Graduate Course Information

This is a 0.5-credit course available only to students enrolled in the CAMPEP accredited educational program, and is compulsory for those students.

It is also available to other graduate students and clinical physics residents granted permission by the program and Course Co-ordinator. This course covers radiation detection, dosimetry, and instrumentation in relation to radiation field surveying; legislation governing the use of radiation and nuclear material; production of radioactivity and managing radioactive waste; quality assurance in medical imaging including equipment testing and artifact identification; and the codes and guidelines for the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine and the Canadian Partnership for Quality Radiotherapy. This course covers compulsory components of the CAMPEP Core Graduate Curriculum not covered by other courses.

Not offered in 2024

Medical imaging plays a critical role in modern medicine. Images are used for visualization of lesions, segmentation, region of interest measurements, and many other purposes. This course describes how and why poor image quality (spatial resolution and image noise) can make it difficult to see lesions or make quantitative measurements from medical images, and how to minimize these errors (eg. determine the necessary region of interest size to accurately determine average pixel value). Results are applicable to all imaging modalities, and examples are given for digital radiography, MRI, CT, and ultrasound. A strong emphasis is placed on the effective use of linear-systems theory and the Fourier transform to describe both signal and noise.

This course focuses on an introduction to the role of diagnostic imaging in detecting molecules, genes, and cells in vivo. Emphasis will be in how these techniques can help study molecular mechanisms of disease in vivo. Topics include DNA/protein synthesis, transgenic mice, novel contrast agents and small animal imaging.

Digital image processing has various applications ranging from remote sensing and entertainment to medical applications. This course explores a few major areas of digital image processing at an advanced level, with primary emphasis on medical applications. Topics covered include image segmentation, image registration, validation of image processing algorithms, and image processing using 3D Slicer and the Insight Toolkit (ITK). Examples will be presented to give the students exposure to real-world applications.

This course covers most statistical procedures used in experimental research. Data analysis will be conducted using SPSS for Windows. Topics covered include the t-test, various forms of analysis of variance, bivariate correlation, simple and multiple regression, factor analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance to name a few. Students will become familiar with reporting research findings and writing a result section for a scientific manuscript.

This web-based course consists of lecture slides with dubbed audio, 4 assignments, a mid-term exam of 2 hours, and a final exam of 3 hours. Opportunity for “live” interaction with the Instructor and Teaching Assistant will be provided in the form of scheduled tutorials. This course covers essential material for students in CAMPEP-accredited Medical Physics programs at the graduate or postgraduate residency levels. It is also required by medical postgraduate residency programs in radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging, including nuclear medicine.

The course describes the effects of ionizing radiation on living organisms, from cells to animals. The lectures begin with a brief physical description of the various types of ionizing radiation, the electromagnetic spectrum, and how radiation interacts with atoms. The early physical events produce ionizations and yield chemical radicals that can damage important biological molecules such as water and DNA, leading to either cellular repair or death. The course emphasizes radiation damage to cells and organs, with practical illustrations of applications to cancer therapy. It also reviews the risk-benefit rationale used in government regulations for the controlled use of radiation in research and medicine.

The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of the principles of magnetic resonance imaging. This course will extend the concepts covered in Physics 9660A: Nuclear Magentic Resonance. The course will focus on the concepts of spatial data encoding (k-­‐space),selective excitation (radio-­‐frequency pulses), image contrast, and image signal to noise ratio. Students will be introduced to various MRI pulse sequences and gain a thorough understanding of the elements required for image formation and the generation of image artefacts. This course serves as the pre-­‐requisite to the advanced graduate magnetic resonance imaging course in Medical Biophysics: Advanced MRI Physics.

** Second Term - Full Course**
This course covers the concepts and instrumentation associated with clinical nuclear medicine physics. Topics include: atomic and nuclear physics and modes of decay, interaction of radiation and matter, production of radionuclides, radiation detectors and instrumentation, spectrometry and radiation counting, principles of gamma cameras, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron emission Tomography (PET), Radiation Safety Practice and Regulations, Tracer Kinetic Modeling, and Internal Radiation Dosimetry. The course is enriched by guest lectures covering medical cyclotrons and other imaging modalities complementary to Nuclear Medicine.

** Second Term - Full Course**
This course is designed to provide trainees with a strong background and training in practical medical physics as this relates to radiation therapy physics.

In this course, students will develop a formal understanding of pedagogical concepts underlying high quality science curriculum design and delivery at the university level. This understanding will be developed through in-class discussion based coverage of canonical and current research articles in the pedagogy literature, and an application of the learned concepts to the development of a graduate-level course curriculum.

The course will provide a foundation in the main components of PET imaging, which include:Nuclear Physics/Medicine, Radiopharmaceuticals, PET instrumentation, PET image reconstruction and analysis, Pharmacokinetics

In addition to these topics, the course will involve cases studies to provide students with the opportunity to put into practise the principles taught in the lectures. These case studies will focus on brain function, neuroreceptor imaging and oncology, and each will include a review of a published study. Students will be expected to have read the paper prior to class and to participate in the discussion.

Not Offered Winter 2024

The primary objective of this course is to equip students with the knowledge, experience, and confidence to apply neural networks effectively in their research. To achieve this objective, students will be taught the fundamentals of neural networks, cutting edge network architectures, how to design studies in a scientifically rigorous way, and how to interpret study results. Students will also learn how to implement neural network studies within a Python environment using the best practices and tools currently used by the research community.