Latest scientific news

In August 2023, the research paper Wirelessly interfacing sensor-equipped implants and MR scanners for improved safety and imaging, by Berk Silemek and coworkers from PTB 8.11 was first published online in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM, doi: 10.1002/mrm.29818). The paper demonstrates how signals from small and cheap sensors at the tip of a medical implant, e.g. the lead of a cardiac...

Scanning probe based spectroscopy using broadband infrared radiation emerged as a promising imaging technique at nanometer spatial resolution. However, the pixel-by-pixel data acquisition leads to prohibitive imaging times and enhanced radiation damage. To overcome this issue, a novel hyperspectral imaging scheme was developed in this project using Bayesian compressed sensing (BCS).

Finding genetic sequences plays a key role in modern medical diagnostics. Today genetic sequences are commonly determined by next-generation-sequencing (NGS) techniques. Applications include cancer diagnostics and detection of pathogens. Such NGS techniques also lead to the discovery of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

PTB´s Institute Berlin held a workshop “Metrology Needs for Next-Generation-Sequencing”...

Open-source practices and resources in MRI have increased substantially over the past years. This trend started with software and data being published open-source, but more recently open-source hardware designs are increasingly becoming available, too. The plentitude of open-source soft- and hardware products that are meanwhile available for all kind of MRI related purposes makes it increasingly...

Originally developed for fast global sensitivity analysis and efficient parameter reconstruction for applications in nano-optical metrology, PyThia provides an all purpose non-intrusive Python package to approximate high dimensional functions.
Based on general polynomial chaos approximation obtained via linear regression, PyThia generates functional surrogates by relying purely on training data...

Signal generation in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners relies on strong radio frequency fields. Monitoring and limiting the local energy deposition in the patient's body, measured via the specific absorption rate (SAR), represents a major challenge, especially when working with several transmit antennas in parallel. The SAR distribution cannot be measured directly but must be calculated...

The WELMEC Guide 7.2 "Software" is the most widely used WELMEC guide in Europe and is now also available in German in its updated and revised version 2023. 

The translation was coordinated between the three countries Germany, Switzerland and Austria and has been available on the WELMEC website since November 2023 (www.welmec.org). 

The template of the German revision is the basis for determining...

Diffuse optical imaging allows the characterization of physiological parameters of tumors in the breast. By using appropriate wavelengths in the near-infrared spectral region, the concentrations of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin, as well as water and collagen content, can be estimated. In the scanning method shown in the left figure, picosecond laser pulses are broadened by the strong...