Four new Horizon 2020 projects launched
We’re proud to report that four new Horizon 2020 projects with a strong focus on medical imaging just kicked off in September and October 2020.
The new projects include the EIBIR-coordinated SINFONIA and EURAMED rocc-n-roll projects in the field of radiation protection research. The CHAIMELON and EuCanImage projects focus on AI in health imaging and aim to set up and contribute to populate large interoperable repositories of health images. In these projects, EIBIR is leading the dissemination activities.
EURAMED rocc-n-roll
The 3-year EURAMED rocc-n-roll project aims to propose an integrated and coordinated European approach to research and innovation in medical applications of ionising radiation and related radiation protection based on stakeholder consensus and existing activities in the field (incl. existing SRAs of radiation protection platforms, EC health and digitisation programmes, EURATOM-funded projects, SAMIRA initiative). To achieve this, research and radiation protection needs in the clinical disciplines using ionising radiation will be analysed with the aim to generate the largest benefit for the European population in an equal, safe, high-quality way throughout Europe, by fostering clinical translation, while at the same time strengthening economic growth and industrial competitiveness, supported by research and innovation in the field.
Representation of relevant radiation protection disciplines like radiation biology, dosimetry for medical applications, ethics as well as clinical expertise in the fields of radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, oncology, cardiovascular diseases, neurology, paediatrics complemented by regulatory and health policy, AI and industry experts in the consortium will ensure a fully integrative approach and allow embedding the project work into a broader framework of quality and safety in healthcare. Based on wide stakeholder input and consultation on above aspects, EURAMED rock-n-roll will produce a strategic research for medical applications of ionising radiation and related radiation protection and a corresponding roadmap, as well as an interlink document, integrating the views and identifying synergies from the areas of radiation protection, health research and digital, with impactful guidance to the EC and stakeholders on future research in this area. This will be accompanied by proposed and tested education and training schemes for health workforce and scientists to increase Europe’s research capacity in the field.
SINFONIA
Reinforced risk appraisal of medical exposure is needed due to an extensive use of ionizing radiation for diagnosis and therapy. The main objective of the 4-year SINFONIA project is to develop novel methodologies and tools that will provide a comprehensive risk appraisal for detrimental effects of radiation exposure on patients, workers, carers and comforters, the public and the environment during the management of patients suspected or diagnosed with lymphoma and brain tumours.
The scientific work will (1) develop novel AI-powered personalised dosimetry and risk appraisal methods and tools to estimate the radiation burden on patients undergoing state-of-the-art radiological, nuclear medicine and radiation therapy procedures, (2) reinforce risk appraisal for exposed staff, comforters, the public and the environment during nuclear medicine and proton therapy procedures, (3) determine the degree of patient variability in radiation sensitivity for the risk of developing secondary malignancies and (4) design and develop data management techniques for managing data from imaging and non-imaging examinations and radiation therapy sessions. A data repository will be developed for storing data as well as for the deployment of AI algorithms on an online platform.
SINFONIA research outcomes for the two clinical examples, lymphoma and brain tumours, will be also applicable to other diseases. AI-powered personalised dosimetry tools will provide advanced knowledge on parameters affecting radiation detriment. This will help balancing risks and benefits of ionising radiation procedures and developing dose optimisation strategies. Additionally, radiation biology studies will identify individuals with increased susceptibility of developing cancer from ionising radiation exposure. SINFONIA also will organise high-level multidisciplinary training in the field of radiation dosimetry, risk appraisal and radiation protection and develop recommendations on radiological protection.
CHAIMELEON
CHAIMELEON aims to set up a structured repository for health imaging data to be openly reused in AI experimentation forcancer management. An EU-wide repository will be built as a distributed infrastructure in full compliance with legal andethics regulations in the involved countries. It will build on partner ́s experience (e.g. PRIMAGE repository for paediatriccancer and the Euro-BioImaging node for Valencia population, by HULAFE; the Radiomics Imaging Archive by MaastrichtUniversity; the national repository DRIM AI France, the Oncology imaging biobank by Pisa University). Clinical partners andexternal collaborators will populate the Repository with multimodality (MR, CT, PET/CT) imaging and related clinical data forhistoric and newly diagnosed lung, prostate and colorectal cancer patients.
