[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.

Selected Publications

Siebner, Thomas Hartwig, Stefan Fuglsang, Christopher Fugl Madelung, Annemette Løkkegaard, Flemming Bendtsen, Jens Dahlgaard Hove, Morten Damgaard, Jan Lysgård Madsen, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Gastric Emptying Is Not Delayed and Does Not Correlate With Attenuated Postprandial Blood Flow Increase in Medicated Patients With Early Parkinson’s Disease.” Frontiers in Neurology 13 (2022). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2022.828069.

Madelung, Christopher F., David Meder, Søren A. Fuglsang, Marta M. Marques, Vincent O. Boer, Kristoffer H. Madsen, Esben T. Petersen, Anne-Mette Hejl, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Locus Coeruleus Shows a Spatial Pattern of Structural Disintegration in Parkinson’s Disease.” Movement Disorders 37, no. 3 (2022): 479–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28945.

Siebner, Thomas Hartwig, Christopher Fugl Madelung, Flemming Bendtsen, Annemette Løkkegaard, Jens Dahlgaard Hove, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Postprandial Increase in Mesenteric Blood Flow Is Attenuated in Parkinson’s Disease: A Dynamic PC-MRI Study.” Journal of Parkinson’s Disease 11, no. 2 (January 1, 2021): 545–57. https://doi.org/10.3233/JPD-202341.

Herz, Damian M., David Meder, Julia A. Camilleri, Simon B. Eickhoff, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Brain Motor Network Changes in Parkinson’s Disease: Evidence from Meta-Analytic Modeling.” Movement Disorders 36, no. 5 (2021): 1180–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28468.

Lohse, Allan, David Meder, Silas Nielsen, Anders Elkjær Lund, Damian M Herz, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R Siebner. “Low-Frequency Transcranial Stimulation of Pre-Supplementary Motor Area Alleviates Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson’s Disease: A Randomized Cross-over Trial.” Brain Communications 2, no. 2 (July 1, 2020): fcaa147. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaa147.

Haagensen, Brian N., Damian M. Herz, David Meder, Kristoffer H. Madsen, Annemette Løkkegaard, and Hartwig R. Siebner. “Linking Brain Activity during Sequential Gambling to Impulse Control in Parkinson’s Disease.” NeuroImage: Clinical 27 (January 1, 2020): 102330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102330.

Betts, Matthew J., Evgeniya Kirilina, Maria C. G. Otaduy, Dimo Ivanov, Julio Acosta-Cabronero, Martina F. Callaghan, Christian Lambert, et al. “Locus Coeruleus Imaging as a Biomarker for Noradrenergic Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Brain 142, no. 9 (September 1, 2019): 2558–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awz193.

Meder, David, Damian Marc Herz, James Benedict Rowe, Stéphane Lehéricy, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “The Role of Dopamine in the Brain - Lessons Learned from Parkinson’s Disease.” NeuroImage, Mapping diseased brains, 190 (April 15, 2019): 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.021.

Irmen, Friederike, Andreas Horn, David Meder, Wolf-Julian Neumann, Philip Plettig, Gerd-Helge Schneider, Hartwig Roman Siebner, and Andrea A. Kühn. “Sensorimotor Subthalamic Stimulation Restores Risk-Reward Trade-off in Parkinson’s Disease.” Movement Disorders 34, no. 3 (2019): 366–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27576.

Meder, David, and Hartwig Roman Siebner. “Spectral Signatures of Neurodegenerative Diseases: How to Decipher Them?” Brain 141, no. 8 (August 1, 2018): 2241–44. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awy195.

Lehericy, Stéphane, David E. Vaillancourt, Klaus Seppi, Oury Monchi, Irena Rektorova, Angelo Antonini, Martin J. McKeown, et al. “The Role of High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Parkinsonian Disorders: Pushing the Boundaries Forward.” Movement Disorders 32, no. 4 (April 1, 2017): 510–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.26968.

Correia, M. M., Rittman, T., Barnes, C. L., Coyle-Gilchrist, I. T., Ghosh, B., Hughes, L. E. & Rowe, J. B.
Towards accurate and unbiased imaging-based differentiation of Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome.
Brain communications. 2, 1, p. 1-18, fcaa051. 2020.

