Kategorie: ‘Medizintechnik’
European Research Council Funds Two Groundbreaking RWTH Projects
The RWTH Aachen celebrates a major success: Two researchers have been awarded the prestigious ERC Starting Grant, each receiving €1.5 million in funding over five years.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Truhn, senior physician at University Hospital RWTH Aachen and lecturer at the Chair of Image Processing at our Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, where he teaches the lecture “Biomedical Engineering”, is launching SAGMA (Semantic-Aware Generative Medical AI), a project that rethinks AI in radiology by connecting specialized AI modules into an expert team that supports doctors with complex diagnoses.
© Peter Winandy / RWTH Aachen University
A second grant goes to, Dr. Khiêm Vu Ngoc, at the Chair of Continuum Mechanics, is developing PolyFun (Polymer Mechanics through Function Spaces), a novel approach that combines physics and machine learning. His models are designed to be not only precise but also reliable and transparent – with wide-ranging applications in materials science, medicine, and robotics.
These grants highlight RWTH’s international recognition and the strong role of our Faculty in advancing AI and medical technology.
Klee Prize 2025: Controllable exoskeletons – Support instead of replacement
Dr.-Ing. Lukas Bergmann impresses with his award-winning doctoral thesis, in which he developed an active exoskeleton and a cooperative controller to support movement intentions in real time.
Dr.-Ing. Lukas Bergmann won second place in the Klee Prize 2025 with his doctoral thesis. He received the award for the development of an active exoskeleton that uses innovative control technology to record and support movement intentions.
Dr.-Ing. Lukas Bergmann | @mediT
Worldwide, strokes result in mobility problems, and traditional treatments are frequently resource-intensive. Robotic rehabilitation systems can provide support when patients initiate movements independently. Dr. Lukas Bergmann explains:
„In the long term, research into exoskeletons can make a significant contribution to supporting people with musculoskeletal disorders. The exciting thing for me is that control technology has a very practical application here.“
It describes an active exoskeleton that enables safe coupling between humans and devices, as well as a cooperative controller that supports joint torques in real time.
It is also worth mentioning that Dr.-Ing. Sonja Ehreiser (mediTEC, RWTH Aachen University) won first place in the Klee Prize 2025 for her dissertation on improving the care of patients with knee prostheses.
The VDE, a leading technology organization in Europe, has been promoting innovation and technological progress for over 130 years. With the Klee Prize 2025, the VDE honors outstanding research work that offers great benefits for patients and shapes the future of medical technology.
The VDE (VDE Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies) is based in Frankfurt am Main. More information at VDE Website
Source: VDE Press Release
Professor Janina Fels is the designated president of the German Acoustical Society
Professor Fels in the soundproofed laboratory, surrounded by loudspeakers at different room heights. © Peter Winandy
We are delighted and honoured to announce that Professor Janina Fels, Head of the Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics (IHTA) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, has been elected Vice President and designated President of the German Acoustical Society (DEGA).
Professor Fels will begin her term as Vice President on 1 July 2025 and will be appointed President of DEGA in 2028 in accordance with the statutes. This election is not only a personal success for her, but also a significant recognition of the excellent work in the field of acoustics at RWTH Aachen University. With her scientific expertise, which ranges from acoustic virtual reality to medical and psychoacoustics to room and building acoustics, she has had a lasting influence on the field and has built up an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally.
However, her path also began with a degree in electrical engineering at the RWTH, before Professor Janina Fels completed her doctorate with honours at the Institute of Technical Acoustics under the title ‘From Children to Adults: How Binaural Cues and Ear Canal Impedances Grow’.
‘The election of Professor Fels to head this important institution is a strong sign of the visibility and relevance of acoustics research at RWTH Aachen – and an incentive for young scientists to continue along this path,’ says Martina Dahm, Managing Director of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.
