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Paris, May 5, 2006
On Friday 12 May 2006, Christian Bréchot, CEO of Inserm,
and Michel Cosnard, Chairman and CEO of INRIA will inaugurate the
first joint research team of the two institutes, known as the VisAGeS Unit (Vision, Action and manaGement system in health).
On this occasion, Christian Bréchot,
CEO of Inserm
and
Michel Cosnard, Chairman and CEO of INRIA
invite you to a press briefing
on Friday 12 May at 1.30 pm at the premises of
Irisa
Beaulieu Campus, Rennes.
Under the collaboration between Inserm and INRIA, the VisAGeS unit/project directed by Christian Barillot will be set up at Irisa/INRIA Rennes. Its aim is to develop new algorithms for processing medical images and for support systems for surgical interventions guided by computer, in pathologies of the head and neck (image fusion, segmentation and analysis, information management, etc.).
Current developments in medical imaging techniques mean that doctors have to manage an growing amount of data, which is becoming increasingly difficult to use. The researchers, doctors and computer scientists in the VisAGeS team will therefore be developing and testing in real situations tools that can combine images from technical sources as varied as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim is, by combining these images, to select the key information concerning the disease, on which practitioners can base their decisions. The scientific challenge today is to automate this image selection successfully. This will be one of the most important research areas for VisAGeS.In the case of neurosurgery following injuries, images from the operative field (supplied by the microsurgery camera) are combined with ultrasound images gathered during key stages of the intervention. But changes of several centimeters in the topology of the brain are often observed, caused by opening the cranium or associated with the use of surgical instruments. To minimize these topological changes, which can hinder the surgeon's work, the VisAGeS team has already developed one solution. This consists of using three-dimensional representations of the operative field from video images captured by surgical microscopes combined with three-dimensional ultrasound images gathered at key moments during surgery.
Monitoring a patient with multiple sclerosis means taking up to 12,000 images per year. PET images superimposed on MRI images make it easier to characterize the effect of drugs on the evolution of the cerebral lesions associated with the disease: the molecular indications given by the first technique are complemented by the anatomical and cell tagging information provided by the second. Doctors can thus determine the performance of a new drug or change the dose. These new images will also give a clearer picture of the relationship, about which little is currently known, between clinical signs and cerebral lesions.
Ultimately the aim is to offer doctors the means to validate new therapeutic protocols more quickly and efficiently by setting up a dedicated semantic web.
| INRIA (head office) Vincent Coronini Tel.: +33 1 39 63 57 29 IRISA Gérard Paget Tel.: +33 2 99 84 73 61 |
Inserm (head office) Séverine Ciancia Tel.: +33 1 44 23 60 86 Inserm region Didier Dubrana Tel.: +33 5 5757 36 54 |
The VisAGeS unit/project directed by Christian Barillot will be set up at Irisa/INRIA Rennes. Interview with Christian Barillot in INédit 53.
IRISA is a joint research
unit with INRIA-Rennes (French National Institute for
Research in Computer Science and Control), CNRS (French
National Scientific Research Center), Université de
Rennes I and INSA-Rennes (French National Institute
of Applied Sciences). IRISA has 520 staff of whom more
than 230 are researchers, research academics and post-doctoral
students and 180 are PhD students, working in 28 research
teams.
For further information: http://www.irisa.fr
INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Computer
Science and Control) is devoted to research in the field
of Information and Communication Science and Technology
(ICST). INRIA employs a workforce of 3,600 people, including
2,800 scientists (INRIA and partner organizations), in six
research units based in seven major geographic regions*.
INRIA has an annual budget of 160 million euros excluding
VAT, 20% of which comes from its own research contracts
and licences.
INRIA develops numerous partnerships with the industry and participates in technological
transfers and the creation of companies (80) in the field of ICST, particularly
through its subsidiary INRIA-Transfert, promoter of four start-up funds.
These international partnerships involve receiving and recruiting foreign
students, as well as important exchanges between researchers. Priority is given
to geographic areas with strong economic potential such as Europe, Asia and North
America, whilst maintaining a low level of activity with South America, Africa
and the Middle East.
For further information: http://www.inria.fr
Inserm is the only French public research establishment
entirely dedicated to biological, medical and public health
research. Its researchers are called upon to study all diseases
from the most common to the rarest.
Created in 1964, Inserm is a public scientific and technological establishment,
which reports both to the Ministry for Health and the Ministry for Research.
With a 2005 budget of €588 million, Inserm supports more than 361 laboratories
and has 10 teams supported by the region and Inserm (ESPRI), all over France.
Altogether the teams employ about 13,000 people (researchers, engineers, technicians,
administrators, etc.).
To fulfill its mission, the Institute was originally set up to work in close
partnership with other public and private research establishments, and treatment
centers such as hospitals.
Inserm promotes new knowledge.
Inserm is active in transferring new knowledge to economic and
social players, which turn it into health products and services. 426 French and
foreign partner companies work with Inserm's laboratories through more than 1100
contracts for collaboration on research and technology transfer. In 2005, Inserm
had a portfolio of 589 patent families.
For further information: www.inserm.fr
