Medical imaging, a source of major innovations, presents remarkable potential for meeting new challenges with the growing demand for precision medicine, which requires cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic approaches personalized for each patient.

In this context, CEA-Leti proposes a PhD internship to develop a dedicated preclinical SPECT (Single Photon Emission Tomography) imager that will provide the performance (spectral information, high resolution, and high sensitivity) needed by researchers developing new radiopharmaceuticals.
The laboratory has a recognized expertise on CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride) semiconductor imagers enabling better spatial and energy resolution than scintillators used by most systems. They open new opportunities for emission imaging like easier Compton imaging, multi-isotope imaging and better contrast.

The candidate will have to handle the following tasks:
1. Study the state of the art of small animal SPECT imagers to participate with the team to the choice of system specification and choice of a draft architecture.
2. Simulate this architecture by using Monte-Carlo codes and optimize free parameters.
3. Design and manufacture the prototype system, with the help of the team including system engineers.
4. Test and validate the imaging capabilities, using reconstruction algorithms provided by the team.

The PhD will be conducted inside an instrumentation laboratory with access to acquisition electronics, detectors, motorized mechanics, gamma-ray sources and processing/simulation software. The candidate will also work in collaboration with a clinical and preclinical centre (at Orsay’s hospital) for conducting imaging test on phantoms and animals.