The Hospices civils de Lyon (HCL), the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) and the Claude-Bernard University of Lyon (UCBL) signed a framework agreement on December 1 to create an artificial intelligence (AI) development center and a project team dedicated to medical modeling.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, medicine is becoming personalized, preventive, predictive and participatory. The Hospices Civils de Lyon and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (Inria) have decided to collaborate and create a unique artificial intelligence development center in France. Last July, they signed a “memorandum of understanding” in which they defined the initial foundations of this framework agreement. Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University will join this partnership, which is consistent with the objectives of the LYNX project it is carrying out under the PIA 4 call for projects: “Excellence in all its forms”. The HLC is also part of the LYNX project. Raymond LE MOIGN, Director General of the Hospices Civils de Lyon, stated at the time:
“The conclusion of a large-scale partnership between the Hospices Civils de Lyon and Inria demonstrates the very strong positioning of the university hospital and its academic partners – including Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University – in the field of digital health. The objective of this partnership with Inria, which is unique in France, is to provide HCL teams with the best tools and skills to build innovative projects in the field of data and information system exploitation. By hosting high-performance research teams, by building innovative projects in new alliance strategies, HCL is resolutely committed to helping invent the health and hospital of tomorrow.”
Today, he confirms:
“After the memorandum of understanding signed in the summer of 2021, this framework agreement between HCL, Inria and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University seals our desire to combine our skills through a wide-ranging partnership, with the aim of amplifying the impact of digital sciences on patient care.”
Inventing tomorrow’s health and hospital through AI
The development of digital technologies is one of the historical strategic priorities of Hospices Civils de Lyon, which offers a completely digital health pathway with the myHCL patient portal and ensures the production of databases. Thus, in 2018, they created an Artificial Intelligence Commission (CIA) within the CHU, and recently set up a transversal innovation department, with the aim of creating a “living lab” in the field of healthcare.
AI is at the heart of medicine, with assisted operations, remote patient monitoring, intelligent prostheses, and personalized treatments based on cross-referenced data. This precision medicine is possible thanks to AI and machine learning algorithms. Putting digital technology and AI at the service of health has been a major focus of HCL’s partner, INRIA, for a decade. Hugues BERRY, research director in molecular neuroscience and deputy scientific director of Inria explains:
“After 25 years of presence in the Lyon region, the institute has in particular developed world-renowned research in life modeling, which will be put to use in this partnership.”
Delphine MAUCORT-BOULCH, University Professor – hospital practitioner at UCBL/HCL, head of the Public Health Department at HCL adds:
“However, these techniques must prove their effectiveness and usefulness: one of the challenges of the partnership will be to demonstrate all the benefits that practitioners and patients will be able to draw from digital innovations.”
An AI cluster, a link between research and care
One of the main projects of the framework agreement is the development, within this new artificial intelligence development center, of a “search engine for health” capable of answering queries in “medical” language by analyzing data of various types and structures (images, operating reports, patient files, scientific articles, etc.) from HCL. With the resulting diagnostic and decision-making assistance, this tool will facilitate the work of physicians and improve patient care. Stéphane UBEDA, director of the newly created Inria center in Lyon, said:
“In Lyon, our skills in modeling, simulation and scientific computing, combined with the institute’s experience in software development, make it credible to aim for a strong impact on future care paths.”
The HCL will host a team of Inria experimentation and development engineers on its Lyon Lacassagne site, close to its Bioinformatics-Biostatistics teams, who will ensure the industrialization of prototype tools resulting from this research, by working on the quality of the code and the ergonomics of the software.
UCBL and INSA Lyon have joined forces to build the LyonTech – la Doua Computing and Data Center (CCDD), which is scheduled to go into production at the end of 2023. This data center, which will have a capacity of 150 bays in the first phase and 300 bays in the long term, will be used by the site’s research structures and ESR establishments and will be certified ZRR, ISO 27001 and a health data hosting facility. UCBL has invested more than €6 million and INSA Lyon €700,000 for the first phase of the work.
Digital and AI applications in pharmacology
Within the new Inria center inaugurated in Lyon last December, the institute and the HCL will also create, with their partner Theranexus (a biopharmaceutical company spun off from the CEA) and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, a joint research team that will focus on digital applications in neuropharmacology. Hugues Berry, in charge of the team summarizes:
“Our research will aim to develop algorithmic techniques combining molecular and cellular analysis data with brain imaging data and medical information (patient records, clinical diagnoses, expert opinion, bibliography…), in order to robustly predict the efficacy of drug candidates for the treatment of nervous system diseases.”
This collaborative dynamic will promote the transfer of certain techniques from research to hospital exploration (biology, imaging, etc.) and to HCL’s information systems (tools for analyzing massive medical data, software for characterizing care paths, etc.). Theranexus will bring its expertise in the cellular field and its know-how for the clinical development of potential candidate molecules.
Translated from Les Hospices civils de Lyon, l’INRIA et L’Université Claude-Bernard de Lyon s’associent pour inventer la santé et l’hôpital de demain
