iMIMIC Workshop at MICCAI 2021

Interpretability of AI systems aims at leveraging clinical translation, trustability and ultimately patient safety. Because this topic is of increasing importance, CAIM supports the Workshop on Interpretability of Machine Intelligence in Medical Image Computing at MICCAI 2021. The aim of this initiative is to increase the research presence regarding interpretability of ML systems at the coveted MICCAI conference (miccai.org).

More information and registration...

Opening of NeuroTec research facility

The NeuroTec research facility was opened by Insel Gruppe, together with the University of Bern and sitem-insel, on the Insel Campus in Bern on Tuesday, 14 September 2021. NeuroTec pools the clinical knowledge of Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and the expertise in medical technology of the University of Bern, while further expanding Bern’s leading position in neurology pioneered by Prof. Dr. Claudio Bassetti and his team.

Read the media release...

Retinai among Top 100 Swiss startups

Retinai, a Bern-based startup specialized in software solutions for patient-specific eye care, has been recognized as one of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups for the second time. Retinai brings machine learning, computer vision and signal processing technology into ophthalmology to assist research and empower clinicians to provide precision care tailored to the individual patient.

Learn more...

Bayesian Brain for Tinnitus

The Hearing Research Lab of the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and the ARTORG Center has developed a generative computational model for tinnitus, based on the Bayesian brain concept. The model is able to explain several perceptual tinnitus phenomena that are to date poorly understood. It can be applied for future research and treatment approaches by linking experimental observations with theoretical hypotheses.

Details on the study…

CAIM @ AI Expo Africa

CAIM will be part of the AI Expo Africa 2021, 7-9 September.
Find out about our vision, our approach to research and our educational programs.

More information and registration...

User Preferences of Nutrition Apps

The Artificial Intelligence for Health and Nutrition research group of the ARTORG Center has conducted a study of adult smartphone app users for health and diet monitoring. In collaboration with the Inselspital and CentraleSupélec, the researchers sought to explore the perspectives of end users on the features, current use, and acceptance of nutrition and diet mHealth apps with a web-based survey. Goal was to provide user insights to assist researchers and developers in building innovative dietary assessments.

Read the study results…

Two more weeks to apply to the CAIM Research Fund

The deadline for applying to the first funding call of the CAIM Research Fund ends 15 September 2021. The Fund promotes innovative research ideas that demonstrate a clear patient benefit and high potential for disrupting current medical procedures.

Further information on submission details and applications documents...

PeriVision wins Venture Kick Support

PeriVision, a spinoff of the ARTORG Center in the area of AI and eye care, wins Venture Kick first stage financial and entrepreneurial support, together with four other startups. The team plans to use the Venture Kick Funds for market validation and regulatory consulting. Beyond this, PeriVision is also raising a seed round with private investors.

Learn more...

AI Symposium 2021

Kick-off CAS AI in Medical Imaging at the sitem Center with leading international experts in AI from the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and more will present some of the latest developments in the field.
The focus will be on AI in Diagnostic Medical Systems.

Learn more and register...

"Unmet Clinical Needs Drive our Research"

healthbook TIMES, the online medical journal, has interviewed Raphael Sznitman about the uniqueness of CAIM: "Our focus lies with a patient- or clinician-oriented technology development. Basic science is less at the forefront, it is more about how we can bring AI technology to the patient, the clinic and the healthcare community. Our process often starts with an unmet clinical need. This distinguishes us from a more traditional-oriented engineering school, where one builds the hammer first and then finds the nails, so to speak."

Read the interview...

Exploring ethical possibilities in a new space

Why do I trust my smartphone but not AI with my health? Rouven Porz is medical ethicist at the Inselspital, Insel Gruppe. He promotes ethical discussion about the challenges and opportunities of AI in healthcare at the CAIM Embedded Ethics Lab.

In September, CAIM will launch Ethics Talks to further foster ethical dialogue with AI researchers. Stay tuned for more information!

Read the interview...