The German Acoustical Society (DEGA) is the central scientific society for acoustics in the German-speaking world. It was founded in 1988 and currently has around 1,900 individual members and more than 70 sponsoring institutions. DEGA promotes interdisciplinary cooperation in acoustics, organises the renowned annual DAGA conference, awards prizes for scientific excellence and is internationally networked in associations such as the European Acoustics Association (EAA) and the International Commission on Acoustics (ICA).
We warmly congratulate Professor Janina Fels on her election and wish her every success for the coming term, scientific impetus and a continued inspiring contribution to shaping the acoustics community.
Further information on acoustics research can be found on the IHTA and DEGA homepages.
Neuromorphic Hardware: Kick-off event in January
The NeuroSys future cluster at RWTH enters its second phase
At the beginning of this year, the Cluster4Future NeuroSys (Neuromorphic Hardware for Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Systems) is entering its second phase.
The Clusters4Future initiative is part of the German government’s High-Tech Strategy 2025 and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
At the kick-off event at the end of January, more than 90 participants discussed their ideas and technologies for the development of neuromorphic hardware in the Super C at RWTH Aachen University.
Neuromorphic systems are modelled on the basic building blocks of the brain, neurons and synapses. Neuromorphic hardware is a resource-saving but powerful basis for energy-intensive artificial intelligence research operations. The aim is to create a technology basis for neuromorphic components and alogrithms, building on the basic research carried out at RWTH Aachen University and the Jülich Research Centre. The coordinator of the future cluster is Professor Max Lemme, Head of the Chair of Electronic Components at RWTH Aachen University.
Learning neuromorphic AI chips could soon enable energy-efficient on-site data processing and thus offer promising prospects for future working methods, smart city concepts and the Internet of Things. Various contributions from autonomous driving to learning systems and personalised medicine will also be delivered.
The second phase of the project is planned for three years and will see RWTH collaborating with a wide range of experts from research and industry.
Further information on the project can be found here
‘Colloquium Biomedical Engineering and Related Fields’ – Invitation to the current lecture
The lecture, entitled ‘Mobility in older adults‘, will be moderated by Professor Steffen Leonhardt, Chair holder of the Medical Information Technology (MedIT) at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, on Thursday, 30 January 2025.
Professor Wiebren Zijlstra, Head of the Institute of Movement and Sport Gerontology at the German Sport University Cologne, will deliver a presentation on factors which underly age-related changes in mobility based on experimental laboratory-based studies as well as studies of real-life mobility.
In the abstract that precedes the lecture, Professor Zijlstra outlines the various challenges presented by mobility in daily life, such as finding the way to a target location, while ensuring safe progression by continuously perceiving the environment and adapting locomotion if needed, e.g. in order to avoid potential collisions with obstacles, other pedestrians, or traffic. Such adaptive control of locomotion requires physical and cognitive functions and, even without overt pathological conditions, age-related changes in functioning may cause older persons to show a reduced mobility and an increased fall risk. Mobility limitations are associated with reduced quality-of-life, a plethora of negative health outcomes, and an increased morbidity and mortality. According to Professor Zijlstra, it is important to understand factors that contribute to an age-related reduction in mobility and when possible develop effective interventions.
„Results of recent studies show that physical capacity alone is poor in predicting older adults’ mobility performance in real-life. Other studies show that age-related changes in cognition, especially the so-called executive functions, are associated with a reduced mobility and an increased fall-risk,“ the specialist points out.
Executive functions are crucial for adaptive locomotion, as they enable a person to monitor behaviour in relation to the environment and to adapt behaviour when necessary. By focusing on two key components of executive functions (cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control), this talk will also present recent results from studies that aim to better understand the role of cognitive control during mobility-related tasks.
Despite an abundance of mobility studies and increasing insight in factors that negatively impact on mobility in older persons, it is yet unclear to what degree the combination of these factors predicts real-life mobility, Professor Zijlstra continues in his apstract. Only a limited number of recent studies considered various potential mobility determinants by combining measures from physical, cognitive, and psycho-social functioning.
„These studies showed that real-life mobility cannot yet be predicted very well. Taken together, these findings necessitate more well-focused studies of real-life mobility in various groups of older adults, as well as experimental studies of older adults’ performance of complex mobility tasks which resemble daily life conditions,“ he concludes.
