2025 Awards – IHU Strasbourg wins for the FAST-Tx project: Fast Analysis and Surgical Treatment – Thorax

2025 Awards – IHU Strasbourg wins for the FAST-Tx project: Fast Analysis and Surgical Treatment – Thorax

Jun 30, 2025 | Innovation

On June 12, 2025, during the FORCE Foundation Awards Ceremony for Innovation and Research in Health, seven projects were recognized for their potential to transform the healthcare system. Among them, the FAST-Tx project, led by the Strasbourg University Hospital Institute, was hailed as a potential major breakthrough in the field of thoracic oncology.

An innovative patient pathway for personalized lung cancer treatment

FAST-Tx offers a paradigm shift in the care pathway for patients with suspicious lung nodules: diagnosis and intervention in less than 24 hours.

This integrated approach is based on a completely original technological and organizational ecosystem that will leverage synergies between world-class medical and surgical expertise, unparalleled clinical infrastructure, and innovations from companies.

The project illustrates the IHU Strasbourg’s strong commitment to developing image-guided, minimally invasive surgical pathways enhanced by robotics and artificial intelligence. The objective of FAST-Tx is clear: to accelerate patient care in order to increase the chances of recovery, improve the rates of complete resection of cancerous nodules, and offer a new standard of care that can be exported to other hospital facilities.

An exemplary collaborative dynamic

The project led by the IHU Strasbourg brings together key partners:

  • The thoracic surgery center and the diagnostic and therapeutic interventional bronchial endoscopy department of the Strasbourg University Hospitals,
  • Visible Patient Lab, the leading online laboratory for 3D modeling of medical images for the creation of digital twins,
  • ASARIA – Assisted Surgery by Augmented Reality & AI, which has developed an augmented reality device for pre- and intraoperative assistance in interventional procedures.

Led by Prof. Christian Debry (Director General of the IHU Strasbourg), with Prof. Pierre-Emmanuel Falcoz (thoracic surgery), Dr. Cezar Matau (bronchial endoscopy), Luc Soler (Visible Patient Lab), and Bernard Dubois (Asaria), the FAST-Tx team shares the same vision of a new generation of precise and personalized minimally invasive procedures. This synergy between clinical excellence, cutting-edge technologies, and hospital engineering demonstrates the ability of local stakeholders to innovate together for the benefit of patients.

A trophy that symbolizes a vision for the future

Awarded by the FORCE Foundation, which supports the emergence of innovative solutions to improve healthcare in the future, this trophy rewards boldness, scientific rigor, and collective commitment. The FAST-Tx project embodies a concrete response to the challenges of oncology, placing medical time, precision, and patient well-being at the heart of the system.

More info:

Article from Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace (DNA), published on June 16, 2025:
The Force Foundation supports seven new research projects in Alsace

Fondation Force

The IHU Strasbourg is delighted with this recognition and will continue to work alongside its partners to advance medicine that is increasingly rapid, personalized, and efficient.

Pancreatic Cancer: Prof. Thomas Baumert wins prestigious ERC Proof of Concept Grant

Pancreatic Cancer: Prof. Thomas Baumert wins prestigious ERC Proof of Concept Grant

Jan 27, 2025 | Innovation, Research

Pancreatic cancer is among the most dreaded: often with no early symptoms, it is diagnosed late and associated with an extremely poor prognosis. With the PACMAN project, supported by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant, Professor Thomas Baumert and his team are seeking to establish preclinical proof of concept for a new therapeutic approach.

An innovative therapy project

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most frequent and aggressive form of pancreatic cancer. With a median survival of less than a year, even with treatment, the need for new therapies is urgent. Thanks to €150,000 in funding from the European Research Council (ERC), the PACMAN project will test the efficacy of an innovative therapeutic candidate in patient-derived models, a key step in accelerating the transition to clinical trials.

This new project is part of the close collaboration between Inserm, the University of Strasbourg, the University Hospitals of Strasbourg and the IHU Strasbourg to transform scientific discoveries into concrete innovations for the benefit of patients.

European funding: synonymous with excellence

Created by the European Union in 2007, the ERC is a prestigious and highly selective European program for funding excellent research projects in various categories. This is the fifth time in eight years that Thomas Baumert has been awarded funding, this time in the “ERC Proof of Concept Grant” category, which aims to accelerate the transfer of research work to applications.