AI predicts treatment demand for eye diseases

EYEFOX.com, the largest online platform on ophthalmology in the German-speaking world, today reports on a retrospective study conducted by the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, the Department of Ophthalmology Inselspital and the startup RetinAI. The researchers had tested how well artificial intelligence can predict anti-VEGF treatment demand for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and diabetic retinopathy (DR) from the outset. The platform also summarized the study results for the Ophthal News video format on 21 July 2021 (minutes 2:35-4:15).

Read the report...

Doctor and Computer as a Superpower

"AI combines the power of humans and machines, but it definitely does not replace medical knowledge," says CAIM director Raphael Sznitman in an interview with Glückspost.
"The point of AI is not to show that machines can do the job better than humans. In combination with the expertise and experience of physicians, it can be used to help treat patients in a very targeted and individualized way. Current AI applications are always built into a process that a clinician controls. This means that the decision-making power and therefore also the final responsibility lies with them, not with the software.

Read the whole article (in German)...

Machine Ethics and Explainable AI

"If robots take decisions of ethical significance, they should learn to follow moral principles. But which moral principles should we implement in machines? And which decisions should be left to humans?" Claus Beisbart is the Director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Bern and member of the CAIM Ethics Lab. In this video portrait, he raises important questions that need a broader discussion in society.

Watch the researcher video...

Relevance and Limits of Ambient Sensors

The Gerontology and Rehabilitation research group of the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research and the Department of Neurology at Inselspital is researching the potential of sensors for the care and support of the elderly. "I am convinced that sensor technology will become widely accepted in the next five years or so," says group leader Tobias Nef in an interview with Curaviva. Medical ethicist Nikola Biller-Andorno cautions that the benefits of sensors for living independently at home for as long as possible should be weighed against trade-offs for privacy.

Read the whole interview (German-language)...

AI-assisted personalized radiotherapy

With new premises, the Department for Radio-Oncology at Inselspital is becoming a state-of-the-art center for the radio-oncological treatment of cancer patients. Three latest-generation devices are available for precise radiation therapy. With Varian's "Ethos", Inselspital is the first center in Switzerland to implement AI-assisted adaptive radiotherapy for patient-centered, personalized medicine. This opens up new opportunities for collaboration and research avenues in AI technologies in the framework of CAIM.

News article Insel Gruppe (German-language)...

CAIM launches Research Project Fund

Innovative project ideas that demonstrate a clear patient benefit and high potential for disrupting current medical procedures can now be submitted to the CAIM Research Project Fund. The first funding call opens 1 July 2021. Submission deadline is 15 September.

Call details and application documents…

AI improves speech quality for hearing aid users

Hearing aid or hearing implant users find it challenging to understand their conversational partner in noisy environments because current audio processors still insufficiently allow them to focus on specific sound sources. In a feasibility study, researchers from the Hearing Research Laboratory (HRL) at the University of Bern and the Inselspital are now suggesting that artificial intelligence could solve this problem.

Details on the study…

AI in Medicine - What Doctors need to know

What can AI do today in healthcare and what are future chances and limits? Neuroradiologist Roland Wiest explains in the AMBOSS Podcast for clinicians, why patient-benefit must be proven, how secure AI systems for medicine are and why physicians (in training) should bother to learn the lingo of computer scientists.

Listen to the podcast (in German)...

A surgeon, an engineer and a philosopher on AI

Data-based technologies such as AI are increasingly finding their way into medical care. For its new employee magazine "WIR", the Insel Group interviewed a visceral surgeon, a computer scientist and a philosopher of science about the opportunities, challenges and future prospects.

Read the article (German and French)...

Unlocking the Potential of Nuclear Medicine

"The fascinating thing about AI in my field is that it can integrate informatics with physics, chemistry, biology and medicine," says Kuangyu Shi, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Translational Theranostics in Nuclear Medicine at the Inselspital. In our second researcher video, he envisions clinicians and engineers to develop a shared broader vision of the possibilities of AI in healthcare for the benefit of patients.

Watch the researcher video...

AI could soon tell you, how often to see the eye doctor

Three of the most common chronic eye conditions require regular medical check-ups and injections into the eye by ophthalmology specialists to keep looming blindness at bar. A study by the University of Bern and the Inselspital in collaboration with an AI in eye care startup now demonstrates that patients’ individual ideal frequency for these visits can quite accurately be predicted by machine learning – yielding a threefold benefit.

