As part of the K-SPARK project, researchers from the Technion and their colleagues in France will develop innovative technology that will enable brain scans in less than a minute, along with establishing an open database of MRI scans that will be used by the scientific community around the world.
A prestigious research grant in the field of artificial intelligence in medicine has been awarded to a joint project between Technion researchers and their colleagues in France. As part of the grant-winning project, K-SPARK, the researchers will develop technology for fast MRI scans specifically designed for brain scans, using artificial intelligence. The project will also establish an open database of MRI scans. These steps will advance the use of MRI and increase its accessibility worldwide.
The technologies developed with the grant funding are expected to lead to a leap in the speed of MRI scans – less than a minute, compared to about half an hour or more for scans using current methods. The new technology combines SPARKLING, a sampling method developed in France, with k-band developed at the Technion. The new technology will be tested under the grant on diseases of aging such as Alzheimer’s.
The Technion team in the project includes three researchers: Dr. Efrat Shimron from the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who leads the team; Dr. Ayelet Eran from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, director of the MRI Unit at Rambam; and Dr. Dafna Link from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, director of the MRI Center for Human Research at the May-Bloom-Dahl Technion. The French group is led by Dr. Philippe Ciccio, senior director of NeuroSpin, one of the world's most advanced MRI centers, which focuses on scientific and clinical research in neuroscience.
The project is launching after winning a €170 HDH x TERA grant. This grant program is a joint venture of TERA (the Technion-Rambam initiative in the field of artificial intelligence in medicine) and HDH – a French institute that promotes the pooling of medical information and its accessibility for research that will improve human health. Initiative TERA Operates under TechAI.Biomed and focuses on developing innovative applications of artificial intelligence in medicine. “This is a significant milestone in the research partnership between Israel and France in the field of artificial intelligence in medicine,” said Prof. Joachim Behar of the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, who leads the TERA initiative with Dr. Ronit Almog, Director of the Epidemiology Unit at Rambam. “The K-SPARK project demonstrates the tremendous potential inherent in combining the knowledge of experts from both countries in advancing technologies that will improve human health.”
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In pictures:
- Dr. Efrat Shimron. (Photo: Inbal Ginat)
- Dr. Philip Sisio
