PhD position: Spectroscopic optical coherence tomography for non-invasive blood analysis

Doctorat / PhD Type de contrat : TEMPORARY Date limite de candidature : 2026-11-30T23:59:59+01:00

Project background Anemia is a frequently occurring condition in hospitalized patients, requiring regular invasive sampling for the analysis of blood hemoglobin (Hb) levels to prevent complications or to initiate therapy. Invasive hemoglobin analysis is associated with adverse complications, including iatrogenic blood loss and delayed decision making. This is particularly problematic for vulnerable patients such as premature newborns and surgical patients. Non-invasive alternatives exist, but are not sufficiently reliable to replace invasive sampling. Spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (sOCT) offers a novel approach to non-invasive hemoglobin analysis. Whereas conventional non-invasive approaches suffer from signal crosstalk from an unknown amount of non-vascular tissue, sOCT uniquely images microvascular skin anatomy and subsequently confines the Hb determination to vascular tissue exclusively. By excluding the non-vascular component, this approach provides a direct, one-on-one comparison to the current gold standard of invasive blood analysis. Our aim is to develop sOCT-Hb determinations for both newborn and adult anemic patients with clinically relevant accuracy and precision. The PhD project In this PhD project, you will develop and apply a spectroscopic optical coherence tomography system for non-invasive hemoglobin analysis in newborns and adults. The project contains technological elements (development of sOCT signal analysis models), experimental elements (model validation), engineering elements (clinical sOCT system development) and clinical elements (application on patients).You will be a member of the Biomedical Photonic Imaging group of the University of Twente and will collaborate closely with engineers, clinicians and scientists. During this four-year project, you will conduct research leading to a PhD dissertation. As part of your PhD training, you will also complete approximately 30 EC of courses and professional development activities.