Master & bachelor projects

Cortical Microstructure Changes in Schizophrenia

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disease associated with subtle but widespread brain changes. Diffusion MRI is a powerful tool to quantify biological tissue microstructure in vivo and non-invasively. This master project offers a unique opportunity to contribute to translational research in psychiatry and neuroscience. We propose to (A) characterise brain cortical microstructure changes in patients with schizophrenia measured via novel Diffusion MRI markers and (B) relate them to metabolic changes measured using MR Spectroscopy.
This project will be carried out within the Radiology Research Unit of the CHUV, supervised by Tommaso Pavan and Prof. Ileana Jelescu, in collaboration with Prof. Lijing Xin (EPFL).

START DATE: Fall/Winter 2024

PROFILE: We are seeking a highly motivated master student with a background in Electrical, Micro- and Life Science Engineering or Physics. Flexible duration aligned with your University and degree requirements from a research project.
You will learn: to process neuroimaging data, to operate a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster, refine your machine-learning/statistics skills and make a first step into the field of computational psychiatry. Good coding skills are necessary.

INTERESTED? Contact tommaso.pavan@chuv.ch or ileana.jelescu@chuv.ch.