معرفی
Maria A. Zuluaga is a Lecturer in Data Science at EURECOM, leading the groundbreaking Caravel project funded by a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant (2024). This €2 million initiative aims to construct a spatio-temporal atlas of the cerebral vascular system using AI-driven analysis of MRI scans from 50 volunteers aged 25-70, in collaboration with King's College London and Nice University Hospital.
Her research bridges computer science and medical applications, focusing on extracting and characterizing complex cerebral vascular structures through artificial intelligence. The Caravel project seeks to overcome current imaging limitations by developing standardized tools that work across multiple imaging modalities, with the ultimate goal of creating the largest neurovascular database ever assembled (over 50,000 images).
- ERC Consolidator Grant recipient (2024), the only French computer science project selected that year
- Developing open-access vascular atlas for global medical research
- Focus on detecting early signatures of neurological conditions including stroke and Alzheimer's disease
Zuluaga previously worked in industry at Amadeus in Nice before returning to academia, bringing valuable cross-sector experience to her ERC application. She is deeply committed to open science, stating: "If I make this atlas and keep it for myself, it has no impact. I want it to serve medical research worldwide." Her work represents a convergence of geographical exploration (as a Colombian researcher studying brain "vessels"), scientific inquiry, and technological innovation.
