Postdoctoral Research Position

We have a Postdoctoral research position in the field of surgical robotics at LIRMM Lab. - University of Montpellier - France.

This position is within a new translational research project at LIRMM Lab. in collaboration with the ENT department of the Montpellier
Hospital and with Collin Medical Company that concerns « US-based robotized surgical gesture guidance for auditory neuroprosthestics implantation ».


Context:
Cochlear implant is first functional implantable neuroprosthestic device in human. It restores the auditory perception in people with severe to profound deafness.
The implantation of such a device requires the insertion into the cochlea of an electrode array allowing electrical stimulation of auditory nerve end fibbers.
However, this insertion is a critical point of the surgery since the surgeon cannot control visually the trajectory of the electrode array and has to rely on
its tactile feedback.
This is responsible in many cases of damages of the cochlear structures and of the loss of residual hearing, thus preventing the extension of cochlear implant
to people with milder hearing loss.
In this project, we aim at developing a new tool to help cochlear electrode arrays’ insertion using the fusion of intraoperative ultrasound (US) imaging and
preoperative X-ray CT scan. A new custom made US probe dedicated to cochlear navigation is under development. This US-probe will be manipulated by the RobOtol surgical platform (Collin Medical).

For this project, the candidate will be responsible for robotizing the developed US-probe and proposing innovative visual servoing control strategies (based on fused US ans CT images) to position the probe and track the electrode array tip.

To this aim, the Panda Franka robot will be first used for lab. developments. The developed work will be then transferred on the RobOtol surgical platform.

Ex-vivo experimental validations, cadavers and then patients tests need to be conducted by the recruited candidate.

We are looking for candidates with strong analytical background and hands-on experience in systems integration and robot control.
She/he should have a PhD degree in medical/surgical robotics or related disciplines. Previous experience in robot programming, visual servoing and computer-assisted surgery is highly appreciated.

English: CEFR B2 level (minimum)

Salary: Montpellier University grid – according to CV

Contract duration: 12 months (renewable)

Expected starting date: March 2020

Laboratory / Team: LIRMM Lab., Robotics department, Dexter team, medical robotics group

Application:
Thanks for sending your CV, a cover letter, and contact information of two referees to:
Nabil.Zemiti@lirmm.fr