Come with us as we take a dive into the intricate maze of medical archives, ancient histology and archeogenomics. This blog will be the record of not only our scientific work, but also the life of our international and multi-disciplinary team in Geneva and Strasbourg. Comment, ask questions, make demands, we seek to make this research accessible and share our passion for the project with as many people as possible.

We are not simply conducting another medical study. We intend to act as the interface between new information technologies, next generation sequencing, history and material culture. The Geneva Brain Bank (GBB) and the Strasbourg Pathological Tissue Archive (SPTA) comprise hundreds of thousands of pages of autospy, histological and medical records from the late 19th century to the 2000s, associated with as many microscopic slides and Formalin-Fixed tissues, and they will be the target of our analyses. We will:

• Digitize the written records
• Use cutting-edge AI tools for text recognition and indexing
• Study the archived microscopic slides
• Develop AI-tools to automate the analysis of scanned slides
• Extract DNA from the Formalin-Fixed Tissues
• From these tissues, sequence the complete genome of Treponema pallidum, the agent of syphilis
• Study the history of the archives and of medical and forensic practice
• Recover the personal and social histories of ordinary patients

The ArchiMed project is more than a research study; it’s a journey through the complexities of medical data, ethics, and interdisciplinary exploration. We’re not just in search of answers; we’re also defining new questions. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to unravel the mysteries hidden in historical medical data.