Computational innovation in healthcare supported by a 2nd ERC grant

This second ERC grant opens up new challenges for Elie Hachem and the CFL team!

A return to March 2022 is necessary to understand today’s news.

First an ERC Consolidator in 2022

In March 2022, CEMEF celebrated the remarkable first award of an ERC Consolidator grant (€1.9 million over 5 years) to Elie Hachem for the CURE (Controlling Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms) project.

The aim: to tackle cerebral aneurysms using a multidisciplinary approach combining fluid mechanics, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and machine learning, in order to propose personalized treatments based on high-fidelity simulations.

The ERC CURE grant enabled doctoral research by four doctoral students: Paul Garnier and Ugo Pelissier (class of 2023),Chiara Faitini and John Zarate (class of 2024) and one postdoctoral fellow, Enzo D’Ambrosio Azzara. It has given rise to numerous research articles and conferences.

An online conference given by Elie Hachem in March 2025 illustrates the evolution of the project and the strategy of coupling AI + digital simulation to save lives.

Today, an ERC Proof of Concept grant

The ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant is additional funding reserved for researchers who have already received a main ERC grant, and who wish to verify and develop the innovative potential of results from an ERC project.

Elie Hachem’s VRAI-CURE project is one of 134 selected from all over Europe, and 12 from French institutions. This selection once again demonstrates the excellence of the research and applications of Elie’s work and that of the CFL team.

This grant aims to provide concrete, high-impact solutions in the medical field:
– integrating the AI simulation models developed in CURE into a clinical decision-making software platform for use in hospitals
– validating the tools in collaboration with medical partners

The aim of this 2nd project, entitled “Virtual Reality and AI for Real-Time Clinical Decision Support and Intracranial Aneurysm Risk Prediction”, is to transfer the digital models and AI developed in the laboratory to the surgical unit, so that they become a real decision-support tool for surgeons.

Elie Hachem and his team continue to fly the CEMEF flag high, moving from ERC Consolidator funding for a complex multi-disciplinary research project to new ERC PoC funding, enabling them to envisage a new stage with operational implementation. This journey is a perfect illustration of the “laboratory to impact” transition strategy so central to the ERC and the French research ecosystem.

> Find out more about CFL team research

> Find out more about the ERC CURE grant