European research project aims to improve the diagnosis and therapy of brain diseases
(Nanowerk News) The partners in a new publicly-funded
European research project today announced details of the
multinational/multidisciplinary program: 'CSI: Central Nervous System
Imaging.' This three-year ENIAC (European Nanoelectronics Initiative
Advisory Council) project aims to achieve substantial advances in
state-of-the-art medical 3D-imaging platforms by focusing on the diagnosis
and therapy of serious diseases of the central nervous system and brain. Key
medical-imaging technologies will be significantly enhanced by means of
major improvement in sensors, equipment and computing platforms to boost
early diagnostics and prevention capability while reducing total equipments
cost.
One of the most important challenges facing Europe is the trend towards an
aging population. With many of the elderly people suffering from diseases of
the central nervous system, the number of patients is also growing. These
serious illnesses require some of the most expensive diagnosis/therapy
procedures. In addition, these diseases, which include degenerative brain
diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, Epilepsy, and
circulatory problems such as strokes, are among those with the fastest
growing impact on society.
Minimally-invasive ICT-based imaging technologies such as PET (Positron
Emission Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and EEG (Electro
EncephaloGraphy) play a vital role in detecting and tracking the evolution
of these illnesses and determining the strategy and the effectiveness of the
prescribed therapies. Part of the ENIAC 'Nanoelectronics for Health and
Wellness' sub-program, the CSI project will pursue the simultaneous
capturing/extraction of data produced by next-generation imaging devices in
order to provide the best correlated information to the physician through an
innovative and intelligent merging in both timing (e.g. EEG) and spatial
resolution (e.g. PET).
"This combined and synergistic approach can be made possible only through
advances in various technology fields that include sensors, integrated
equipment and systems for data fusion and novel data processing platforms
that support Teraflop-range computing capability at the doctor's desktop,"
said project coordinator Salvatore Coffa, Group Vice President and R&D
General Manager, Industrial and Multisegment Sector, STMicroelectronics.
"The results of the project will anticipate new perspectives to improve
patients' support and treatment for central nervous systems diseases, at
much lower cost."
The project is organized into a number of work packages, spanning a total
duration of 36 months. Three work packages address Research and Innovation
for the different imaging technologies, i.e. PET, MRI and EEG, while another
covers the crucial platform integration and high-performance
image-processing capacity, in both hardware and software. An application
work package addresses clinical applications and validation, carried out by
leading-edge EU Clinical Research departments.
The total cost of the project is €14.6M, with more than 120 person-years
effort mobilized among technology researchers, bio-engineers and clinical
doctors. The project is partially funded through a combination of European
and National grants, under the rule of ENIAC-JU 2009.
The 15 Project Partners are:
STMicroelectronics, Italy
University of Bologna, Italy
Philips Electronics, The Netherlands
Philips Healthcare, The Netherlands
Austriamicrosystems AG, Austria
IMEC, The Netherlands
Guger Technologies OEG, Austria
Austrian Insitute of Technology GmbH, Austria
Kempenhaeghe, The Netherlands
Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
Mediso Medical Equipment Developing and Service Ltd., Hungary
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