Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Experimental study of electrical impedance tomography in the context of electrocardiography

The Inria center at the University of Bordeaux is one of the nine Inria centers in France and has about twenty research teams.. The Inria centre is a major and recognized player in the field of digital sciences. It is at the heart of a rich R&D and innovation ecosystem: highly innovative SMEs, large industrial groups, competitiveness clusters, research and higher education players, laboratories of excellence, technological research institute...

The project context revolves around the detection of cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation, which is responsible for the vast majority of the 350,000 sudden cardiac deaths occurring annually in Europe. One of the most promising recent approaches to detecting these cardiac rhythm disorders is electrocardiographic imaging (ECGi), currently under study at IHU-Liryc. It is a non-invasive imaging technique that reconstructs the heart's electrical activity based on electrical measurements taken on the patient's chest using a vest adorned with numerous electrodes, commonly referred to as the "vest." However, current ECGi resolution techniques do not allow for sufficiently accurate reconstruction of cardiac electrical activity for complex clinical cases. In particular, it is widely accepted that uncertainties in organ and chest movement, as well as inter-individual variations in tissue conductivities, play a role in the loss of ECGi precision.

To improve ECGi resolution, it is therefore necessary to propose more comprehensive descriptions of electrical properties within the chest volume and enhance the information obtained from measurements on the vest. We propose using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) for this purpose: it is a non-invasive technique for reconstructing internal conductivities as well as shapes. Although currently commonly used for medical purposes, it has not yet been applied to the detection of cardiac rhythm disorders. The objective of this project is to validate EIT resolution methods through experiments conducted at IHU-Liryc, using an experimental setup developed there for ECGi. 

The postdoctoral subject is part of a collaboration between Lisl Weynans (applied mathematics, Carmen team and IHU Liryc) and Laura Bear (signal processing, IHU Liryc). The person recruited will work directly with Laura Bear and regular meetings will be held with Lisl Weynans.

The postdoc will take place at Liryc (https://www.ihu-liryc.fr/): the Institute of Cardiac Rhythm Disorders, within the signal processing team, in Pessac (Bordeaux area), France.

The postdoc will aid in experimental preparations in the laboratory, develop the signal processing pipelines to process raw data, evaluate available EIT methods to determine organ conductivities and position within the torso. In a second stage, the post-doc will help develop and validate experimentally a coupled EIT-ECGI approach to reconstruct cardiac electrical activity, and in doing so identify the key parameters of influence on the electrical propagation within the torso.

• setting up an experimental electrode device for the EIT
• coupling with the torso-tank device currently available at the liryc
• taking measurements and processing signals
• writing programmes for signal processing
• writing scientific articles and communicating results

Signal processing

Experience in electrodes experimental set ups

Programming

Writing research articles

Oral presentation of results in english or french

Team working

An experience in modelling, applied mathematics, physics of electrophysiology would be a plus

• Subsidized catering
• Public transport partially reimbursed
• Vacations: 7 weeks' annual leave + 10 days' RTT (full-time basis) + possibility of exceptional leave (e.g. sick children, moving house)
• Possibility of partial teleworking
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports benefits (Association de gestion des œuvres sociales d'Inria)
  
  
  

grossly remuneration (before deduction of social contributions and income tax ) : 2788€ / month