The ‘Colloquium on Biomedical Engineering and Related Areas’ is a regular series of events organised by RWTH Aachen University. The objective of the series is to facilitate interdisciplinary education in these fields and to encourage the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.
A cordial invitation is extended to all students, clinicians, engineers and scientists to attend this illuminating lecture and engage in discourse with experts in the field of biomedical engineering.
The event will take place from 5 to 5:45 pm at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 20, 52074 Aachen, Germany, seminar room 2.70. It will be coordinated by Prof. Dr. Klaus Radermacher, Chair of Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University. For further information please contact the secretariat at meditec@hia.rwth-aachen.de or call +49-(0)241-80 23870.
‘Colloquium Biomedical Engineering and Related Fields’ – Invitation to the current lecture
The lecture, entitled ‘Electrical impedance of muscle: from muscular dystrophy to Mars’, will be moderated by Professor Steffen Leonhardt, Chair holder of the Medical Information Technology (MedIT) at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, on Wednesday, 25 September 2024.
In his presentation, Dr Seward B. Rutkove, Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Chair, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will talk about innovations in the field of skeletal muscle electrical impedance. His lecture will focus on primary disorders that impact muscle, including muscular dystrophies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, muscle injury and the effects of unloading, such as those caused by microgravity or partial gravity. He will then discuss methods and technologies for measurement, and review the data collected in a wide range of conditions in both human and animal models.
„It is necessary to clarify which analytical approaches are currently available and in which direction future research will go“,
indicates Dr Rutkove in his abstract, setting the scene for the discussion that will follow.
The ‘Colloquium on Biomedical Engineering and Related Areas’ is a regular series of events organised by RWTH Aachen University. The objective of the series is to facilitate interdisciplinary education in these fields and to encourage the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.
A cordial invitation is extended to all students, clinicians, engineers and scientists to attend this illuminating lecture and engage in discourse with experts in the field of biomedical engineering.
The event will take place from 5 to 5:45 pm at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 20, 52074 Aachen, Germany, seminar room 2.70. It will be coordinated by Prof. Dr. Klaus Radermacher, Chair of Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University. For further information please contact the secretariat at meditec@hia.rwth-aachen.de or call +49-(0)241-80 23870.
Team AixSense successful in the SensUs competition 2024
This years AixSense team at the SensUs competition 2024 ©RWTH
The RWTH team impresses with its biosensor for monitoring kidney failure
For the seventh time already, the 15 students of the AixSense team successfully took part in the SensUs competition, organised by Eindhoven University of Technology. This year, 18 teams competed against each other in the international competition with their point-of-care (PoC) biosensor solutions for the real-time detection of creatinine for monitoring acute kidney failure. The AixSense team also included 3 students from the Japanese partner university Tokyo Institute of Technology.
This year, AixSense won three out of five categories with its PoC and also took second place in the technological innovation and technical feasibility categories. Particularly noteworthy is the performance in the area of public relations and scientific communication: the team from Aachen received the Vlog Award for their video diary and AixSense also won the public voting for the Public Inspirations Award.
The Institute for Materials in Electrical Engineering 1 at RWTH Aachen University has been involved in the competition since 2018. Every year, Professor Sven Ingebrandt and Dr. Vivek Pachauri put together a team from various degree programmes. The team is supported by various structures and profile areas at RWTH, such as the Lab center for micro and nanotechnology (ZMNT), which advises the team on technical issues.
The annual competition encourages international and interdisciplinary collaboration in fields such as electrical engineering and micro-nanotechnology, transformative materials, biology, engineering and medical sciences, among others.
Interested parties can apply for the SensUs 2025 competition at pachauri@iwe1.rwth-aachen.de until November 2024.
New lecture in the series ‘Colloquium Biomedical Engineering and Related Fields’
© Andreas Endermann
Professor Steffen Leonhardt, holder of the Chair of Medical Information Technology (MedIT) at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, will moderate the new lecture: ‘Continuous In-Vehicle Health Monitoring Enabled with Multimodal Signal Fusion’ on 11 July 2024.
