[vtkusers] ANN: postdoctoral position / EEG software with VTK

[John Hunter]

Hi, 

I'm on the faculty in the Section of Pediatric Neurology and have
spent the last two years developing an application for the analysis of
intracranial EEG registered with the subdural electrode positions
which makes heavy use of VTK.  There are two integrated applications
for the analysis of our data: 

  - Loc3D Jr is an application for localizing electrodes from CT data
    http://nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu:8080/files/eegtools/Screenshot-Loc3djr.py-1.png

  - eegview is a program with a network data server for interacting
    with and analyzing EEG data and mapping it onto the spatial
    locations determined from Loc3D Jr.

    http://nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu:8080/files/eegtools/eeg_large.png
    http://nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu:8080/files/eegtools/planes_with_grids_app_window.png

    One nifty feature of the program is the ability to make
    spatial-temporal movies of EEG using VTK -
    http://nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu:8080/files/eegtools/coherence.mpg

The programs are written in python using pygtk, VTK, Numeric python,
scipy, and a 2D plotting library matplotlib for high quality 2D
plotting with a matlab syntax in python:
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net.

We would like to continue developing and utilizing these two programs,
as well as release them to the open source community.  However,
matplotlib, the only component that has been released to date, has
proven to be a popular project, and developing and supporting it is
quite time consuming.  Thus I have hesitated to release these other
projects because I alone cannot support them, develop them and do
research.

We have, however, secured funding for a two year postdoctoral position
here for a candidate who would be interested in continuing the
development of this package, integrating it with existing tools,
releasing this to the open source community, and most importantly,
using the end result for original research in EEG and medical image
analysis.

Our research interests include, but aren't limited to, seizure
localization using coherence analysis, nonlinear methods for seizure
detection and prediction, large scale, distributed modeling of
neuronal populations, and neural stimulators for epilepsy, Parkinson's
and MS.  The data we have access to is excellent: for example, our EEG
monitoring unit produces about 100GB of data a week of chronically
implanted, 128 channel EEG registered with MPEG for patient
monitoring, as well as high resolution CT and MRI data.  In addition,
we perform electrophysiological recording, pathology and calcium
imaging of excised tissue following epilepsy surgery.

To that end, I'm posting the formal job announcement here.

  A two-year post-doctoral position is available to study the
  electrophysiological aspects of human epileptic seizures.  The
  successful candidate will have an M.D. or Ph.D. with additional
  expertise or aptitude to develop software for the analysis of
  invasive subdural recordings from epilepsy patients.  Research
  questions address prediction of the location and timing of seizures,
  the effects of medication withdrawal and seizures on cortical
  organization, and the biological substrates of language.  The
  candidate would be expected to obtain subsequent support through
  submission of federal grants.  Experience with time series analysis,
  spectral analysis, and open source software tools and development
  required.  Other experience that would be especially favored:
  medical image data segmentation and registration, integration of
  electrophysiological data with imaging data, python, GTK and VTK.
  The appointment will be with the Dept of Surgery at The University
  of Chicago, which is an equal opportunity employer.

  Applications should be sent electronically to John D. Hunter, Ph.D
  <jdhunter at ace.bsd.uchicago.edu> with a cover letter and CV in plain
  text or PDF format, or by mail to

  John Hunter, Ph.D
  Pediatric Neurology MC 3055
  The University of Chicago
  5839 S Maryland Ave
  Chicago, IL 60615

Thanks!
John Hunter