Read the press release dated January 24, 2025, published by the University of Strasbourg (in French)

 

Université de Strasbourg Inserm HUS
Inauguration of iGlobe Scientific: A revolution in the early detection of pancreatic cancer

Inauguration of iGlobe Scientific: A revolution in the early detection of pancreatic cancer

Nov 26, 2024 | Innovation

On November 25, 2024, IHU Strasbourg and Medi-Globe Technologies GmbH inaugurated iGlobe Scientific, an innovative Joint Venture dedicated to the fight against pancreatic cancer. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI), this ambitious project promises to transform the early diagnosis of this disease, offering new hope to patients and clinicians alike

iGlobe Scientific

A public health emergency: earlier detection to save more lives

With over 14,000 new cases and 11,500 deaths every year in France, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most feared cancers. Its late diagnosis considerably reduces the chances of survival, surgery being the only curative treatment at an early stage. iGlobe Scientific intends to respond to this emergency with real-time AI technology, designed to assist gastroenterologists during echo-endoscopy examinations, essential for detecting early lesions.

Pioneering technological advances

Under the leadership of Dr. Leonardo Sosa-Valencia of the IHU Strasbourg, the APEUS-IA project marked a key milestone. In partnership with the CAMMA  (Computational Analysis and Modeling of Medical Activities) team at the University of Strasbourg, AI-based prototypes have already been validated in real-life conditions, offering reliable assistance in identifying pancreatic lesions.

An ecosystem conducive to innovation

Based in Strasbourg, iGlobe Scientific benefits from an exceptional environment. Supported by the Region Grand Est, the Eurométropole de Strasbourg and players such as Grand E-Nov+ and ADIRA, the Joint Venture benefits from the strategic proximity of the Nextmed Medical Technology Campus, a cluster dedicated to medical technologies.

Professor Christian Debry, General Director of the IHU Strasbourg, comments: “The integration of iGlobe Scientific within the IHU strengthens the synergy between our research, innovation and clinical teams. Strasbourg, with its Nextmed campus, is an ideal breeding ground for the development of cutting-edge solutions.”

Dr. Markus Schönberger, Director of Business Development at Medi-Globe, adds, “We chose Strasbourg for its clinical excellence, its dynamic AI ecosystem and its pool of innovative talent.”

Concrete benefits for patients

Echo-endoscopy is a complex but crucial technique for detecting early signs of pancreatic cancer. With iGlobe Scientific, clinicians will have a real-time digital assistant at their disposal, improving the accuracy of diagnoses and increasing the chances of rapid and appropriate management.

A project supported by major institutions

This innovative project was made possible thanks to €772,000 in funding from the ARC Fondation for cancer research and the involvement of regional partners. François Dupré, Managing Director of the ARC Foundation, emphasizes, “Supporting initiatives like APEUS-IA is essential to improving early cancer detection and saving lives.”

Towards a promising future

With iGlobe Scientific, IHU Strasbourg and Medi-Globe are paving the way for precision medicine, where early detection becomes accessible, enabling better-adapted and, ultimately, more curative treatments. This initiative marks a decisive step forward in the fight against cancer, for the benefit of patients and clinicians alike.

A Joint Venture supported by

Launch of the MEDITWIN Consortium: Virtual twins revolutionize medical practice

Launch of the MEDITWIN Consortium: Virtual twins revolutionize medical practice

Dec 18, 2023 | Innovation

The MEDITWIN consortium was officially announced on December 11, 2023, in the presence of the French President and renowned partners such as Dassault Systèmes, seven University Hospital Institutes, Nantes University Hospital, Inria, and associated startups. MEDITWIN aims to introduce personalized virtual twins for organs, metabolism and cancer tumors to improve diagnosis and medical care. This ambitious project will be detailed at the PariSanté Campus event on Thursday December 14, in the presence of Industry Minister Roland Lescure.

The MEDITWIN project will focus on seven new medical practices in the fields of neurology, cardiology and oncology, with the creation of seven “virtual health products“. These advances will be deployed on a sovereign industrial cloud platform. Drawing on the global expertise of its partners, including Dassault Systèmes, Nantes University Hospital, and startups such as inHEART, Codoc, Qairnel, and Neurometers, MEDITWIN is building on the success of virtual twins in other industries to revolutionize healthcare.

