icon
Close
My ERS
icon
icon

Home Science and Research Clinical Research Collaboration: application programme PROFILE.net – PROgressive Fibrosing Lung diseasEs.network

PROFILE.net – PROgressive Fibrosing Lung diseasEs.network

CRC Chairs:
Julien Guiot (University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium)
Simon Walsh (Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom)

About PROFILE.net

The PROFILE.net (PROgressive Fibrosing Lung diseasEs.network) clinical research collaboration was launched by the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in 2022. Artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly been serving the field of radiology over the last 50 years. As modern medicine is evolving towards precision medicine, offering personalised patient care and treatment, the need for robust imaging biomarkers has gradually increased in the particular field of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs).

Exploring new reliable quantification tools is a growing matter of interest.

PROFILE.net seeks to connect clinicians, scientists and experts in the fields of progressive fibrosing ILD (pf-ILD) and AI to redefine typical ILD patterns in order to improve and develop clinical decision support systems, which are highly necessary in the evaluation of ILDs.

Specific aims

PROFILE.net aims to build a collaborative and lively academic network that will focus on the development of imaging-based diagnosis and prognosis models of pf-ILD which would then tend to stimulate and support research proposals focusing on new evaluation models.

More specifically, the objectives of this CRC are to:

  • Establish and formalise an academic network focusing on pf-ILD between identified clinical and expert partners.
  • Support and promote early-career researchers and more senior researchers, and both clinicians and thoracic radiologists in the field through involvement in network activities.
  • Initiate further development of new diagnosis, prognosis and treatment assessment tools.
  • Develop and nourish the current international open-access knowledge on pf-ILD.
  • Develop a radiomics-based approach in the identification of pf-ILD features.

Operational Aspects

To achieve those aims, five work packages have been composed:

  • WP 1: Set-up of fruitful and participative international collaborations and discussions between identified clinical partners.
  • WP 2: Set up of dedicated development paths and identified needs in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment assessment.
  • WP 3: Foster the development of dedicated radiomics model of pf-ILD.
  • WP 4: Enhance the quantification of pf-ILD.
  • WP 5: Leverage the automatised labelling of pf-ILD features.

Stakeholders

PROFILE.net has an eight-member steering committee, including a scientific manager and composed of clinician researchers, experts in translational research, young investigators and patient representatives.

Contact

If you would like more information about PROFILE.net or would like to join the network, please contact scientific@ersnet.org.

Publications

Automated AI-based image analysis for quantification and prediction of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis patients
Guiot J, Henket M, Gester F, André B, Ernst B, Frix AN, Smeets D, Van Eyndhoven S, Antoniou K, Conemans L, Gote-Schniering J, Slabbynck H, Kreuter M, Sellares J, Tomos I, Yang G, Ribbens C, Louis R, Cottin V, Tomassetti S, Smith V, Walsh S L.F. Respir Res 26, 39. Published Jan 24, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-025-03117-9