In 2025 I have been employed by the Imaging Facilities at the University of Manchester as the Technical Specialist in MRI Physics. I am in charge of:
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MRI quality assurance ensuring optimal performance of the systems,
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MRI protocol optimisation including new protocol implementation support for researchers,
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providing MRI physics advice, guidance and training for researchers, clinicians, radiographers and students,
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being the MR safety expert,
for the 3T Philips Achieva at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility (M13 9WL), 3T GE Signa PET-MR at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (M13 9WL) and the 3T Philips Elition at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (M6 8HD).
Originally from Slovakia, I have completed my MPhys (Hons) degree at the University of Manchester in 2020. There I have met Prof. Laura Parkes under whose guidance I have completed a summer internship learning about the basics of DCE-MRI data processing by testing whether microbubbles (usually used during ultrasound examinations) provide the necessary contrast to be used in place of gadolinium-based contrast agents with a negative finding. My Master’s project was supervised by Dr. Andrea Murray and Prof. Mark Dickinson and focused on developing supporting software for a novel photoacoustic imaging system used to image blood vessels in human fingers as a diagnostic tool for early detection of systemic sclerosis.
After Covid-19 subsided I have been offered an MRC DTP studentship under the supervision of Dr. Ben Dickie, Prof. Laura Parkes, Dr. Hervé Boutin and Dr. Igor Chernyavsky. My PhD research focused on imaging neurofluid pathways in the brain with a focus on development of novel imaging sequence on a 7T preclinical MRI. Additionally, I have investigated the goodness of fit of several two-compartment kinetic models for clinical DCE-MRI dataset and further investigated our findings using two-photon microscopy under the supervision of Dr. Ingo Schiessl. I have developed skills in scientific programming in Python, ImageJ scripting language and Matlab for processing MRI and microscopy data. Following the award of my PhD in 2025, I have joined the Pathways to Impact scheme during which I have collaborated with Dr. Erlend Hodneland on developing a brain-wide, realistic blood perfusion simulation for estimation of ASL MRI signal.