Openings at SPS

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Biomedical Signal Processing: Atrium Fibrillation Detection

Opening for: PhD student

Status details

Status:Closed
Announced:14 Jun 2016
Closing date:01 Sep 2016
Filled:26 Sep 2016
Duration:4 years
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a progressive disease and associated with severe complications such as stroke. Early treatment of AF is of paramount importance as it inhibits disease progression from the treatable (recurrent intermittent) to the untreatable (permanent) stage of AF. However, early treatment is seriously hampered by lack of accurate diagnostic instruments to recognize patients who will develop new onset AF or progress to a severer form of the disease.

The goal of this PhD project is to develop a bio-electrical diagnostic tests, an invasive and a non-invasive AF Fingerprint, which consists of electrical atrial signal profiles. This can then be used for early recognition or progression of AF.

Erasmus MC developed a 192-electrode array for intra-operative signal acquisition, allowing to map electrophysiological properties of atrial tissue, e.g. conduction or conduction block. Current examination of these conduction disorders requires time-consuming off-line analysis. Your task in this 4-PhD project is to develop a suitable signal model, where a reduced set of parameters describes the multidimensional signal, using an existing signal database; to develop a classifier; and to extend the algorithms to be compatible to low-resolution surface data (ECG).

Requirements

In addition to the general requirements listed below, candidates should have a strong signal processing background and have affinity with biomedical signals processing. We will use tools from statistical signal processing, array processing, machine learning, optimization theory. Experience with Matlab is required.

This project is carried out at TU Delft with strong interaction with Erasmus MC (Rotterdam) and VU MC (Amsterdam).

Contact

prof.dr.ir. Alle-Jan van der Veen

Professor, Chairman

Signal Processing Systems Group

Department of Microelectronics

Related project

Earlier recognition of cardiovascular diseases

Atrial Fibrillation FIngerPrinting: Spotting Bio-Electrical Markers to Early Recognize Atrial Fibrillation by the Use of a Bottom-Up Approach

Additional information

In The Netherlands, almost all PhD positions are linked to funded research projects. This has several implications:
  • PhD students are employed: they receive a salary rather than a grant. Most projects have a duration of 4 years.
  • Positions become available once a project is funded. This can happen at any time during the year.
  • It typically takes 6 to 9 months for a project proposal to receive funding. In this period, a position may be anticipated but the outcome remains insecure. Once a project is funded, the open position needs to be filled as soon as possible.

If you are interested in our research, it merits to inquire whether openings will be available. We collect resumes of prospective PhD students throughout the year, for each of our research tracks.

General requirements

We make our selection based on the following general requirements:
  • Formal requirements regarding prior education: you should have earned an MSc degree at a recognized institute for higher education.
  • Background: this depends on the specific project.
  • Excellence: your Grade-Point-Average should be above 8 (10). Also your MSc thesis should have received a grade above 8 (10).
  • English: you should be able to communicate well in english (written and oral). Provide TOEFL/IELTS scores if available.
  • Originality: your MSc thesis or later work (publications) should reflect some original ideas. Critical and independent thinking is very important.
  • Team player: you should be able to work well in a team of other project members.
Your resume should contain contact information of prior advisors/supervisors who can provide feedback.