My story: From music to medical imaging

Post by: Rosa Shishegar

 Hi All, I’m Rosa!

What was my journey?

I am a final year PhD candidate in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, working in the field of medical imaging. I have recently joined Research Platform Services as a Research Community Coordinator to build a community around medical imaging. Two years ago, the Research Bazaar (ResBaz) community was introduced to me as “a group of computer programming geeks”. Not surprisingly, I found them to be one of the nicest groups of geeks in the university and they helped immensely in solving one of my software issues. So, after more than a month of being stuck in a problem, thanks to them, I could move on with my research.

Let me take you a few years back to the beginning of my journey in medical imaging research. I studied Electrical Engineering (Electronics) in my undergrad. I was intrigued by the idea of studying ‘the Effects of music on brain signals’ to combine my major, Electronics, with my old love, music. I then started a masters in Bioelectronics. In my mind, it was the perfect marriage of my interests and passions. However, at the beginning of my masters and before this relationship could fully bloom, I was introduced to ‘Medical Image Processing’. Ever since I have adhered to medical imaging. I am passionate about the gorgeous, mysterious structures of the brain and all those meaningful colors.

What do I do with medical imaging?

My PhD research is on brain development. In particular, my research is focused on methods to better understand the process of cortical folding in the fetal sheep brain.  As you know the human brain cortex is folded (like a walnut). Understanding the patterns of cortical folding and its mechanism during development is important for early diagnosis of Neurodevelopmental disorders and making improvements in treatments. Why study sheep brains? Because it has easy folding patterns that are similar to the human brain.

In the last few years of my PhD I have developed new methods for processing and the analysis of cerebral cortex structures and morphology using structural MRI and diffusion MRI. The image below is the profile picture of our new Facebook group ‘Medical Imaging @ Unimelb’ that showcases the diverse range of medical imaging applications and analysis tools. I am showing the results from my very own method of assessing the morphology of human brain surfaces (the first three colorful human brains in the top row). Other medical imaging applications highlighted here are visualizing neural tracts (or fancily speaking: tractography), segmentation, 3D modeling, 3D printing and statistical analysis. The tools used to implement these applications include but are not limited to:
  • MATLAB
  • FreeSurfer
  • FSL
  • MRtrix
  • 3D Slicer
  • 3D printers
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Our awesome team the Cadventurers are offering heaps of workshops and training sessions throughout the year to upskill aspiring researchers in 3D modelling, 3D printing and Medical Imaging. My favorite tools to teach are FSL, FreeSurfer, MATLAB for MRI and MRtrix. These are comprehensive tools for 1) analysis of MRI, fMRI and Diffusion MRI data, and 2) 3D modeling of brain morphometry, and functional and structural connectivity

What I hope to accomplish in this job?

Before being a Research Platforms Community Coordinator, I am a sociable researcher and I enjoy meeting people and growing in a team. I used to complain that there are not many people working in my field in the University of Melbourne. The funny part is that whenever I travel continents for a scientific conference, I meet people who are working in my field from beautiful city of Melbourne or even from another department in my own university. I hope with the help of my Research Community friends Louise, Jas and Warda, we can help the Medical Imaging community in Melbourne connect more and grow stronger together.

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A preview of my recent conference trips!

If you feel you would like to help the growth of this community, or if you are interested in our workshops (all free!), please feel free to join our Facebook group or to contact me rosita.shishegar@unimelb.edu.au, or tweet me at @RShishegar.