Software Developer - Cloud-Based MRI Reconstruction Pipeline
The Lingala Lab in Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, in collaboration with Champaign Imaging, is seeking a motivated software developer (temporary professional staff role or MS student in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Electrical & Computer Engineering to help build a vendor-neutral, cloud-capable MRI image reconstruction pipeline. This project is funded through NIH. This is a hands‑on systems/software role for someone who wants real exposure to medical imaging infrastructure without needing an MRI physics background.
The core idea: our lab acquires raw Fourier‑space MRI data on GE scanners at the Magnetic Resonance Research Facility, and our current reconstructions are typically tied to vendor‑specific on‑scanner software or custom off‑line in‑lab software. We want to decouple reconstruction from the scanner by containerizing our pipeline with Docker, running it through the open‑source reconstruction engines, and deploying it both locally and to the cloud using Microsoft's Tyger framework (https://microsoft.github.io/tyger/). This mirrors a recently published approach where a research group containerized their reconstruction pipeline with Gadgetron, pushed it to a registry, and used Tyger to run it as a cloud job – while carefully benchmarking compute time vs. data‑transfer time between local and cloud execution.
Job Responsibilities- Get up to speed on Gadgetron (the open‑source, vendor‑neutral MRI reconstruction engine we're standardizing on) and its "gadget" pipeline architecture.
- Package Gadgetron (plus our custom reconstruction code) into a Docker container that runs identically locally and in the cloud.
- Push containers to a registry and set up Tyger to pull and run them as cloud jobs – starting from Tyger's own demos to learn the submit run retrieve workflow, then moving to our real scanner datasets.
- Benchmark and quantify the pipeline: separate compute time (actual reconstruction) from data transfer time (raw data up, images back down), and compare local vs. cloud execution.
- Work directly with our team to eventually route custom, lab‑developed reconstruction algorithms through this pipeline instead of as one‑off standalone scripts.
- Document the setup so it's reproducible across our GE MRI scanners at the MRRF.
- This position collaborates with Dr. Sajan Lingala (BME, Radiology), Dr. Jim Holmes (Radiology, BME), Collaborators at Champaign Imaging, and other student/post‑docs within MRRF.
Required
- Strong programming background (Python and/or C++); comfortable reading and modifying existing open‑source codebases.
- Hands‑on experience with Docker (building images, writing Dockerfiles, running containers).
- Familiarity with cloud computing concepts (job submission, registries, YAML‑based configuration) – direct Azure/AWS/GCP experience is a plus but not required.
- Experience with Linux server administration and continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines.
- Comfortable working semi‑independently, reading technical documentation (including reading actual source code / GitHub repos), and iterating.
Desirable
- Coursework or interest in signal/image processing.
- Prior exposure to MRI, medical imaging
No MRI or medical imaging background is required – we will train you on the domain‑specific parts. We are primarily looking for strong software engineering fundamentals and genuine interest in systems/infrastructure work.
Position details- Temporary part-time professional position
- Duration: 1 year, with possible 1-year extension.
- Salary: 20$/hr; 20hours a week;
- Location: University of Iowa MRRF / BME, Iowa City, IA. Primarily in‑person (with on‑scanner work), with some remote‑friendly development work possible.
Contact: SAJAN GOUD LINGALA Email: [email protected]
Ad Start Date: 07/22/2026
Ad End Date: 08/21/2026
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