Projects: 25 years of research, from theory to the patient

These projects trace my research path: my PhD at Inria (2001-2005), my postdoc in Uppsala (2005-2006), then twenty years as an associate professor at Université Grenoble Alpes (TIMC laboratory, GMCAO team). This path went from theory to application. The early work, in discrete geometry and image analysis, laid mathematical and algorithmic foundations. The later projects started from problems brought by clinicians, with one goal: getting back to the patient’s bedside.

To reach that goal, I worked with clinicians, MedTech companies and funders (ANR, Carnot, SATT Linksium). The diagram places each project on the technology readiness scale (TRL): each column’s height shows how far it travelled toward the patient, up to trials on healthy volunteers for the LPR robot.

This path toward the patient is what I now want to take further, alongside companies. What I take from it, and bring to my clients: decide on evidence, prototype just what is needed, document for what comes next.

Overview of projects by TRL maturity levelEach project is a chevron-topped rectangle rising to the TRL it reached, filled with a gradient through the colors of the tiers it crossed. TRL 8 and 9 (CE marking, market) are shown separately with dashed lines. CamiTK appears apart as a cross-cutting tool.TRL 8–9 · CE marking, marketoutside the lab — industrial handoverClinicalTRL 6–7PreclinicalTRL 4–5Research& PoCTRL 1–37654321LPR — from lab idea to clinical prototype · TRL 1→6 · clinical prototype tested on healthy volunteers, patents, incubation6LPRInterventional cardiology · TRL 1→5 · clinical prototype ready for trial authorization5CardioREMI — decision support for endovascular revascularization · TRL 1→4 · clinical prototype, just before trials4REMIMedical image analysis · TRL 1→4 · validated on anatomical specimens4ImagesAutomatic organ localization · TRL 1→3 · proof of concept on real data3OrgansPhD — cerebral micro-vascular morphometry · TRL 1→3 · software developed and used (outside the clinic)3PhDUppsala postdoc — mathematical foundations · TRL 1→2 · in-depth theory (discrete geometry)2Post-DocCamiTK — medical prototyping toolkit · cross-cutting: powers the TRL maturation of every projectCamiTKcross-cutting
LPR: from a lab idea to a clinical prototype How do you take a needle-puncture robot from a lab idea all the way to first-in-human trials? The LPR (Light Puncture Robot) — a lightweight robot placed on the … Interventional cardiology Guiding the gesture in interventional cardiology, from preoperative imaging to the intervention room. A project where a data constraint was turned into a … REMI — Decision Support for Lower-Limb Endovascular Revascularization How do you help a vascular surgeon choose the best revascularization strategy when a technique's success is hard to predict? A multidisciplinary clinical … Medical Image Analysis Three pioneering projects in computer vision and image processing for computer-assisted surgery: distributed laparoscopy, ultrasound-based bone tracking, and … Automatically locating organs in CT images Co-supervision of Prasad Samarakoon's PhD (2016): lighter, more robust regression forests to automatically locate organs in CT images, within the LPR project. … Extraction of morphometric parameters for the study of the cerebral micro-vascular network Measuring the brain in 3D, from microscopy to software tools. My CIFRE PhD (INRIA, 2005): designing software able to measure a vascular network in 3D from … From mathematical foundations to medical images Postdoctoral research at Uppsala University (2005–2006): extending chamfer distance transforms to anisotropic grids with formal proof of their metric … CamiTK: a workshop for prototyping medical applications Co-founder of CamiTK, an open-source workshop for prototyping medical applications. A software building block that grew into a maturity-scaling (TRL) …