The five-year project (2024-2029) will receive financial support from the French government as part of France 2030. MEDITWIN aims to industrialize, clinically validate and standardize the use of virtual twins in the medical field. These advances promise to improve the efficiency of care, the quality of multidisciplinary decisions, and the effectiveness and safety of medical practices and interventions. By establishing standards of care in the form of virtualized experiences, MEDITWIN aspires to become a global benchmark for quality of care and to foster advances in medical science.

Prof. Didier Mutter, CEO, IHU Strasbourg
« Digital twins will be essential elements in the medicine of the future, as they will enable treatments to be simulated in order to provide patients with the most beneficial results possible. MEDITWIN is an extraordinary project in terms of its ambition and the challenges to be met, and it’s also a first for the IHU France alliance to bring together on the same project a multidisciplinary biomedical research power unrivalled anywhere in the world. For the IHU Strasbourg, it will be a powerful powerful boost to improve for improving the minimally invasive management of metastatic colorectal cancer, in close collaboration with two of its historical founders, Inria and the University Hospitals of Strasbourg. »

Read the press release of 11/12/2023 (in French): https://www.3ds.com/fr/newsroom/press-releases/meditwin-launch

Prof. Nicolas Padoy awarded €1.95 million ERC grant for ambitious digital surgery project – CompSURG

Prof. Nicolas Padoy awarded €1.95 million ERC grant for ambitious digital surgery project – CompSURG

Jun 8, 2023 | Economy, Innovation, News, Research

IHU Strasbourg Scientific Director and University of Strasbourg Professor, Nicolas Padoy, head of the CAMMA research team, has been awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for his project entitled “Computational Methods to Analyse Intra-operative Adverse Events in Surgery at Scale (CompSURG).” The grant, worth 1.95 million euros, will fund his research over a span of five years. By bridging the fields of artificial intelligence and digital surgery, this ambitious project aims to improve surgical safety and, consequently, patient safety.

 

CompSURG aims to develop a novel computational methodology for analyzing intra-operative adverse events (IAEs) from surgical videos on a large scale. Currently, IAEs are under-reported, hindering their thorough analysis, the establishment of appropriate safety measures, and the development of intraoperative assistance systems to reduce their occurrence. Recent studies have shown that IAEs, while previously considered inconsequential, may in fact be indicative of serious complications and poor surgical outcomes.

Building on these findings, CompSURG will propose a radically new computational approach to improve intra-operative surgical safety, with a specific focus on automatic recognition and analysis of surgical activities and IAEs in endoscopic videos. This will involve developing novel cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning techniques to achieve groundbreaking models of the intricate interactions between surgical tools and anatomy, examine activity patterns and variability on a large scale, and identify critical steps requiring safety measures.

ERC Consolidator Grants are highly competitive awards bestowed upon outstanding researchers regardless of their nationality or age. The sole criterion for selection is scientific excellence. Recipients of the grant should have between seven and twelve years of post-doctoral experience and conduct their research in a public or private research organization located in an EU member state or associated country. The funding primarily supports the employment of researchers and staff to strengthen the recipients’ teams and is awarded for a maximum duration of five years.

The joint IHU – University of Strasbourg CAMMA research team led by Prof. Nicolas Padoy aims at developing new tools and methods based on computer vision, medical image analysis and machine learning to perceive, model, analyze and support clinician and staff activities in the operating room using the vast amount of digital data generated during surgeries. Nested in the IHU building, the team benefits from a unique infrastructure and eco-system with the university hospital and IRCAD.

Camma
IHU
Université de Strasbourg
“France 2030”: 12 new IHUs created

“France 2030”: 12 new IHUs created

May 30, 2023 | Agenda, Economy, Event, Innovation, News, Research

IHU France welcomes this initiative by the French government to promote the unique model of excellence and acceleration of innovation in healthcare

On May 16, 2023, the French President announced the creation of 12 new University Hospital Institutes (IHUs) as part of the France Santé 2030 scheme. The Alliance IHU France, which brings together FOReSIGHT, IHU ICAN, IHU Strasbourg, Institut du Cerveau, Institut Imagine and Liryc, congratulates the newly appointed IHUs and welcomes this government initiative, which validates the strength of the IHU model by extending it to new medical and scientific themes. This reinforcement is part of a shared ambition for innovation and excellence in biomedical research in France.