A multimodal analytical data engine will facilitate to interpret, extract and exploit the right information stored at theRepository. An ambitious development and implementation of AI-powered pipelines will enable advancement towardsautomating data deidentification, curation, annotation, integrity securing and images harmonisation, the latest being of thehighest importance for enabling reproducibility of Radiomics when using large multiscanner/multicentre image datasets.
The usability and performance of the Repository as a tool fostering AI experimentation will be validated, including avalidation subphase by other world-class European AI developers, articulated via the organisation of Open Challenges to theAI Community. A set of selected AI tools will undergo early on-silico validation in observational (non-interventional) clinicalstudies coordinated by leading experts in Gustave Roussy (lung cancer), San Donato (breast), Sapienza (colorectal) and LaFe (prostate) hospitals. Their performance will be assessed, including external independent validation, on hallmark clinicaldecisions in response to some of the currently most important clinical end points in cancer
EuCanImage
The goal of EuCanImage is to build a highly secure, federated and large-scale European cancer imaging platform, with capabilities that will greatly enhance the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in oncology. Firstly, the EuCanImage platform will be populated with a completely new data resource totaling over 25,000 single subjects, which will allow to investigate unmet clinical needs like never before, such as for the detection of small liver lesions and metastases of colorectal cancer, or for estimating molecular subtypes of breast tumours and pathological complete response.
Secondly, the cancer imaging platform, built by leveraging the well-established Euro-Bioimaging infrastructure, will be cross-linked to biological and health repositories through the European Genome-phenome Archive, allowing to develop multi-scale AI solutions that integrate organ-level, molecular and other clinical predictors into dense patientspecific cancer fingerprints.
To deliver this platform, the consortium will build upon several key European initiatives in data sharing for personalised medicine research, including EUCANCAn (cancer genomics and health data sharing), euCanSHare (cardiac imaging and omics data sharing) and EUCAN-Connect (federated data analytics). Furthermore, to foster international cooperation and leverage existing success stories, the consortium comprises the coordinators of The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), the US cancer imaging repository funded by the National Cancer Institute. This will allow EuCanImage to leverage a unique 10-year long experience in cancer imaging storage, anonymisation, curation and management. Finally, a close collaboration between world renown clinical, radiomics, AI and legal experts within the consortium and beyond will establish well-needed guidelines for AI development and validation named FUTURE, for delivering Fair, Universal, Traceable, Usable, Robust and Explainable decision support systems for future cancer care.
EIBIR releases statement on significant budget cuts for EU health and research programmes
We released a statement on the recent significant budget cuts for EU health and research programmes.
While EIBIR welcomes the European Parliament’s vivid reaction to the political agreement on the 2021-2027 funding framework and the COVID-19 recovery fund, we urge European institutions to collaborate closely with each other and to provide strong and ambitious health and research budgets for the safety and prosperity of Europe‘s society.
Euro-BioImaging on responding to the COVID-19 crisis
Euro-BioImaging recently distributed a newsletter on how Euro-BioImaging Nodes are contributing to COVID-19 research and adapting to a new normal.
In the battle against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, imaging technologies play a crucial role. From fundamental research at the molecular and cellular level to medical applications and diagnostics, imaging clearly supports the global response to the pandemic. Euro-BioImaging Nodes are updating their working procedures to continue to provide access to key imaging technologies.
Virtual EIBIR Lounge at ECR2020
EIBIR will be featured in the ECR 2020 Virtual Exhibition from July 15 to 19, 2020. Visit our virtual EIBIR Lounge to learn about cutting-edge results from our projects and chat with us online about funding opportunities for your imaging research.
