Health Technologies

This Institute coordinates research in the field of technologies that are essential to biomedical progress in both fundamental and clinical terms.

Scientific and industrial challenges

The Institute adopts a transdisciplinary and translational approach, bringing into contact, upstream, researchers and engineers from very different domains (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, IT, electronics, nanotechnology, etc.) and downstream physicians and manufacturers.

Each field has its own challenges:

Imaging
The main challenges are to increase the sensitivity and definition of the images obtained, speed up data analysis, improve image reconstruction and reduce the doses of radiation emitted to patients for radiation examinations.

Drugs
The challenges here include improving screening effectiveness, evaluating the toxicity and bioavailability of possible drugs early on, and simplifying and accelerating the time it takes for drugs to be developed.

Biotechnologies, bioengineering
One of the major objectives is to develop early diagnostic tests, in vitro and in vivo, which are specific to and reproducible for new diseases or diseases for which diagnosis is currently at too late a stage.

Surgery and interventional techniques
The main breakthroughs will particularly focus on the reliability, biocompatibility and performances of these technologies, miniaturization and automation of interventional tools, and software programs that create images of the operation sites.


Observation of retina endothelial cells, under a confocal microscope, in the laboratory of Inserm unit 833 "Embryonic and pathological angiogenesis" (Collège de France) ; © Inserm, P. Latron

© Inserm, P. Latron

Observation of retina endothelial cells, under a confocal microscope, in the laboratory of Inserm unit 833 "Embryonic and pathological angiogenesis" (Collège de France).

You need the Flash player to view this video.

Interview of Jacques Grassi, Director of the thematic multi-organization institute Health Technologies

 

Medical challenges

Identifying risk factors associated with diseases, making diagnoses sooner, improving treatment efficacy with account taken of patient comfort … these are just some of the challenges involved in developing better disease prevention and treatment.
Beyond essential knowledge of physiology and human diseases, new technological approaches can also make a significant contribution to medical progress. Such progress results today from a close working partnership between researchers and engineers, biologists and physicians.

In full development, these health technologies can be split into four main areas.

  • Imaging
    This covers all anatomical and functional, cellular and molecular imaging technologies both in vitro and in vivo.

  • Drugs
    New drugs emerge only after a long and expensive process, beginning with the screening of thousands of molecules and ending with possible marketing.

  • Biotechnologies, bioengineering
    This field encompasses all in vitro analytical and diagnostic technologies, their implantation in the living organism and biomaterials linked to regenerative medicine and bio-production.

  • Surgery and interventional techniques
    Surgical technologies include a wide range of methods and expertise with the fundamental purpose of minimizing risks of complication for the patient and reducing intervention and hospitalization time.


Director : Jacques Grassi

Jacques Grassi’s biography (9.6 ko)  ReadSpeaker

Deputy Director : Isabelle Magnin

Director's assistants: Nathalie Manaud, François Hirsch

Policy Officer : Claire Nové-Josserand

View Edit Create here