensenPS, BlinkenbergM, Parker GJM, DogonowskiA, GardeE, LarsenR, Dyrby TB, (2014). Secondary progressive and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis leads to motor-related decreased anatomical connectivity, PLOS ONE 9 (4), e95540.

Lundell HM, Sønderby CK, Dyrby TB, (2014). Diffusion weighted imaging with circularly polarized oscillating gradients,Magn Reson Med. (accepted).

Christensen JR, Ratzer R, Börnsen L, Lyksborg M, Garde E, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR, Sørensen PS, Sellebjerg F, (2014). Natalizumab in progressive MS – results of an open-label phase 2A proof-of- concept trial. Neurology (accepted).

Sønderby, C. K., Lundell, H. M., Søgaard, L. V. and Dyrby, T. B. (2014). Apparent exchange rate imaging in anisotropic systems. Magn Reson Med., 72(3), 756-762.

2013

Jespersen SN, LundellH, Sønderby KS, Dyrby TB, (2013). Rotationally invariant sampling of double pulsed field gradient diffusion: estimating apparent compartment eccentricity, NMR in biomedicine, (in press).

Assaf Y, Alexander DC, Jones DK, Bizzi A, Behrens T, Clark C, Cohen Y, Dyrby TB, Huppi P, Knoesche T, LeBihan D, Parker GJM, (2013). CONNECT Consortium, The CONNECT project: Combining Macro- and Micro-structure, NeuroImage, 80, 273-282.

Dyrby TB, Søgaard LV, Hall MG, Ptito M, Alexander DC, (2013). Contrast and stability of the axon diameter index from microstructure imaging with diffusion MRI, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 70(3), 711:721.

2012

Lundell H, Barthelemy D, Biering-Sørensen F, Cohen-Adad J, Nielsen JB, Dyrby TB. (2012). Fast diffusion tensor imaging and tractography of the whole cervical spinal cord using point spread function corrected echo planar imaging., Magn Reson Med. 2012 Mar 6. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24235. [Epub ahead of print].

2011

Zhang H, Dyrby TB, Alexander DC., (2011) Axon diameter mapping in crossing fibers with diffusion MRI, Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv.;14(Pt 2):82-9.

Lundell H, Nielsen J B, Ptito M, Dyrby T B. (2011). Distribution of collateral fibers in the monkey cervical spinal cord detected with diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. NeuroImage, 56(3):923-9.

Dyrby TB, Baaré WFC, Alexander DC, Jelsing J, Garde E, Søgaard LV, (2011). An ex vivo imaging pipeline for producing high-quality and high-resolution diffusion weighted imaging datasets. Hum Brain Mapp. 2011 Apr;32(4):544-63.

2010

Alexander DC, Hubbard PL, Hall MG, Moore EA, Ptito M, Parker GJ, Dyrby TB. Orientationally invariant indices of axon diameter and density from diffusion MRI. Neuroimage. 2010, 52(4):1374-89.

2009

Stavngaard T, Søgaard LV, Batz M, Schreiber LM, Dirksen A. Progression of emphysema evaluated by MRI using hyperpolarized 3He (HP 3He) measurements in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (A1AT), compared with CT and lung function tests. Acta Radiol. 2009, 50(9):1019-26.

2008

Sidaros A, Engberg AW, Sidaros K, Liptrot MG, Herning M, Petersen P, Paulson OB, Jernigan TL, Rostrup E. Diffusion tensor imaging during recovery from severe traumatic brain injury and relation to clinical outcome: a longitudinal study. Brain 2008, 131(Pt 2), 559-572.

2007

Dyrby TB, Sogaard LV, Parker GJ, Alexander DC, Lind NM, Baare WF, Hay-Schmidt A, Eriksen N, Pakkenberg B, Paulson OB, Jelsing J. Validation of in vitro probabilistic tractography. Neuroimage 2007, 37(4), 1267