During its current term, the EDF Group Foundation has chosen to support an Institut Pasteur team working on the DIVA project. This project aims to revolutionize the analysis and visualization of all medical imaging data. The aim is to develop a novel software platform that integrates data from medical imaging or microscopy to enable physicians and scientists to process and visualize images. The platform recreates organs or tumors so that they can be visualized in virtual or augmented reality environments, for example to help surgeons prepare for complex medical procedures.
During its current term, the EDF Group Foundation is focusing on progress and solidarity. In the area of scientific progress, the Foundation supports medical research projects carried out by major institutions in France. The EDF Group Foundation is therefore once again demonstrating its commitment to the Institut Pasteur's work by supporting the DIVA project (Data Integration and Visualization in Augmented and Virtual Environments). DIVA is a software platform that combines human cognition, virtual reality and machine learning (or one-shot learning). The project is the result of cooperation between the Decision and Bayesian Computation research team, led by Jean-Baptiste Masson at the Institut Pasteur, and the Light-Based Observation and Control of Cellular Organization laboratory at the Institut Curie, under the supervision of Université PSL.
What exactly is the DIVA platform?
It's a software program that uses virtual reality and augmented reality, improved by artificial intelligence, to facilitate medical and therapeutic decision-making," summarizes Jean-Baptiste Masson, Head of the Decision and Bayesian Computation laboratory at the Institut Pasteur.
What is the DIVA platform used for?
DIVA recreates representations of medical images (from MRI, CT and PET scans) in virtual reality and also enables human intervention and the application of advanced algorithmic approaches. "With DIVA, the key information for diagnosis – the tumor environment, quantitative measurements of shapes and densities, a 3D map of the vessels around the area to be operated on, etc. – can be communicated immediately between radiologists and surgeons," continues the scientist.
How does DIVA contribute to medical progress?
DIVA aims to bring about a radical new approach to medical practice. The platform intends to radically change the treatment and interactions with medical imaging, making easier and natural both the interpretation and the analysis of complex 3D data. DIVA is a new software platform that integrates data from any form of imaging to recreate organs, tumors or cell organelles, so that they can be visualized in virtual reality and augmented reality environments. Current applications and research range from the preparation of breast cancer surgery (Institut Curie), to the diagnosis and preparation of other surgeries from MRI images.
Why is the EDF Group Foundation supporting the Institut Pasteur?
The mission of the EDF Group Foundation is to support projects in the public interest in the fields of solidarity and progress. Until the end of 2019, when its current term comes to an end, it is supporting initiatives in the area of medical research and scientific and technological progress. DIVA is a project with applications that pave the way for better medical and therapeutic decision-making. It is precisely this aspect, the tangible impact it will have on patients, that drew the Foundation's attention to the project.
On November 22, 2018, the DIVA project was awarded the "DeepTech" award at the Start-Ulm competition.
Mohamed El Beheiry, a scientist at the Institut Pasteur and the Institut Curie, presents DIVA, a unique software platform that places users in virtual 3D environments (video in French).
Find out more about algorithms with learning capabilities (deep learning) in the interview with Christophe Zimmer, Head of the Imaging and Modeling Unit at the Institut Pasteur.
DIVA is a software platform that was developed at the Institut Curie and the Institut Pasteur, respectively by:
- the team of Maxime Dahan† (PhD, Head of the Light-Based Observation and Control of Cellular Organization laboratory, Institut Curie), now led by Mathieu Coppey and Bassam Hajj;
- and the team of Jean-Baptiste Masson (PhD, Head of the Decision and Bayesian Computation laboratory, Institut Pasteur).
The DIVA project is currently led by Mohamed El Beheiry (PhD, post-doctoral fellow – Institut Curie), with assistance from the Institut Pasteur's Sébastien Doutreligne (PhD, software engineer – Institut Pasteur) for the development aspects.
