Position: Marie Curie job opportunity for Early Stage Researcher (0-4 years of experience), with possibility of PhD training. 
Place of work: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Paris, France
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 3 years
Start date: 01/09/ 2007
Deadline for application: 01/08/2007
Job title: Magnetic resonance of hyperpolarised Helium-3 at very low magnetic field
Profile: The Graduate/Master student or Engineer should have a strong theoretical and experimental background in physics, as well as knowledge of electronics and programming in a scientific language (C, Fortran). Basic knowledge and/or experience in NMR are preferable, but not necessary.
Job description: The work will focus on new instrumental and methodological developments for ultra-low field NMR with hyperpolarised (HP) He3 gas. The objective is to set up an efficient prototype system for 3D NMR imaging (MRI) and study of a variety of void spaces filled with HP He3 in a few mT field. 
The potential of making lung images in humans and mapping the alveoli-restricted gas diffusion at ultra-low field has been demonstrated by our group1,2. Among the assets of low-field operation, very long transverse relaxation times allow to probe gas diffusion over large distances, and to accurately determine the alveolar oxygen contents. Noise and bandwidth issues will be addressed, and parallel imaging techniques will be revisited in the particular context of low-frequency MRI. Initial work will be made on a prototype 1:4 model of a whole-body MRI system.
1 Bidinosti et al., J. Magn. Reson.162 (2003) 122-132: In-vivo NMR of hyperpolarized 3He in the human lung at very low magnetic fields.
2 Bidinosti et al., MAGMA 16 (2004) 255-258: MRI of the lung using hyperpolarized 3He at very low magnetic field (3 mT).
Further training: The student will be encouraged to participate in ongoing collaborations with other researchers across Europe, with multiple opportunities to visit leading international laboratories, and to attend taught summer schools. She/He will also benefit from the stimulating, high level and multidisciplinary environment for research and training provided by the host institution (Ecole Normale Suprieure, http://www.ens.fr).
Environment: The Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (http://www.lkb.ens.fr/) is an atomic physics laboratory of world wide reputation and leadership, located in the heart of Paris. HP He3 has been intensively developed and used there for 30 years in research programs including fundamental tests of atomic physics and quantum statistics, study of gas and liquid He3 at low temperature, and MRI of lung ventilation in humans. The Polarised Helium group has organised the first international workshops dedicated to MRI with HP gases (Les Houches, 1996 and 1999) and coordinated the EU FP5 Shared Cost RTD project PHIL (http://www.phil.ens.fr).
Funding: The project is funded as part of the EU- 6th Framework Program - Research and Training Network "PHELINET" (Polarised Helium Lung Imaging Network, 2007-2011, information posted on http://www.phil.ens.fr). As a consequence, specific rules with trans-national mobility conditions apply for recruitment.
Gross amount of employment contract: 31985 euros/year. Recruited researchers in Marie Curie RTNs also receive travel, mobility, and relocation allowances.
Restrictive conditions: For detailed information about the rules of mobility and conditions of nationality applicable to eligible researchers, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/. In particular: 1/The candidate should preferably (but not exclusively) be a national of EU Member or Associated States, excluding France; 2/ At the date of appointment, she/he should not have resided or worked in France for more than 12 months in the last 3 years. (3/, for PhD students only : the candidate must hold a degree that entitles her/him to embark for PhD studies, and not have a research experience that exceeds 4 years after obtaining this diploma) PHELINET recruitment is based on an equal opportunity policy. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Contact: Dr Pierre-Jean NACHER, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Suprieure, Paris, France. Tel: +33-1-44323428. E-mail: nacher@lkb.ens.fr.
More information available on the team web page: http://www.lkb.ens.fr/recherche/flquant/