We are delighted to welcome Dr Joana M. Warnecke from the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics at the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Hannover Medical School. Dr Warnecke will present her pioneering research into continuous health monitoring in vehicles. Her work focuses on the development of a redundant sensor system that enables reliable measurement of heartbeat and respiration rate. These systems use a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based architecture for data fusion and take into account additional sensors such as steering wheel angle and acceleration to improve signal quality.
“Our findings indicate that over half of the driving time can be utilized for in-vehicle heartbeat and respiratory rate monitoring, highlighting the efficiency and practicality of the proposed approach,”
states Warnecke.
This technology could make a significant contribution to the early detection of cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases by being seamlessly integrated into everyday life.
The ‘Colloquium on Biomedical Engineering and Related Areas’ is a regular series of events organised by RWTH Aachen University. The aim of the series is to provide an interdisciplinary education in these fields and to promote the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. All students, clinicians, engineers and scientists are invited to attend this exciting lecture and exchange ideas with experts in the field of biomedical engineering.
The event will take place from 5 to 5:45 pm at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 20, 52074 Aachen, Germany, seminar room 2.70. It will be coordinated by Prof. Dr. Klaus Radermacher, Chair of Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University. For further information please contact the secretariat at meditec@hia.rwth-aachen.de or call +49-(0)241-80 23870.
Excellent results at the Workshop Biosignals 2024
© Medical Information Technology (MedIT)
Idoia Badiola and Florian Voss from the Chair of Medical Information Technology (MedIT) at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University successfully participated at the Workshop Biosignals 2024, which took place from 28th February to 1st March in Göttingen.
The technical committees “Biosignals” and “Magnetic Methods in Medicine” of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering cordially invited all interested scientists, especially from the field of early career researchers, to the Workshop Biosignals.
Accepting the challenge Idoia was awarded the 1st place in the category “Best Oral Presentation” for her presentation “Mapping of peripheral venous hemodynamics using a low-cost camera: a proof-of-concept”. Florian achieved the 3rd place with his presentation “Camera Fusion for Improving Body Part Segmentation of Preterm Infants”.
“Congratulations to our colleagues Idoia Badiola and Florian Voss on their outstanding achievements”,
commented MedIT.
With this event, the committees are continuing a more than 20-year tradition of successful collaboration. Important components of the workshop were keynote speeches by young scientists as well as detailed poster presentations with short talks in which each submitted paper could be discussed constructively and critically. Submissions on biosignal analysis, biomagnetism and new related topics such as artificial intelligence and medical data science were welcome.
The event was hosted by the Biosignal Processing Group of the University Medical Centre Göttingen and supported by the Medical Image- and Signal Processing Working Group of the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology.
“Special thanks go to the organisation team of the workshop, particularly Dr. Nicolai Spicher, Theresa Bender and Philip Hempel”,
added the Chair of Medical Information Technology.
Further information on the Workshop Biosignals can be found on the event’s homepage.
Find out more about the Chair of Medical Information Technology (MedIT) here.
Prof Leonhardt elected to the German Academy of Science and Engineering
© Andreas Endermann
The German Academy of Science and Engineering, a prestigious private not-for-profit scientific academy, has recently welcomed 39 new members. Among them is Professor Leonhardt, Chair of Medical Informatics. This expansion of the Academy’s expertise strengthens its ability to provide valuable science-based advice to policymakers and society as a whole. Congratulations!
Established in 2002, the German Academy of Science and Engineering plays a crucial role in advising policymakers on science and technology policy. It operates under the umbrella term acatech, a combination of ‘academy’ and ‘technology’, and has a significant impact beyond national borders, representing the interests of German technological sciences at both national and international levels.
In June 2017, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier became the patron of the German Academy of Science and Engineering, highlighting the institution’s dedication to promoting scientific and technological excellence.
We, at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, are proud to congratulate Prof. Steffen Leonhardt on his election to the Academy.