EIBIR at ECR 2020 Highlight Week
A dedicated EIBIR session will take place during the ECR 2020 Highlight Week on Artificial Intelligence from July 20-23, 2020.
Seize this opportunity to ask the experts about artificial intelligence in medical imaging and learn how to succeed in the European funding landscape.
AI and the future of imaging: European funding prospects
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 10:45 CEST
Introduction by the moderator
G. Langs, Vienna/AT
The importance of artificial intelligence in imaging research
W. Niessen, Rotterdam/NL
Deep learning in imaging and cancer care
G. Langs, Vienna/AT
Applying artificial intelligence for biomarker discovery
A. Alberich-Bayarri, Valencia/ES
European funding and support services for AI and imaging research
P. Zolda, Vienna/AT
Live Q&A
Access to all Highlight Weeks is included in every ECR 2020 registration and all weeks will also be available on-demand afterwards. Separate packages are available for non-attendees. Find out how to participate here.
8 ESR Research Seed Grant Projects underway
In 2019, European Society of Radiology (ESR) in cooperation with the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR) launched a new program is to stimulate and provide funding for innovative projects and pilot studies that will subsequently lead to larger studies and further funding applications: the ESR Research Seed Grant.
Artificial Intelligence and Cardiac Imaging were identified as the funding priorities for 2020. After an extensive review by a panel of 25 international experts, eight proposals were selected for funding:
AI-driven MR-based imaging of tumor hypoxia
Ieva Kurilova, Netherlands Cancer Institute
CT-based radiomics analysis in patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas
David Tobaly, Hôpital Beaujon Clichy
Integration of a Retina U-Net algorithm for the automated detection of primary lung cancer in clinical workflows
Thomas Weikert, University Hospital Basel
MRI-assessed myocardial deformation of the systemic right ventricle in patients with transposition of the great arteries
Maja Hrabak Paar, University Hospital Center Zagreb
Optimization and validation of highly accelerated compressed sensing whole-heart 4D-Flow imaging
Clemens Reiter, Medical University of Graz
Reliability of cardiothoracic ratio as an estimate of cardiac enlargement compared to gold standard MRI parameters
Monika Arzanauskait, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
RISK – Risk Maps using T2 mapping and Diffusion MR Sequences of the Prostate
Liliana Caldiera, University Hospital Cologne
Spatio-temporal cardiac motion patterns in the non-invasive diagnosis of myocarditis
Fabian Laqua, University Medicine Greifswald
We congratulate the awardees and are looking forward to hearing about the progress in their fascinating research projects during ECR 2021.
Find out more about what the researchers aim to achieve in their projects here.
Euro-BioImaging is inviting applications for the the Directorate positions of the newly formed Euro-BioImaging ERIC
Euro-BioImaging is seeking to recruit excellent candidates for its Directorate positions.
Euro-BioImaging is the European landmark research infrastructure for biological and biomedical imaging technologies as recognised by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). Through Euro-BioImaging, life scientists can access cutting-edge imaging instruments, expertise, training opportunities and image data services that they might not find at their home institutions or among their collaboration partners. Euro-BioImaging is structured as a distributed hub, which consists of Finland as the statutory seat, Italy as the medical imaging coordinator (Med-Hub) and EMBL as the biological imaging coordinator and host of the data services (Bio-Hub).
The Directorate of Euro-BioImaging is composed of the Director General, the Section Director of the Med-Hub and the Section Director of the Bio-Hub. The role of the Directorate is to both provide advice to, and implement the decisions of, the Euro- BioImaging Board. In addition, the Directorate will be responsible for: the day-to-day management of the Organisation, promoting the research infrastructure nationally and internationally, ensuring the coordinated provision of access, services and training to state- of-the-art imaging technologies for all life scientists in Europe and beyond and finally, to foster liaison and cooperation across the broad bioimaging communities.
