Project description
New detector and algorithms for CHD detection
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a common and often fatal congenital malformation with low antenatal detection rates. Recent shortages in sonography expertise, among other issues, have made the detection and prevention of CHD increasingly difficult. The ERC-funded CHARMS project will develop innovative and robust detectors for ultrasound imaging and CHD, accompanied by a series of normative representation learning (NRL) algorithms and extensive datasets. This will improve subtle abnormality detection, significantly enhance CHD detection, and use normality-focused models that ensure trustworthiness and robustness even under poor image quality or across varying ultrasound scanners. The project relies on the foundations of the ERC MIA-NORMAL project.
Objective
CHARMS aims to transform prenatal screening by developing novel normative representation learning (NRL) algorithms for ultrasound imaging and introducing them into clinical workflows, to enhance early detection of congenital heart anomalies. Addressing disparities in maternity outcomes and global shortages in sonography expertise, the project targets improving the detection of congenital heart disease (CHD), a common and often fatal congenital malformation with low antenatal detection rates. Building on the ERC MIA-NORMAL project, we will create robust out-of-distribution detectors specifically for ultrasound imaging and CHD, utilising comprehensive data, including videos, images, and patient characteristics. CHARMS tools will identify subtle abnormalities in motion patterns or anatomical changes, significantly enhancing CHD detection in practice.
We will develop normality-focused models to confidently confirm normal development and malformations using ultrasound video data, design self-supervised anomaly detectors to identify 'unknown unknowns’ and equip models with generative capabilities to ensure trustworthiness and robustness against covariate shifts such as poor image quality or varying ultrasound scanners. Through generative techniques we will also validate and refine 3D+time representations of fetal cardiac anatomy, facilitating a comparative analysis with MRI data, further enhancing model precision.
Additionally, CHARMS will explore correlations between non-imaging and imaging phenotypes, utilising knowledge distillation to align features with physiological textbook knowledge. This will generate synthetic scan variants that match clinical phenotypes, enabling a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of new image-based biomarkers.
A Quality Assurance framework will be established to ensure model safety and robustness, complying with the EU AI Act, including protocols for rigorous validation against known physiological facts.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine anatomy and morphology
- engineering and technology chemical engineering separation technologies distillation
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-POC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
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