From 19-21 August 2019, the first summer school of the CRC took place at the Wissenschaftszentrum Kiel und the Faculty of Engineering. About 30 doctoral candidates and external speakers from Kiel, Germany as far as Moscow attended the interdisciplinary event with the title “Magnetic sensing and applications in medicine and industry – state of the art and new prospects”. It contributed to establish new contacts as well as enhance existing collaborations that, for example, started at some of the research stays of many CRC-members. 

Invited speakers from science and industry presented their work on the development and the application of sensors. The discussed topics included sensor concepts, fabrication, characterization, modeling, benchmarking, Sensor array building and design, measurement electronics, signal processing, Forward/inverse problems and sensor fusion and medical diagnostics. The participants presented their work as a poster or in a short talk. At the second day, the participants could attend one of three soft skills courses on time management, intercultural competence or presentation techniques. An interactive talk on Public Outreach enabled them to present their own research project in a comprehensible way for non-scientists.

On the third day, the participants could visit several laboratories like Kiel Nanolab or the magnetically shielded room as facilities of the Departments of Materials Science and Electrical Engineering. The Lab Visits at the Faculty of Engineering should provide practical insights into methods and instruments used in Kiel. At the end of the conference Professor Eckhard Quandt, spokesperson of the CRC, awarded a prize for the best poster to Renato Huber from the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden.  

With a joint fellowship programme the American Ceramic Society, the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the Kiel University (CAU) want to support the international exchange of doctoral researchers. The programme „International Research Experience for Students“ is funded by the American National Science Foundation (NSF) with 500,000 dollars. It enables young scientists from the USA to complete a six-month research stay in Kiel. From the winter semester 2019/20 onwards, they will be able to attend lectures at the Faculty of Engineering and get actively involved in its research work. The subject of the three-year programme is based around three of Kiel University's major research networks, which are working at the interface between engineering and medicine on sensors for biomagnetic fields (Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1261 "Magnetoelectric Sensors: From Composite Materials to Biomagnetic Diganostics"), on new materials to treat brain disorders (Research Training Group 2154 "Materials for Brain") and on the implementation of the information processing in nervous systems into hardware electronics.(Research Group 2093 "Memristive devices for neuronal systems").

The aim of the programme IRES is to support first-rate young researchers at the CAU and American universities in their career development: Programme participants, known as PACK fellows (Penn State – American Ceramic Society – University of Kiel), will have the opportunity of a training in an international setting and building long-term networks. The programme focuses on their exchange with scientist of the CAU and Penn State in the fields of magnetoelectric composite materials, biomagnetic sensors, imaging procedures to display brain activities, biomaterials, medical signal processing and neuromorphic components. The American Ceramic Society is administering the programme.

"Bringing young committed researchers together at international level and establishing networks for them is an important component of our support for young researchers," stressed CRC spokesperson Professor Eckhard Quandt. "This cooperation also demonstrates Kiel University's research strength and international visibility in the emerging field of biomagnetic field sensing. Through this project, we hope to establish the foundations for further German-American research partnerships."

Full CAU press release: https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/pack0/

In the future, highly-sensitive sensors could be able to detect magnetic signals from the body in order to draw conclusions on heart or brain functions. In contrast with established electrical measurement techniques, they would achieve contactless measurement, i.e. without direct skin contact. At present, such measurements are still associated with considerable expense and effort. This is because the sensors must be cooled dramatically, or shielded against other magnetic fields. Now, researchers at Kiel University built an important basis for biomagnetic diagnostics. In the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1261 "Magnetoelectric Sensors: From Composite Materials to Biomagnetic Diagnostics", they are researching the development of magnetic field sensors, which in the long-term - with better spatial resolution - could be easily put to use in medical practice. The interdisciplinary research team developed a magnetic field sensor system that not only includes the detection of a magnetic signal, but also its processing. The researchers presented their results in the journal Scientific Reports.

Full press release can be found at: http://www.uni-kiel.de/pressemeldungen