Kaalund, S. S., Passamonti, L., Allinson, K. S. J., Murley, A. G., Robbins, T. W., Spillantini, M. G. & Rowe, J. B.
Locus coeruleus pathology in progressive supranuclear palsy, and its relation to disease severity.
Acta neuropathologica communications. 8, 1, p. 1-11, 11. 2020.

van der Vegt, J. P. M., Hulme, O. J., Madsen, K. H., Buhmann, C., Bloem, B. R., Münchau, A., Helmich, R. C. & Siebner, H. R.
Dopamine agonist treatment increases sensitivity to gamble outcomes in the hippocampus in de novo Parkinson's disease.
NeuroImage. Clinical. 28, p. 1-8, 102362. 2020.

Dogonowski, A. M., Andersen, K. W., Sellebjerg, F., Schreiber, K., Madsen, K. H. & Siebner, H. R.
Functional neuroimaging of recovery from motor conversion disorder: A case report.
NeuroImage. 190, p. 269-274, 2019.

Dubbioso, R., Manganelli, F., Siebner, H. R. & Di Lazzaro, V.
Fast Intracortical Sensory-Motor Integration: A Window Into the Pathophysiology of Parkinson's Disease.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 13, p. 1-14, 111. 2019.

van Eimeren, T., Antonini, A., Berg, D., Bohnen, N., Ceravolo, R., Drzezga, A., Höglinger, G. U., Higuchi, M., Lehericy, S., Lewis, S., Monchi, O., Nestor, P., Ondrus, M., Pavese, N., Peralta, M. C., Piccini, P., Pineda-Pardo, J. Á., Rektorová, I., Rodríguez-Oroz, M., Rominger, A., Seppi, K., Stoessl, A. J., Tessitore, A., Thobois, S., Kaasinen, V., Wenning, G., Siebner, H. R., Strafella, A. P. & Rowe, J. B.
Neuroimaging biomarkers for clinical trials in atypical parkinsonian disorders: Proposal for a Neuroimaging Biomarker Utility System.
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. 11, p. 301-309, 2019.

Siebner, Hartwig R., David Meder, and Damian M. Herz. “FMRI in Parkinson’s Disease.” In FMRI: Basics and Clinical Applications, edited by Stephan Ulmer and Olav Jansen, 417–31. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41874-8_26

Thomsen, B. L. C., Herz, D. M., Siebner, H. R. & Løkkegaard, A.
Dyskinesier ved Parkinsons sygdom: opdatering om nye billeddannende metoder og behandlingsmuligheder.
Ugeskrift for Laeger. 12, 2017, p. 2-6, 2017.

Lehéricy, S., Vaillancourt, D. E., Seppi, K., Monchi, O., Rektorova, I., Antonini, A., McKeown, M. J., Masellis, M., Berg, D., Rowe, J. B., Lewis, S. J. G., Williams-Gray, C. H., Tessitore, A., Siebner, H. R. & International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society -Neuroimaging Study Group.
The role of high-field magnetic resonance imaging in parkinsonian disorders: Pushing the boundaries forward.
Movement disorders. 32, 4, p. 510-525, 2017.

Løkkegaard A, Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Lorentzen AK, Eickhoff SB, Siebner HR (2016) Altered sensorimotor activation patterns in idiopathic dystonia - an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 37:547-557.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Nielsen SH, Madsen KH, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2016) Resting-state connectivity predicts levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 31:521-529.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN, Christensen MS, Madsen KH, Rowe JB, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2015) Abnormal dopaminergic modulation of striato-cortical networks underlies levodopa-induced dyskinesias in humans. Brain 138:1658-1666.

Herz DM, Haagensen BN,Christensen MS, Madsen KH, Rowe J, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2014) The acute brain response to levodopa heralds dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 75:829-836.

Herz DM, Eickhoff SB, Løkkegaard A, Siebner HR (2014) Functional neuroimaging of motor control in Parkinson’s disease: A meta-analysis. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3227-3237.

van der Vegt JPM, Hulme OJ, Zittel S, Madsen KH, Weiss MM, Buhmann C, Bloem BR, Münchau A, Siebner HR (2013) Attenuated neural response to gamble outcomes in drug-naive patients with Parkinson’s disease. Brain 136:1192-1203.