MKG project receives SNSF funding

The interdisciplinary project is being carried out by Prof Andreas A. Müller and PD Dr Benito Benitez together with Prof Barbara Solenthaler from the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. The research project will receive funding totalling 1.3 million Swiss francs over the next four years. The approval is particularly remarkable as only 14 out of 75 submitted projects were funded.

The funding builds on a successful collaboration that has been established over the past five years through joint SNSF and BRCCH projects. The Facial and Cranial Anomalies research group, based at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Clinical Research at the University of Basel, is thus continuing its work at the interface of medicine, artificial intelligence and computer-aided modelling.

The aim of the project is to develop patient-specific digital twins for children with cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial malformations. With the help of artificial intelligence, medical image data, 3D scans and photographs are combined to create virtual 3D models of the face, palate and skull.

The models are intended to support diagnostics, surgical planning and the long-term assessment of treatment outcomes in the future. In the long term, the technology could help to improve clinical decisions, reduce stressful examinations and further individualise the care of children with craniofacial malformations.

Congratulations to Prof Andreas Müller, PD Dr Benito Benitez and all the researchers involved on this outstanding success.