Computational Imaging Group

Background
Alexander Raaijmakers obtained his MSc in Applied Physics at the University of Groningen in 2004. He then started a PhD research project at the radiotherapy department of the University Medical Center Utrecht. His project involved the investigation of radiotherapy dose distributions in the presence of a magnetic field for (back then hypothetical) MRI-guided radiotherapy. During this time he discovered and extensively investigated the so-called electron return effect (ERE). In 2008, he finished his PhD-thesis and switched his research field to the newly installed 7 tesla MRI scanner. For the period of 2008-2010 he obtained a Casimir grant on the development of new RF transmit and receive coils for high-field MRI, for which he was in part stationed at Philips Medical Systems (Best, The Netherlands). After this project, he remained active in the field of RF coil array design for ultrahigh field MRI. Until this day, his antenna inventions constitute important enabling innovations for (particularly) body imaging at 7T.

Since 2016, within the framework of the Strategic Alliance between UMCU and TUE, Alexander has been appointed assistant professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the research group ‘Medical Image Analysis’ of prof. Josien Pluim. In Utrecht, he has continued his research on RF aspects in MRI while he has setup valuable MRI education in Eindhoven. Over the past years, he acquired funding for 4 PhD students and 1 postdoc which enabled him to setup his own group. Now, within the ‘Computational Imaging’ group of prof. Nico van den Berg, he heads the ‘Electromagnetics in MRI’ subgroup which is closely collaborating with the ‘High Precision Structural and Metabolic Imaging’ group of prof. Dennis Klomp. His group consists of 7 PhD students and 1 postdoc. Focus area are all RF aspects in MRI, in particular RF coil array development, RF (implant) safety and body imaging at 7T.

Projects

Electromagnetics in MRI

Three most recent publications
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Bart R. Steensma, Ettore F. Meliad, Peter Luijten, Dennis W. J. Klomp, Cornelis A. T. Berg, and Alexander J. E. Raaijmakers. 'SAR and temperature distributions in a database of realistic human models for 7 T cardiac imaging'. NMR in Biomedicine, 2021.
Peter R. S. Stijnman, M. Arcan Erturk, Cornelis A. T. Berg, and Alexander J. E. Raaijmakers. 'A single setup approach for the MRI-based measurement and validation of the transfer function of elongated medical implants'. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2021.
K.A.J. Eppenhof, M. Maspero, M.H.F. Savenije, J.C.J. Boer, J.R.N. Zyp, B.W. Raaymakers, A.J.E. Raaijmakers, M. Veta, C.A.T. Berg, and J.P.W. Pluim. 'Fast contour propagation for MR-guided prostate radiotherapy using convolutional neural networks'. Medical Physics, 2020.

Social media and other resources
Email: a.raaijmakers@umcutrecht.nl | a.j.e.raaijmakers@tue.nl | Google Scholar | LinkedIn | Pubmed