Academic Research Opportunity:

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Title: Developing MRI Epilepsy Lesion Detection (MELD) software for clinical use

 

Project:

The MRI Epilepsy Lesion Detection (MELD) project has developed automated tools to aid the radiological diagnosis of subtle epilepsy-causing lesions. We have collected annotated MRI scans from over 2500 patients with focal epilepsy lesions and used these to train AI models to detect them. Our pilot tools have been validated at leading epilepsy centres worldwide and we are now planning to collect robust clinical trial evidence of impact on radiological practice.

 

Role:

We are looking for a motivated clinical trainee with an interest in neuroradiology and research to lead the clinical evaluation study. This will involve:

• Taking a leading role in the clinical trial steering group

• Supporting the development of the clinician facing report detailing results of MELD

• Coordinating and recruiting trainee and consultant radiologists across the UK to report MRI head scans with and without MELD

• Supporting the creation of training resources for radiologists

• With statistician support, evaluating radiologist sensitivity to detect lesions on MRI in patients with epilepsy, with and without MELD

• Writing up results for publication

 

There is scope, for the right candidate, to extend this role into an out of programme activity for 1 year full time. This role would involve the above as well as:

• Working with clinicians in the team to collect retrospective data on number of referrals for presurgical evaluation, waiting times for appointments/investigations, capacity issues and costs associated with presurgical evaluation in both paediatric and adult pathways. 

• Working with Dr Sonila Tomini, health economist, to model the impacts of the extra referrals on surgical pathways

 

Timeline & time commitment:

• April 2026 - March 2027: Trial preparation - protocol, ethics, data preparation. 

• March 2027 - January 2028: Clinical trial on retrospectively acquired MRI data. Radiologist coordination, data collection and analysis. 

• January 2028 onwards: Manuscript writing

 

Team & Environment:

Dr Konrad Wagstyl and Dr Sophie Adler are joint PI’s of the project and the project team encompasses a large multidisciplinary team across King’s College London, University College London, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. 

 

For more information contact:

• Dr Konrad Wagstyl: konrad.wagstyl@kcl.ac.uk

• Dr Sophie Adler: sophie.adler.13@ucl.ac.uk