This is an exciting leadership opportunity to form the foundation senior management team as fulltime employees to further build, develop and coordinate the recently established Euro-BioImaging ERIC. The mission of this new research infrastructure is to provide the European research community, collaborative partners and industry with world class imaging services that bridge biological and biomedical imaging and enable innovative and world- class research. Whatever the scale of imaging, Euro-BioImaging provides the tools and support to explore and answer research questions.
Expressions of interest are therefore invited for the following roles:
– Director General (Statutory seat, Turku, Finland)
– Section Director (Med-Hub, CNR, Turin, Italy)
– Section Director (Bio-Hub and Data Services, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany)
More information and details on the application procedure is available here.
IMI launches final IMI2 Calls for proposals
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has launched the last calls for proposals under the IMI2 programme, with topics on tackling cancer through artificial intelligence, antimicrobial resistance, neurodegenerative diseases, rare disease diagnosis, the return of clinical trial data to participants, and patient adherence.
IMI will contribute a total of EUR 59 million to the projects funded under the calls; these funds come from Horizon 2020 and will support the participation in the projects of organisations such as universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, and patient groups. EFPIA companies and IMI Associated Partners will contribute EUR 47 million.
Topic 4 of Call 23, on using artificial intelligence to select the best cancer treatment, is of particular interest to the biomedical imaging community. Advances in research mean that for many cancers, there are more treatment options than ever. Physicians face a growing number of potential therapeutic options, each of which needs to be understood and adopted effectively to ensure each patient receives the right treatment. The goal of this topic is to develop a treatment decision support tool with AI technologies to support decision making and research for cancer. The topic focuses on breast, lung and prostate cancer as there are large numbers of patients, a high unmet medical need, and a rapidly evolving treatment environment. However, it should be possible to apply the project outputs to other cancers afterwards.
EU launches new €122m call for COVID-19
Today, the European Commission launched the second Emergency Call on COVID-19 under the Horizon 2020 programme with a total budget of €122 million. Similar to the first Emergency Call in February, the procedure is again expedited. The deadline for the full-length proposals is June 11.
The call includes of five topics:
– Networking of existing EU and international cohorts of relevance to COVID-19 (coordination and support action, €2-3m for 1 project)
– Pan-European cohorts (research and innovation action, €15-20 million)
– Medical technologies, Digital tools and AI analytics to improve surveillance and care at high TRLs (innovation action, €2-5m per project)
– Repurposing of manufacturing for vital medical supplies and equipment (innovation action, €5-6m per project)
– Behavioural, social and economic impacts of the outbreak response (innovation action, €4-10m per project)
To read the full topic description and expected impacts, click on the topic title above.
EIBIR continues to offer its expertise in proposal preparation and project management free-of-charge to everyone applying for COVID-19 research funding provided availability of resources and suitability of project with call topic.
Furthermore, we have compiled an always up-to-date list of open access COVID-19 datasets for teaching, training and/or research (depending on license).
European Commission to launch new €120m call for COVID-19 research proposals
The European Commission is set to launch a second Emergency Call on COVID-19 under the Horizon 2020 programme with a total indicative budget of €120 million.
Similar to the first Emergency Call in February, the procedure will again be expedited. The call is expected to be published on May 14th and the deadline for the full-length proposals expected for June 11th.
Expected topics of the call are:
– Social and economic impacts of the outbreak response and mental health
– Pan-European cohorts united against the pandemic
– Repurposing of manufacturing for vital medical supplies and equipment
– Medical technologies, Digital tools, AI analytics
Unfortunately a draft of the full call text is not yet available. As soon as this becomes available, we will of course share this information.
EIBIR continues to offer its expertise in proposal preparation and project management free-of-charge to everyone applying for COVID-19 research funding – this offer extends to basic and applied research, as well as clinical studies. Furthermore, we have compiled an always up-to-date list of open access COVID-19 datasets for teaching, training and/or research (depending on license).