IEEE EMBS International Summer School on Biomedical Imaging, Island of Berder, France:
the second edition
Convening on the Island of Berder in Brittany (France), the second edition of the
Summer School on Biomedical Imaging was attended by 48 participants from 19 countries
(Algeria, Belgium, Brasil, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India,
Iran, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland, USA, Venezuela). After the
age of the pioneers who first set up the Summer School, the second edition has consolidated
the original principles promoted by its founder, Dr Jean-Louis Coatrieux. The same spirit has been shared by the lecturers and the participants: a high scientific content,
freedom of thought, high-quality individual and collective contributions, and a relaxed
atmosphere.
The second edition of the summer school has been sponsored by the International Federation
of Medical and Biological Engineering, the European Society of Engineering in Medicine,
the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine, and Innovation et Technologies en Biologie et Medecine. Supporting this intitiative
are INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale), INRIA (Institut
National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique), Telecom Bretagne, Universite
de Rennes I, Universite Joseph Fourier and the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique DTA-LETI.
They have been joined by the Biomedical and Health Research Programme of the European
Commission and Philips Medical Systems, as well as by Digital Equipment Corporation and Silicon Graphics International.
The Regional Institutions (General Council of Morbihan, Regional Council of Brittany,
the City of Vannes and District of Vannes) are also supporting the School as an international
scientific group, concurrently with progress in developping the University of South Brittany.
Various new topics were featured for this second edition: a new course program, a
stimulating "Historical perspective" lecture by Eric Ritman from the Mayo Clinic,
Rochester, MN, USA, an "Inspirational lecture" entitled Diagnostic Medical Imaging
and the Big Picture, presented by Michael Vannier from University of Iowa, Iowa, USA, and the
"junior lecture" on Cardiac Imaging presented by Patrick Clarysse (CREATIS, INSA
Lyon, France), who was selected among the students of the first edition after a very
tight competition. Two poster sessions were organized by the participants, and two panel
sessions took place, the first one on scientific communication moderated by the lecturers,
and the second one, organized by the students, on the issue of establishing closer links between physicians and engineers in Medical imaging.
The new curriculum was the heart of this new edition of the School Most of the hot
topics in Biomedical imaging were addressed through a highly intensive program. Gabor
Herman (University of Pennsylvania, USA) reviewed the methods of image reconstuction
from projections, with a broad range of applications including standard modalities,
and, as well, photon migration imaging and electron microscopic reconstruction. Stochastic
modeling and estimation in Medical imaging was discussed by Richard Leahy (University of Southern California, USA), starting from the mathematical basis up to the application
of a core stochastic framework to PET, SPECT, EEG, MEG, MRI segmentation and fusion
of multi-modal imaging data. Harrisson Barrett (University of Arizona, USA) addressed the issue of "Objective evaluation of image quality" from both 'human observer'
and 'computer observer' points of view, with developments on mathematical model observers
and applications to the optimization of imaging systems and image processing algorithms. The AI approach was presented by Catherine Garbay (TIMC-IMAG, France) during
her lecture entitled 'Image understanding: from pragmatism to methodology' through
various case studies leading to two main methodologocal viewpoints (scene based system
design and user based system design) and hybrid methods. Arie Kaufman (State University
of New York, USA) reviewed the methods of visualization of 3-D images, and more specifically
volume rendering methods, including software and hardware aspects and various applications. Image compression in Medicine, with emphasis on second generation
coding techniques based on the psychophysics and the neurobiology of the human vision,
was addressed by Murat Kunt (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland).
Paolo Dario (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy) presented the current trends in
Computer Assited Surgery, starting from an interdisciplinary viewpoint and presenting
the state-of-the-art of techniques for planning and simulation, as well as results
in computer assisted interventions.
We are now in the process of initiating a tradition since, following evryone's enthousiasm,
the 3rd Summer school on Biomedical Imaging is planned to be held in June 1998, again
on Berder Island. It will be organized by Jean- Louis Coatrieux and his team (coatrieu@ltsi.univ-rennes1.fr). Audiovisual archives (books of lectures, slides -
even broken ones !-, videotapes) are being gathered, and will serve as the memories
of the School for years to come, and for its contribution to the scientific thesaurus
of Biomedical Imaging.
Some participant comments follow:
Thank you very much for the nice stay - W. Smolik (Poland) An excellent program; will
have a lasting impact on my career - T. Nichols (USA) I have thought of many ideas
to implement in my own research. It was stimulating - D. Wilson (USA) The IEEE Summer
school is a very worthwhile (time) investment - K. Straters (The Netherlands) Food
and lecture ! Who can ask for more ? - I. Hovig (Norway) It was an occasion to ask
the questions, discuss and find new ideas - H. Abrishami (Iran/France) Excellent
organization and wonderful lectures - X. Liu (China/Belgium) What a great Summer School. So
many things to discuss about - F. Pipelier (France) An intellectually and socially
rewarding experience - M. Chan (USA) Having the lecturers among the students creates
a unique atmosphere - J.J. Vaquero (Spain) Berder island is the perfect place for a Summer
School - E. Promayon (France) Very well organized. Outstanding cuisine - Anonymous
() This kind of event gives me a lot of enthousiasm for my future life - D. Henry
(France) I had very high expectations of the Summer School when I got here, and the organizers
did very well to surpass my expectations. Thank You. - T.K. Narayan (India/USA) L'
"esprit de l'Ecole" annonce sur le web a vraiment ete l'esprit de ces 10 jours bien
constructifs - K. Malkani (France) Thanks for a great experience - S. Loncaric (Croatia)
Thank you very much for given us the chance to participate - C. de Sola (Spain/Switzerland)
The Summer program provided me a sense of direction of my future research. The atmosphere was incredible - J. Park (USA) Everything has an end, only the saussages
have two (german proverb) - G. Kontaxakis (Greece/Germany)
Soon available on the Web (URL: http://www-ieee96ss.enst-bretagne.fr) the full cartoons
of the lecturers drawn by a participant! Have a look and enjoy!
Christian Roux and Guy Cazuguel
Back to the Summer School home page.