Kick-off du RRI IMPACT - 4 mai 2022, CGFB

On May 4, 2022, the kick-off of the IMPACT research network was held at the Centre de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Bordeaux (CGFB). Mainly supported by the STS Department, this multidisciplinary program aims to promote research in biomedical imaging technology at the University of Bordeaux. Here is a summary of this kick-off day.

In December 2021, the IMPACT (IMaging for Precise medicine with A Collaborative Translation) programme was awarded the "Réseau Recherche Impulsion" (RRI) label by Bordeaux University's governance. With this 4-year label, the project was officially lauched with a kick-off event in May 2022.

RRI IMPACT : « Providing the right treatment to the right patient at the right time »

The afternoon was dedicated to the presentation of the IMPACT program. Following the opening introduction by Gilles Guichard, director of the STS department, who recalled the full inclusion of IMPACT in the scientific policy of the department, the project leaders Bruno Quesson (CRCTB) and Thomas Tourdias (Neurocentre Magendie) explained the ambition behind the program: to create a multidisciplinary research network including the entire Bordeaux imaging community. IMPACT also aims to develop cutting-edge methods based on imaging for personalized medicine. Firmly focused on innovation, the project's longer-term ambition is to provide solutions to improve patient care. This first part ended with the presentation of Etienne Duguet, vice-president of innovation of the UB, who presented the InnovationS program, that is part of the university's Horizon 2030 development strategy. He pointed out the alignment of the RRI IMPACT and the InnovationS program goals.

A collaboration between three areas of research excellence at the UB

The second part of this day was devoted to the description of each of the three workpackages of the project, which allows to highlight the highly collaborative nature of the project. WP1 and its 3 axes were presented by Laurent Petit, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten (GIN-IMN) and Pierrick Coupé (LaBRI). Gaël Dournes (CRCTB), Yannick Crémilleux (ISM) and Sylvain Miraux (RMSB) were in charge of presenting the scientific ambitions of WP2, which focuses on cardio-thoracic imaging. Finally, Bruno Quesson (CRCTB), Olivier Sandre (LCPO) and Amandine Crombé (IMB) explained the research objectives of the third and last WP, which topic is oncology imaging (WP3).

A research-based medical imaging teaching project

Later in the afternoon, the RRI IMPACT's teaching objectives were presented by William Lefrançois, Sylvain Miraux (RMSB) and Bruno Quesson (CRCTB). The objective is of this new university course will be to improve the link between research and teaching by allowing Master and PhD students coming from different backgrounds to be trained in advanced medical imaging by several research teams that are mastering the different aspects of imaging.

And finally, a brainstorm

This kick-off ended with a "brainstorming" round table discussion around implementation of IMPACT's objectives and how to reach the goals. Some needs such as scientific animation, finding co-fundings or finding new ways to valorize research results were some of the topics discussed, closing a busy and successful launch day!