IHU: accelerating innovation to invent the medicine of the future

Emblematic creations of the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir (PIA), the IHUs have been given the mission of accelerating innovation in healthcare for the benefit of patients. The rejection of ivory towers, agility and the development of synergies have encouraged the emergence of excellent biomedical innovations and their transfer to the business world.

Created in 2011, the IHUs bring together research, care, development and training in a single location, and are now fully recognized as third-party experimentation centers. The IHUs have become major players in university hospital research, thanks to their scientific excellence, as demonstrated by their attractiveness for competitive research funding. They are also key partners for industrial companies involved in healthcare innovation.

In less than 10 years, the IHUs have achieved tangible results: over 320 patents filed, 18,000 scientific publications, 1,000 new clinical trials, 45 start-ups created, over 600 million euros in co-financing raised, and induced economic development in excess of 1 billion euros, while State investments represent 277 million euros*, i.e. a leverage effect of 5 to 7.

These new IHU and bioclusters will complement the fields of research already covered by the existing institutes: genetic, visual, cardiometabolic and nutritional diseases, central nervous system, cardiac rhythm, image-guided surgery and emerging infections.

IHU France is delighted to welcome the new IHUs:

  • VBHI, Bordeaux, cerebral vascular diseases, IHU
  • Prism, Villejuif, oncology, IHU
  • re-Connect, Paris, hearing disorders, IHU
  • Prometheus, Garches, sepsis, IHU
  • Thema-2, Paris, hematology, IHU
  • Cancers des femmes, Paris, gynecological cancers, IHU
  • Everest, Lyon, liver pathologies, IHU
  • RespirERA, Nice, respiratory pathologies, IHU
  • IMMUN4CURE, Montpellier, immunotherapies, IHU
  • InovAND, Paris, pediatric neurodevelopment, IHU
  • HealthAge, Toulouse, gerontology and aging, emerging IHU
  • Infiny, Nancy, inflammatory bowel diseases, emerging IHU

IHU France is also delighted with the accreditation of 4 new bioclusters, in particular the Brain & Mind biocluster, which brings together three of the Alliance’s IHUs (Institut du Cerveau, Institut de la Vision and Institut Imagine) and two new ones accredited today (InovAND and re-Connect), and the GenoTher biocluster, of which Institut Imagine is a partner.

With the IHU, the French government aims to make France the leading European nation for innovation in healthcare, and to achieve nationally independence in healthcare.

The success of this new call for IHU projects illustrates the effectiveness of the model, now firmly anchored in the medical innovation ecosystem. With these 12 new IHUs, France now has a new capacity to accelerate and innovate in healthcare in priority areas such as complex data mining, personalized care pathway modeling, diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive simulation using digital twins, and disruptive innovations such as gene and cell therapies for patients. The aim of this combined expertise is to multiply diagnostic capabilities, medical and surgical decision support, and treatments.

The challenge now is to make IHU France a tool for meeting international demands and remaining as responsive and competitive as possible, so as to make France the leading European nation for innovation and achieve sovereignty in healthcare.

The Innovation Santé 2030 plan launched by the government was conceived precisely with this ambition, making a commitment in June 2021 to a strong, value-creating industry to bring, with the impetus of the Secrétariat Général pour l’Investissement (SGPI) and the Agence Innovation en Santé (AIS), direct, concrete solutions to patients and the medical community.

About IHU France

Emblematic creations of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program, the IHUs have been given the mission of integrating and accelerating the action processes of hospital and university research, to disseminate biomedical innovations more rapidly to patients and the economic fabric. IHU France brings together the 6 IHUs: FOReSIGHT, ICM (Institut du Cerveau), IHU ICAN, IHU Strasbourg, Imagine (Institut des maladies génétiques) and Liryc (L’institut des maladies du rythme cardiaque), which combine their strengths, initiatives and proposals to accelerate medical innovation in France. The IHUs have demonstrated́ the power of a model of excellence bringing together in a single location all the expertise that enables medical research to be transformed into innovation for the benefit of patients.

* In 2018, the FOReSIGHT IHU was awarded €50 million in funding under the PIA 3 IHU call for projects. In 2019, the 5 other IHUs in the Alliance IHU France were awarded a further 63 million euros.