Edinburgh Imaging

27 Nov 17. Job - PhD vacancy (DTP2)

This PhD aims to determine CT biomarkers of post-stroke dementia for prognosis, and thus identify targets for future trials of individualized therapies.

PhD Vacancy – Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) in Precision Medicine

 

Project title: Predicting post-stroke dementia from CT neuroimaging and other biomarkers

Supervisors: Dr Susan D. Shenkin, Dr Dorota Religa, Dr Terry Quinn & Prof Gillian Mead

Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

Background

Stroke and dementia are among the most feared aspects of ageing. The life-time risk of either is 1:3 for men and 1:2 for women. Post-stroke dementia is dementia temporally related to an incident stroke, affecting ~1/3 stroke survivors. There are currently no biomarkers which accurately predict risk of post stroke dementia1, and would allow targeted therapy. Neuroimaging, including advanced multi-modal imaging, has potential to distinguish dementia types1, but CT imaging is by far the most common neuroimaging in clinical practice globally2: ~93% of stroke patients in Scotland had a CT scan within 24 hours (http://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/). CT imaging biomarkers combine the principles of precision medicine with the goal of realistic medicine: to use accessible clinical data to improve patient-centred care3. This will facilitate realistic goal setting, targeting of treatments, and stratifying patients for inclusion in clinical trials of appropriately tailored interventions to reduce the risk of stroke and specifically post-stroke dementia.

 

Aims

This PhD aims to determine CT biomarkers of post-stroke dementia for prognosis, and thus identify targets for future trials of individualized therapies.

1. Systematic review and individual participant meta-analysis

2. CT biomarker predictors

3. Developing the prediction model, and planning intervention studies

 

If interested, please read here for the full details of the post.

 

Prospective students can apply here, before the deadline for 18/19 applications is 5pm on Wednesday 10th January 2018.