Laboratory of Medical Information Processing - Latim INSERM UMR 1101

Logo%20LaTIM.png

LATIM is a joint research laboratory (UMR1101) of Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), the University of West Brittany (UBO) and IMT Atlantique, associated with the CHRU (University research hospital) of Brest.

IMT.png iserm.jpg ubo.png chru.jpg

 

It is a multidisciplinary research laboratory which exploits the complementarity of information science and health science. Research is focused on continual optimisation of therapeutic actions through the integration of multimodal information, and is shared between two teams:

  • Action: therapeutic action guided by multimodal imaging in oncology
  • Imagine: integration of multimodal information for assisting decision-making and optimising interventional therapeutic action

Made up of 53 researchers (of whom 22 are accredited research supervisors) and 30 doctoral students, Latim is located at the University research hospital (CHRU) in Brest. The whole laboratory became part of the Brest Institute of Biological Research (IBRBS) in February 2017.

 

Logo Inserm.jpg

Born out of the complementarity of the information and communications technical science field and the health sector, Latim conducts multidisciplinary research carried out by members of the University of West Brittany, IMT atlantique, Inserm and the Brest CHRU. Information is at the heart of the laboratory's research and is by nature multimodal, complex, heterogeneous, shared and diffused.  This information is integrated into the heart of methodological solutions with the unique goal of improving medical services. Research is focused on therapeutic action in oncology (the Action team) and in the area of interventional therapy (the Imagine team).

The goal of the Action team (therapeutic action guided by multimodal imaging in oncology) is the efficient integration of multimodal imaging (PET/CT scan/MRI) in the therapeutic context in oncology. The team's research is oriented along three lines:

  • Tomographic reconstruction and multidimensional analysis

  • Multiparameter modelisation for therapy optimisation

  • Imaging and dosimetry in radiotherapy

This team draws on its recognised expertise in enhancing quantification in PET/CT scans, through research on the monitoring of tumour volumes throughout a the course of treatment, and the characterisation of tumour heterogeneity in PET/CT scans, and also the management of physiological movements in multimodal imaging and radiotherapy for PET/CT and PET/IRM synchronisation, and developing respiratory models and their use in radiotherapy.

The goal of the Imagine team (integration of multimodal information for assisting decision-making and optimising interventional therapeutic action) is to develop, and make available to therapists, integrative decision aid tools. The development of new therapeutic paradigms and new implants is one of the team's strong points. It is about optimising the patient care process as a whole, from detection, to therapeutic action, to clinical care  and securing information during clinical care as well as throughout its acquisition and treatment phases. The clinical areas concerned are mainly orthopedics, functional re-education and ophthalmology.  The team's research is conducted along three lines:

  • Modelisation    
  • Instrumented connected devices and support to therapeutic activity
  • Analysis, protection and reutilisation of multimedia medical information

This team draws on original methodological developments and innovative applications, both in the area of interventional therapies, and in the area of decision aid tools and medical data security.  Our focus is on approaches to multimodal fusion (MRI/EOS, MRI/US, US/optoelectronic movement sensors, etc) for understanding pathologies, optimising and evaluating therapeutic activity. We focus on developing: original types of statistical models; predictive models of the biomechanical consequences of a therapy; next generation implants (self-powered, connected, predictive and adaptive) and next generation interventional environments.

We develop methodologies for decision aids, through researching the contents of medical files containing images or videos; and approaches to data protection which complement classical solutions (cryptographics, access controls, etc.) in order to ensure integrity and traceability of data within the limitations of solutions that are interoperable with the standards in the field (HL7, DICOM, etc.) and the demands of an information system's security policy.

Latim also draws on Cesim (French health science simulations centre) http://www.cesim-sante.fr, and on several technological and clinical platforms: (a) PIMATGI (Breton platform for innovation in medical imaging and image-driven therapeutic action) giving access to heavy equipment (full-body low-dose EOS X-ray, 3T MRI, fMRI, dedicated operating theatres, etc), (b) PLACIS (supercomputing platform).

Latim is member of the Labex CominLabs http://www.cominlabs.ueb.eu/fr, CAMI http://cami-labex.fr, and of IRT B-COM http://b-com.com and the national infrastructure, FLI (France Life Imaging) http://www.francelifeimaging.fr.