News & Agenda

Ajay Seth, assistant professor at the Department of BioMechanical Engineering, has received a grant of US$190,000 from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF for his research on the development of Essential Open Source Software for Science. Ajay Seth is receiving the grant specifically for his ‘OpenSIM’ project, an open source biomechanics simulator to study movement to improve the usability, computational performance, maintenance and outreach of the OpenSim open source software and to support the education and training of its users around the world.

Good news for the technical physicians who will be first to graduate from the joint programme at TU Delft, Erasmus MC and LUMC. They can use the legally protected title of clinical technologist and register in the BIG register. This makes them officially registered healthcare professionals allowed to carry out reserved procedures independently. Clinical technologists will be given first-line status and therefore have the authorisation to register and declare healthcare activities. This is a milestone in the positioning of this still recent professional field, according to programme directors Jaap Harlaar and Pleun Hermsen.

A project team of scientists active in the Medical Delta region is testing the first prototypes of a ventilator consisting entirely of standard parts. These parts are locally stocked almost everywhere in the world and can be made by hundreds of manufacturers. As a result, the ventilator can in many cases be assembled locally. The design hopes to respond to the demand for respiratory equipment and the logistical problems that exist due to a shortage of specific parts.

Bart van Trigt is researching how to reduce injuries among athletes, especially baseball and tennis players.

Today, a team of Delft researchers and students from the BioMechanical Engineering department is launching a new type of ventilator that is purely mechanical and which you could easily construct and repair yourself. The team borrowed a 1960s ventilator from Rijksmuseum Boerhaave and used it as inspiration. As it works mechanically, no electronics are required. This is particularly advantageous since its production is not dependent on the – now uncertain – supply of parts from China.

Amir Zadpoor and a team of scientists from the BioMechanical Engineering department are testing the first prototypes of a ventilator that consists entirely of standard parts. These parts are available locally almost all over the world and can be produced by hundreds of manufacturers. This means that, in many cases, the ventilator can be assembled locally. It is hoped that the design will be able to respond to the demand for ventilators and offer a solution to the logistical problems resulting from a shortage of specific components.

Arjo Loeve and his research colleagues at TU Delft’s Department of BioMechanical Engineering are working with the Jeroen Bosch Hospital and the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences on a new pulse oximeter that is easy and inexpensive to produce. The pulse oximeter is a crucial measurement tool that monitors the heartbeat and amount of oxygen in the blood while COVID-19 patients are being treated. The aim of the research is to counteract the impending shortage of this tool.

In the fight against the 'Corona shortage’ of face masks, John van den Dobbelsteen and Tim Horeman, researchers at the Department of BioMechanical Engineering department, and with lab manager Rob Luttjeboer, developed a successful way to test reused sterilised surgical masks and surgical masks made of new materials.

Amir Zadpoor is working on a solution called 4D printing. He explains how it works: "We first grow a flat layer of tissue from stem cells that can provide itself through diffusion. Only when the tissue has developed a vascular system do we fold it into a 3D structure. So you grow a flat object into a 3D structure for a certain time, hence "4D" in the name. "