Read the media release...

Bern Data Science Day established

Data science research is on the rise at the University of Bern. For an initial stocktaking of ongoing projects in various faculties, the first Data Science Day was recently held. Following the great success of the pilot edition, the event is now to be held annually.

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PhD thesis defense Thomas Kurmann

Thomas Kurmann, member of the ARTORG Center Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging Lab (AIMI), has successfully defended his PhD thesis on 20 May 2021. For his thesis “From Diagnosis to Surgery: Towards Artificial Intelligence based Medical Assistants”, Thomas Kurmann has investigated four image-based AI assistants – two for ophthalmology and two for laparascopy, both fields that rely extensively on medical imaging and are ideally suited for the application of such assistants.

More on AIMI research...

AI Technologies in Psychiatry

"Already during medical school, I was fascinated by neurodegenerative diseases, how they can be diagnosed and treated," says Stefan Klöppel, Head of the Department of Old Age Psychiatry at the Bern University Psychiatry Services.

Watch the first researcher video in our new "People" section...

Space technology in the operating theater

The instruments were developed to search for signs of life on other planets. But now they will also be used to distinguish healthy nerve cells from brain tumor cells. A conversation with astrophysicist Brice-Olivier Demory and CAIM Director Raphael Sznitman about the project BrainPol.

Read the article by Ori Schipper...

PhD thesis defense Tatiana Fountoukidou

Congratulations to Tatiana Fountoukidou, Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging lab (AIMI), for her successful PhD thesis defense on 4 May 2021! Titled "Towards safer machine learning for ophthalmology applications", her PhD project aimed at providing a tool to testbed machine learning algorithms through sets of dynamic questions to help clinicians see which clinical systems they can trust before implementing them into patient care.

More on AIMI research…

Biomedical Engineering Day

first virtual edition of the traditional Bern BME Day

Learn about the MSc BME and new MSc AIM programs, meet industry representatives, the research groups of the ARTORG Center, BME alumni and the Support Center for Advanced Neuroimaging of the Bern University Hospital in a virtual interactive coffee break.

Further information and registration...

Artificial Intelligence meets Nutrition

"I believe that multidisciplinary work is fundamental to create a complete system that meets user needs," says Maria Vasiloglou, PhD student at the ARTORG AI in Health and Nutrition (AIHN) lab. In an interview with Nutrition Hub, she explains how she as a dietitian works in the lab with a team of engineers and computer scientists and in close interaction with healthcare professionals to create user-friendly technology for dietary monitoring and assessment.

Read on…

PhD thesis defense Yannick Suter

Yannick Suter, member of the ARTORG Center Medical Imaging Analysis (MIA) lab, has successfully defended his PhD thesis defense on 14 April 2021. For the project “Advanced Machine Learning Technologies for Robust Longitudinal Radiomics and Response Assessment in Glioblastoma Multiforme“, supported by the Swiss Cancer League, he had investigated advanced machine learning techniques on MRI imaging with robust radiomics for overall survival analysis, longitudinal volumetry, and disease progression biomarkers.

More on MIA research...

"Software cannot be blamed" - Interview with Guido Beldi

Visceral surgeon Guido Beldi tells the Berner Zeitung why he thinks a software assessing surgical performance is going to be beneficial not only for patients but also for surgeons: "The data should be used in the sense of optimizing one’s own surgical strategy."

Read full interview (in German, ABO)...
More on the research in our news section

Swiss Tele Emergency Medicine Congress

featuring blocks on education and training and on future perspectives
in German and English

Learn more and register...

CAIM officially opened

The Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (CAIM) of the University of Bern and the Insel Gruppe with the partners sitem-insel and the Bern University Psychiatry Services UPD was officially inaugurated yesterday. The virtual opening event with 500 registered participants offered insights into controversial topics and current research projects on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

More information and event recordings...

Bern Data Science Day

The Bern Data Science Day brings together data scientists from the University of Bern, the Bern University Hospital, sitem-insel and the Psychiatric University Clinic (UPD) for a unique conference on applied Data Science.

