Department of Engineering
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR MEDICAL IMAGING
ADVERT
A position is expected to become available for a Research Associate to work on Deconvolution of Three
Dimensional Ultrasound. The project will be funded by the EPSRC and involves both the Medical Imaging
Group and the Signal Processing Group in the Department of Engineering. The aim of the project is to
improve the clarity of medical ultrasound B-scans by using signal processing techniques to reduce the
effective point-spread function of the imaging system. The successful candidate will have a PhD in a
relevant discipline and experience of programming in C and Matlab. Preference will be given to candidates
with expertise in signal processing of radio-frequency ultrasound data, deconvolution algorithms, wavelet
methods, ultrasonic beamforming, or modelling and analysis of the ultrasound image formation process.
The appointment will be for 3 years starting on 1st October 2006 or as soon as possible thereafter. Salary is
in the range £23,457 to £28,850 p.a. Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Richard Prager, tel: (01223)
332625. E-mail: rwp@eng.cam.ac.uk
Applications consisting of a supporting statement, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications and a completed
PD18 form (parts I and III) including details of two referees (who may be consulted before interview) should
be sent to the Teaching Office (PD3DUS), Cambridge University Engineering Department, Trumpington
Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, United Kingdom. Please quote reference PD3DUS.
The closing date for applications is: Friday 18th August 2006. Candidates will be informed by email (or
telephone) if they are to be invited for interview by Tuesday 22nd August. It is intended that interviews will
take place in Cambridge on Friday 25th August 2006. Please state in your application if you would not
be available on that date as we may be able to make alternative arrangements.
The Project
Diagnostic ultrasound imaging is cheap and safe but the images are speckled and notoriously hard to
interpret and this limits its clinical utility. The speckle is caused by the large point-spread function (PSF) in
the ultrasound imaging system. The goal of the project is to overcome this problem by deconvolving the
physical scatterer field from the blurring PSF using three-dimensional radio-frequency data. To achieve this
we will:
1. Measure the effective ultrasound point-spread-function as it varies as a function of position.
2. Deconvolve 3D data using the point-spread-function to obtain information about the scatterer field.
3. Assess the sensitivity of our deconvolution algorithms to noise and variations in material properties
and explore ways of minimising these effects.
4. Express the scatterer information in a way that is useful for clinicians and use this information as a
basis for the development of automatic and semi-automatic segmentation tools.
The Research Team
The investigators are Drs Andrew Gee, Richard Prager and Graham Treece from the Medical Imaging
Group and Dr Nick Kingsbury from the Signal Processing Group all based at Cambridge University
Department of Engineering.
The Medical Imaging Group has been active in the field of 3D ultrasound since 1992. Our EPSRC project
(GR/N21062), which was rated Internationally Leading and Outstanding in all assessment categories,
Department of Engineering
resulted in the development of the highest definition freehand 3D ultrasound system in the literature.
Through a close collaboration between Cambridge University Engineering Department, the Radiology
Department at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Dynamic Imaging Ltd, we have contributed to the development
of the state of the art in every aspect of freehand 3D ultrasound technology, and have published more than
thirty journal articles covering calibration, registration, compounding, 2D and 3D visualisation,
segmentation, volume measurement, probe pressure correction, speckle analysis and emerging clinical
applications. In addition, we have presented more than 35 conference papers on these topics.
Our Stradx software package for 3D ultrasound acquisition and visualisation has been available on the web
since 1997. It has been downloaded hundreds of times, and we are in contact with regular users in the UK,
USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, China, Portugal and Spain. In November
2004, we released a second, simpler system called Stradwin. This runs under Microsoft Windows and is
designed to facilitate calibration, acquisition and visualisation by non-engineers in a clinical environment. It
has recently been licensed by Cambridge Enterprise to Cross Technologies PLC to form part of their new
Orpheus system for breast radiotherapy planning.
The Signal Processing group have pioneered the development of complex wavelets and their applications in
signal processing, culminating in the key journal paper on this subject in 2001. They have recently led the
development of new wavelet-based deconvolution and denoising algorithms which show outstanding
performance and are particularly well suited to ultrasound because of their ability to model non-stationary
image statistics.
The Role
The Senior Research Associate will have a PhD and a proven track-record of research and scholarly
publication in a relevant discipline. He or she will perform research, in conjunction with the investigators,
toward the project goals. A graduate student, studying for a PhD degree is also involved in the project. This
student will be formally supervised by the investigators, but the Senior Research Associate will be expected
to assist in guiding their work and interact with them on a day-to-day basis.
A team-oriented approach to research is vital to the success of the project. The Senior Research Associate
will be expected to interact with clinicians at Addenbrooke's Hospital to determine the clinical utility of any
tools developed. She or he will also contribute to the development of generally useful engineering tools and
facilities that will further the research of the group as a whole. Other staff and students in the group adopt a
similar team-oriented and supportive attitude in their work which will be of great benefit to the Senior
Research Associate in terms of the richness of facilities and research environment at their disposal.
Further Particulars
THE DEPARTMENT
The Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge is a vibrant and leading international centre
for research. Its core strengths span all of the major engineering disciplines. The Department has a 5*
research rating and provides a unique environment for the evolution of engineering, which is distinguished
by:

the extremely high calibre of its engineering academic staff, students and support staff

its emphasis on creativity and problem solving, founded on the development and application of
fundamental science and mathematics

the sense of being a networked community of highly talented individuals working in
engineering.
The Head of the Department is Professor K Glover. The academic staff of the Department consists of: 43
Professors, 25 Readers, 60 Senior Lecturers and Lecturers as well as a large number of contract research
Department of Engineering
staff. There are also 31 academic-related staff (Design Engineers, Administrators, Computer Officers, the
Librarian etc.) and 250 technical and administrative support staff.
The Department has a divisional structure which is not aligned with traditional engineering departmental
boundaries and this gives the Department greater flexibility in responding to new initiatives:
Division A: acoustics, fluid mechanics, turbomachinery and thermodynamics
Division B: electrical engineering
Division C: mechanics, materials and design
Division D: civil, structural and environmental engineering
Division E: manufacturing and management
Division F: information engineering: control theory, signal processing, medical imaging, speech processing,
computer vision and computational & biological learning.
More information on the Department can be found at www.eng.cam.ac.uk
THE UNIVERSITY
The city of Cambridge is in the south east of England, 50 miles north of London. It is well served by road
and rail links, and is within an easy distance of the major London airports.
Cambridge University is famous for its heritage of scholarship, historic role and magnificent architecture.
This heritage supports one of the world's most important centres for teaching and research. The collegiate
structure gives a strong sense of community, and the University is at the forefront of international
scholarship and research.
Throughout the last 800 years, its contribution to the world has ranged from the discovery of the mechanism
of blood circulation to the structure of DNA, from the great philosophers of the early 15th Century, to the
groundbreaking work of its many Nobel Prize winners.
Equal Opportunities
The following statement of policy on equal opportunities has been approved by the University (Reporter,
1998-99, p.944): “The University is committed to a policy and practice which require that entry into
employment with the University and progression within employment should be determined only by personal
merit and by the application of criteria which are related to the duties of the particular appointment and the
relevant stipend or salary structure. No applicant for an appointment in the University, or member of staff
once appointed, will be treated less favourably than another on the grounds of sex (including gender
reassignment), marital status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, or disability. If an employee considers
that he or she is suffering from unequal treatment on grounds of sex (including gender reassignment),
marital status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, or disability, he or she may make a complaint which
will be dealt with through the agreed procedures for dealing with grievances. ”