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How can we make physical jobs more attractive? Can we speed up research on dementia? Can we make our campus an example of sustainability? And will ambitious students succeed in making seaweed aquaculture more sustainable? These four questions are at the heart of the new campaign of Delft University Fund: Tech for Impact 2023.

Today the ‘new’ ROG neutron reflectometer at the TU Delft Reactor Institute has officially been opened. The instrument shows the structure and composition of thin layers and interfaces of materials. The opening is an important step for scientists working on improving performance and sustainability for a wide range of products.

The dome of the research reactor on TU Delft Campus is a familiar sight to many. This year marks 60 years since the reactor was commissioned. But, who knows how and what this reactor is used for?

Physicists at Delft University of Technology have built a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning techniques for the first time. This microchip could measure distances in materials at high precision, for example underwater or for medical imaging. The instrument could lead to new techniques to monitor the Earth’s climate and human health. The work is now published in Nature Communications.

With pioneering patents, leading start-ups, strong scientific research and the presence of industrial giants like DSM, the Netherlands has everything it needs to lead a revolution in the field of meat substitutes and cultured meat. Unfortunately, the legislation relating to these products is slowing things down and promising start-ups are moving abroad. Is our country at risk of falling behind?

The Executive Board has appointed Stan Brouns as full professor of Molecular Microbiology at the department of Bionanoscience as of 7 February 2023. His work focuses on how microbes defend themselves from viruses. Brouns: “Bacteria have had a few billion years of evolution to come up with all sorts of clever ways to defend themselves from viruses. We aim to uncover what they have evolved over all this time.”

On 7 March, in the occasion of Open Education Week 2023, Timon Idema received an Open Education Ambassador Award. Along with seven other TU Delft lecturers, Idema was offered the award in recognition of his commitment to openly share knowledge and educational resources with the world.

Professor of Molecular Microbiology Stan Brouns is one of the eight laureates of the Ammodo Science Award for fundamental research 2023. Brouns will receive a cash prize of 350,000 euros. In the coming years, he can use this prize to explore new avenues of fundamental research on the battle between bacteria and viruses.

Similar in function to ballast tanks in submarines or fish bladders, many water-based bacteria use gas vesicles to regulate their floatability. In a publication in Cell, scientists from TU Delft now describe the molecular structure of these vesicles for the first time. These gas vesicles were also recently repurposed as contrast agents for ultrasound imaging.

On 16 February the Netherlands-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO) accredited the Master's degree in Quantum Information Science & Technology (QIST). With this accreditation, the new programme can officially kick off in September 2023. The Master’s programme is a collaboration between TU Delft (AS, EEMCS and QuTech) and Leiden University.