Learn more...

Swiss Biobanking Platform Workshop

"Connecting Researchers and BioBanks: The BioLink experience. What`s "NExT"?

Further information and registration...

National Conference on Dementia

including the topics of sleep disorders in Alzheimer's disease and assistive technologies for dementia
online event in German and French

Further information...

When sparks and grit bring AI to the patient

Raphael Sznitman, Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (CAIM), is a leading expert at the interface between medicine, artificial intelligence (AI), and engineering. On the eve of the CAIM Opening, he talks about his motivation to research AI.

Read the entire interview for UniAktuell...

OPENING CAIM

Thank you for joining us for our Virtual Opening Event!
We have recorded the talks and presentations for those who would like to revisit or who were unable to attend.

Go to program and recordings...

Using AI to assess surgical performance

A research team at Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern and Caresyntax has succeeded in proving that artificial intelligence can reliably assess surgeons’ skills. A method involving a three-stage procedure has been presented that correctly designates good and mediocre performance with a high accuracy rate. This paves the way for further steps towards AI-supported expert systems.

Efficient treatment of stroke with AI and federated learning

A research team of Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, the University of Bern and the «Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois» (CHUV) uses AI to improve efficiency of treatment after stroke. The project Advanced Stroke Analysis Platform (ASAP) applies federated learning that links the database of each hospital center without exchange of raw data. Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation agency, promotes the project.

Learn more...

Reliably predicting progression of Covid-19

Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern are currently launching the world’s first multicenter, international study on AI-assisted prediction of severe progressions of Covid-19. The research uses artificial intelligence to evaluate extensive clinical, image-morphological and laboratory data. The study, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, aims to provide reliable predictions as to whether a specific case would lead to a severe progression of Covid-19.

More details...

Brainweek: Gender & Brain

Digital event in German
15-18 March 2021
Featuring presentations on learning behavior of women and men, brain diseases, space exploration by female researchers, and life after stroke.

Browse the program...

Digitising clinical data: Where does Switzerland stand?

AI has demonstrated that it can surpass human capabilities in biotechnology and imaging. The idea of non-human intelligence getting the better of humans may seem scary, but the truth is that physicians and scientists increasingly see it as a valuable ally in their daily work.

Read the entire swissinfo article...

Workshop: Tissue Microarray Novel Applications

Virtual Workshop
14.00 - 18.00 h
Free On-Line Registration

Click to join...

Deep learning reads tissue microarrays of colorectal cancer

Tissue microarray (TMA) core images are a treasure trove for AI applications. But a common problem with TMAs is multiple sectioning of the TMA block, which can change the content of the core and requires re-labelling of each spot image. The Institute of Pathology of the University of Bern has investigated different ensemble methods for colorectal tissue classification using high-throughput TMAs.

Details on the study

Fabian Balsiger receives best GCB Thesis Award

Fabian Balsiger investigates methods for quantitative MRI of neuromuscular diseases based on medical image computing and machine learning under the supervision of Mauricio Reyes, ARTORG MIA group. The PhD student at the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB) was presented with the Best Thesis Award 2020 at the GCB Symposium on 28 January 2021.

More on the research...

A NEAT reduction of complex neuronal models

Unlike their simple counterparts in AI applications, neurons in the brain use dendrites – intricate tree-like branches – to find relevant chunks of information. Now, neuroscientists from the University of Bern have discovered a new computational method to make complex dendrite models much simpler. This could enable AI applications to process information much like the brain does.

Details on the study...

AI for quality assurance in radiation therapy planning: Project funded

The Medical Image Analysis group at the ARTORG Center, University of Bern, received funding support from the Swiss Cancer League to work on AI technologies for quality assurance in Radiation Therapy planning, in partnership with the Radiation Oncology Departments of the USZ and the Inselspital.

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Thomas Sauter receives endowed professorship in emergency telemedicine

Thomas Sauter, Head of Education, eHealth and Emergency Telemedicine at Bern University Hospital's emergency center has been appointed by the University Executive Board for an endowed professorship in emergency telemedicine. The assistant professorship was established thanks to the support of the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS). It deals with "eHealth" in the field of emergency medicine and is one of the very few of its kind in the world.

