Successful TUM Bioengineering Day 2022

Last Friday, approximately 130 people from various areas of the field of biomedical engineering visited the Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) for the Bioengineering Day 2022. TUM Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Prof. Gerhard Kramer opened the event with: “MIBE brings together the natural sciences, engineering and medical sciences with outstanding faculty, excellent research and teaching, unique infrastructure and an entrepreneurial spirit. This productive scientific environment forms a strong basis for successful technology transfer and translation, interdisciplinary science and human-centered engineering.”

The trifecta of research, teaching, and entrepreneurship at MIBE was also reflected in the event agenda. Tobias Schaeffter, Professor in Biomedical Imaging at Technische Universität Berlin and the head of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Federal Physical-Technical Institute), explained the current state of precision medicine in his keynote presentation “Quantitative Measurements in Medicine – Accurate Data for Better Health” and emphasized the importance of having the most precise and reliable measurements in the medical field.

From the area of entrepreneurship, Dr. Klaus Wagenbauer and Dr. Marian Willner, both Physics alumni of the Technical University Munich (TUM), reported on their academic spin-offs, Plectonic Biotech GmbH and MITOS GmbH, respectively. At Plectonic, the team is developing shiftable antibodies for cancer immunotherapy with the help of DNA nanotechnology. MITOS on the other hand finds industrial applications for current research results, making new software solutions for X-ray imaging available.

Julia Herzen, Professor of Biomedical Imaging Physics and Speaker of the Study Program BEMP presented the “Biomedical Engineering & Medical Physics” (BEMP) master’s degree program. The rising number of students since the beginning of the degree program in the summer semester 2020 reflect the continuously growing interest in this interdisciplinary master’s program. “Our students particularly appreciate the internship, which was specifically designed for the master's program and provides a deeper insight into experiment-based work"” Julia Herzen points out in her presentation. The poster session following the presentations offered interesting insights into the diverse research projects of doctoral candidates working at MIBE.

Finally, the first Bioengineering Day at MIBE came to an end with lively conversations and delicious food. “Our guests really liked being able to have personal exchanges in this setting. We’re already looking forward further events at MIBE,” summarizes Franz Pfeiffer, Professor of Biomedical Physics and Acting Director of MIBE, the successful day.