Launch of the European Research Project CARS Explorer

The CARS Explorer project, coordinated by Didier Marguet from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm Unit 631, CIML, Marseille), was officially launched in April in Marseille, France. CARS Explorer is a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the Health priority of the 7th Framework Programme. This highly interdisciplinary consortium brings together internationally renowned physicists, biologists and clinicians of six institutional bodies from four European countries and a French SME.

Financed for three years, CARS Explorer seeks to demonstrate the concept of innovative light-based contrasting technologies for functional in situ imaging in life science and biomedical research. The ultimate goal of the consortium is to develop an endoscope based on non-linear optics (NLO) and laser pulse phase shaping.

Today, NLO technologies allow primarily low-depth exploration. However, they present major opportunities at the morphological and molecular level which makes it an original tool for biomedical analysis without requiring preliminary sample preparation, thus providing real time information to the patients.

To bring the concept to the diagnostic level, Cars Explorer partners will explore the molecular and morphological NLO signatures associated with tumour development in skin cancer, one of the fastest growing cancers in Europe with an incidence increase of 5 to 7 % a year. (Source: Ligue contre le Cancer). The consortium will concentrate its efforts on the so designated Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) microscopy technique which permits to produce real time 3D images of cells and tissues at a molecular level, without any labelling or staining.

The development of this novel imaging technology will allow an efficient use of our knowledge of cancer molecular modifications. Indeed, this project will have a major strategic and economic impact by providing a non-invasive functional exploration method for clinical research and treatment, in particular for the prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. In the end, "an imaging technology capable of providing in vivo information both at the cellular and molecular level would be an outstanding and decisive breakthrough. It is certain that such approaches will play an increasingly central part in oncology and clinical research as well in the treatment of patients affected by cancer" says Didier Marguet.

The CARS Explorer consortium is coordinated by the French National Institute for the Health and Medical research (Inserm) and includes the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the de Duve Institute (Belgium), the University of Stuttgart (Germany), the University of Bath (UK), Mauna Kea Technologies SAS (a French SME specialised in minimally-invasive biomedical imaging) and Inserm Transfert SA (France).

For further information, please visit:
http://www.carsexplorer.eu

Most Popular Now

Giving Doctors an AI-Powered Head Start …

Detection of melanoma and a range of other skin diseases will be faster and more accurate with a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool that analyses multiple imaging types simultaneously...

AI Agents for Oncology

Clinical decision-making in oncology is challenging and requires the analysis of various data types - from medical imaging and genetic information to patient records and treatment guidelines. To effectively support...

AI Medical Receptionist Modernizing Doct…

A virtual medical receptionist named "Cassie," developed through research at Texas A&M University, is transforming the way patients interact with health care providers. Cassie is a digital-human assistant created by Humanate...

Using Data and AI to Create Better Healt…

Academic medical centers could transform patient care by adopting principles from learning health systems principles, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of California, San Diego. In...

AI Tool Set to Transform Characterisatio…

A multinational team of researchers, co-led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has developed and tested a new AI tool to better characterise the diversity of individual cells within...

AI Detects Hidden Heart Disease Using Ex…

Mass General Brigham researchers have developed a new AI tool in collaboration with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to probe through previously collected CT scans and identify...

Human-AI Collectives Make the Most Accur…

Diagnostic errors are among the most serious problems in everyday medical practice. AI systems - especially large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT-4, Gemini, or Claude 3 - offer new ways...

Northern Ireland Completes Nationwide Ro…

Go-lives at Western and Southern health and social care trusts mean every pathology service is using the same laboratory information management system; improving efficiency and quality. An ambitious technology project to...

Highland Marketing Announced as Official…

Highland Marketing has been named, for the second year running, the official communications partner for HETT Show 2025, the UK's leading digital health conference and exhibition. Taking place 7-8 October...

MHP-Net: A Revolutionary AI Model for Ac…

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer globally and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Accurate segmentation of liver tumors is a crucial step for the management of the...

Groundbreaking TACIT Algorithm Offers Ne…

Researchers at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a novel algorithm that could provide a revolutionary tool for determining the best options for patients - both in the treatment...

The Many Ways that AI Enters Rheumatolog…

High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is the standard to diagnose and assess progression in interstitial lung disease (ILD), a key feature in systemic sclerosis (SSc). But AI-assisted interpretation has the potential...