Sooyong Chae, PhD student at LPICM, is representing École Polytechnique at the Falling Walls Lab competition

You're from South Korea and went to New Zealand to pursue your master's degree. What led you to carry out your thesis at LPCIM? 

I’m passionate about solving problems in a health-related field. I first became interested in health economics, which I studied for my master’s degree. Then I realized that AI was a powerful tool for exploring biomedical applications. So, I completed a second master’s degree in AI. During a personal trip to France, my former master’s advisor put me in touch with Tatiana Novikova, who was working on a project in polarimetry for neurosurgery. I sent her an email, we talked, and that’s how I ended up joining LPICM for my PhD ! 

Your research focuses on a real-time polarimetric imaging instrument for neurosurgery. What is it about?

The ultimate goal is to assist surgeons in real time as they operate on brain tumors, in order to spare healthy tissue as much as possible.  The instrument developed at LPICM emits light with a specific polarization (the property that describes the oscillation of light waves) onto the tissue, then detects how this polarization has changed. These changes provide information about the characteristics of the tissue being observed. We apply machine learning algorithms throughout the pipeline so that the instrument can be lighter and faster for surgical use. We have already conducted in vivo imaging, and development of the device is ongoing. 

What challenges did you face when combining fields as diverse as AI, physics, and neurosurgery? What did you gain from this experience?

The biggest challenge was learning polarimetry from scratch, as well as the clinical aspects of neurosurgery. Fortunately, my thesis advisor, Tatiana Novikova, supported me, for example, by teaching me catch-up lessons.  In addition, I’m very well supported by our team, especially by Théotim Lucas, who is a postdoc and colleague. I was also able to spend several months on exchange programs at Florida International University (U.S.) and Imperial College London. I’ve learned a lot thanks to this thesis.

Falling Walls Lab with a 3-minute pitch competition with 100 young researchers. Why do you think it’s important to communicate about your research?

 It’s important because the general public and decision-makers need to understand the impact of our research. You have to know how to adapt to the person you’re talking to. I’ve had the opportunity to explain my research to my family on several occasions. Some didn’t see why we needed to move so fast or why it’s crucial to have real-time tools, for example. It’s a good exercise, and I was fortunate to be well prepared for it here.

*LPICM: a joint research unit CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120 Palaiseau, France