Read the media release...

Sinergia project on trans-omics against colorectal cancer to start

The University of Bern Institute of Pathology has won a Swiss Science Foundation Sinergia grant to develop an integrative computational and clinical perspective on colorectal cancer, an important cause of cancer-related mortality in Switzerland. In collaboration with the ZHAW, the Institute of System Biology, ETH Zürich and IBM Research, the group will improve patient stratification, prognosis and treatment prediction via an AI-driven multi-modal classifier trained to predict molecular classification and identify other important clinical variables.

Prix Retina for Thomas Kurmann

Thomas Kurmann, PhD student at the Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging lab of the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, has been awarded the Prix Retina 2020 for his research on "Expert-level Automated Biomarker Identification in Optical Coherence Tomography Scans". Together with doctors from the Inselspital Department of Ophthalmology he had developed and tested a machine learning method capable of consistently identifying a wide range of common retinal biomarkers from OCT scans.

Details on the study...

Smartphone verifies compliance with Mediterranean diet

The ARTORG Artificial Intelligence in Health and Nutrition lab, the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute of the University of Zurich and Oviva SA have together developed a smartphone application to automatically estimate whether a person adheres to a health-promoting Mediterranean diet. First results of the novel system are promising.

Details on the approach…

SDiPath 2021

Annual General Assembly Swiss Digital Pathology

PhD thesis defense Ya Lu

Congratulations to Ya Lu, Artificial Intelligence in Health and Nutrition lab, for successfully defending her PhD thesis “Dietary assessment based on computer vision and machine learning“ on 15 December 2020! For her project, she and the team designed and developed several high-performance and user- friendly dietary assessment approaches based on advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms, enabling automatic estimation of calories and macronutrients for targeting meals in distinct application scenarios.

More about AI-based dietary monitoring…

MADiMa 2020

6th International Workshop on Multimedia Assisted Dietary Management
(Virtual Conference)

AI X-ray analysis detects Covid-19 more reliably

A team of researchers at Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Research at the University of Bern has developed a new chest radiography image analysis for the detection of COVID-19. The researchers compared this artificial intelligence (AI) with standard, diagnostic annotation by radiologists. Especially for distinguishing COVID-19 from non-COVID-19 lung disease, AI provided significantly more reliable results.

Details on the study...

RetinAI to collaborate with Novartis

The Bern-based AI startup RetinAI Medical AG has announced a multi-year collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG employing its IT solutions and artificial intelligence tools to support multiple projects in ophthalmology and digital health. The first project will be a multi-center international clinical study to assess disease activity in more than 500 patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). RetinAI is a spinoff of the Bern University ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research.

RetinAI press release ...

PhD thesis Alain Jungo

The ARTORG Center congratulates Alain Jungo for his successful PhD thesis defense on 3 December 2020 under the title “Applications and Insights of Uncertainty Estimates in Automated Brain Tumor Segmentation“. The member of the Medical Imaging Analysis (MIA) lab has investigated whether uncertainty estimations can improve the robustness of deep learning algorithms used for brain tumor characterizations before and after treatment.

More about MIA lab research…

AI and the world’s fastest whole-body PET/CT scanner

Recently, the world’s fastest whole-body PET/CT scanner was installed at the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital. The scanner renders 4D images for a 106 cms field of view in just a few seconds, opening up new dimensions in research, diagnostics and therapy management. Kuangyu Shi, member of the Bern Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (CAIM) and Head of Lab for AI and Translational Theranostics at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Inselspital, explains how AI can help alleviate the challenges the new technology poses...

Bern founds Center for AI in Medicine

The University of Bern and the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, are founding a leading Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in Bern with the University Psychiatry Services and the sitem-insel translational research hub as partners. The virtual research center to be launched in January 2021 will unite Bernese expertise in medicine, computer science and engineering to educate future generations of “digital native” medical professionals and develop new AI technologies for the benefit of patients.

Details and University of Bern press release...