News

Nature publication on loops, flags and tension in DNA

Two protein complexes carry the major responsibility for the spatial organisation of chromosomes in our cell nuclei. DNA tension plays a surprising role in this. Together with Austrian colleagues, nanoscientist Cees Dekker and his PhD candidate Roman Barth of the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at TU Delft now publish how they have visualised this in detail in Nature on April 19.

TU Delft researchers shed new light on the motor of DNA replication

DNA replication is the process whereby cells make an exact copy of their DNA before cell division. A key part of the intricate DNA replication machinery is a molecular motor called CMG, which has the vital task of separating the two strands of the DNA double helix so that they can be copied. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from TU Delft has now developed a new methodology to assemble and image the motion of CMG with unprecedented resolution.

New CardioVascular Biomechanics Lab presents golden opportunity for engineers, physicians and patients alike

Delftse wetenschappers en studenten die onderzoek doen naar de biomechanica van het hart en bloedvaten werken samen met cardiologen, neurologen en radiologen van het Erasmus MC in het CardioVascular Biomechanics Lab (CVBL). Ze werken dagelijks aan biomechanische vraagstukken op het gebied van hart -en vaatziekten en blijken daarbij van onschatbare waarde voor elkaar.

From The Start: The Early Design Bird Gets The Remanufacturing Worm

The circular economy. Sustainability. Refurbishment. Remanufacturing. Recycling. We hear these buzzwords used all the time when talking about how humanity needs to lessen its impact on the planet. For her PhD research, Nina Boorsma looked into how to get companies to make more sustainable products and found that the process needs to start early.

New tool for organ repair: curvature of the environment

Circular composites - design is the missing link

Composite materials have a lot to offer in terms of fine-tuning material properties, optimising functionality, and ensuring a long-life span. Despite those advantages, they still leave a lot to be desired when it comes to reuse and recycling. For his PhD, Jelle Joustra explored strategies for making composite materials that support a circular economy, proposing that design is the missing link.

Delft design method maps a route through the confusion for cancer patients

Cancer patients can often find it difficult to maintain a good overview of their situation. This is why Ingeborg Griffioen, a Delft industrial designer, developed the Metro Mapping design method for patients and care providers, to enable them to reach better shared decisions about treatment. Experts in design engineering from TU Delft are now joining forces with medical professionals and researchers from Erasmus MC and the LUMC and the Panton design agency to further develop and apply Griffioen’s method in the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain.

Pushing the boundaries of ultrasound

Physicist David Maresca has received a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Dynamic Imaging grant to develop a next-generation medical ultrasound tool. While state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging, known to most as a baby’s first picture, can show our anatomy and organs, the new tool will be able to zoom in much further, all the way down to the level of the cells in our body.

Victims of the war in Ukraine receive prosthetic hands designed by TU Delft

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the need for prosthetic hands has increased sharply. TU Delft researcher Gerwin Smit has designed a prosthetic hand that can be made through a combination of 3-D printing and laser-cutting, which means that they be produced easily and relatively cheaply in countries that have little money to spend on such things. These prosthetic hands are already being used in India and now, the Indian technology company Vispala has donated 350 of Smit’s 3D-printed prosthetic hands to war victims in Ukraine, sponsored by the American IT-company, Cisco.

Computer gives people with depression symptoms insight into their thinking patterns

Our thoughts greatly determine how we feel and behave. Thus, gaining insight into certain thought patterns is an important part of preventing and treating depression. TU Delft researcher Franziska Burger investigated how AI can support people with symptoms of depression.

Medical experts and engineers speak each other’s language in Delft

An outpatients’ centre for cancer patients is certainly not the first thing you would expect to encounter on TU Delft campus. ‘But the decision to choose Delft as the location for the Holland Proton Therapy Centre has actually proved to be a very smart move’, says Medical Director Prof. Marco van Vulpen. The location alongside the TU Delft Reactor Institute offers an excellent opportunity for clinicians and engineers to collaborate closely.

3-in-1 microscope shows researchers the way to proteins

Physicists from TU Delft have developed a 3-in-1 microscope where a light beam, electron beam and ion beam work together to precisely cut out specific slices from biological samples. These slices are indispensable for biomolecular research into new generations of medicines. The invention was published in the journal eLife on 1 December.

ERC Starting Grant for spying on microscopic blood vessels in the heart and brain

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to Delft physicist Sebastian Weingärtner for his research on novel imaging methods to tackle heart and brain diseases.

Eight health professors receive double appointment simultaneously

Today, eight professors were simultaneously inaugurated as "Medical Delta professors" at Leiden University, LUMC, TU Delft, Erasmus University and/or Erasmus MC. With an appointment of two or more of these five academic institutions, they combine technology and healthcare in their professorships.
Atleet op een hometrainer, met technologie in snoertjes bevestigd aan sportkleding en op het lichaam.

Using sensors to stop sports injuries

All athletes, from amateurs joggers to elite footballers, experience sports injuries. What if medical professionals could predict when those injuries were going to occur and stop the damaging activity before the injury happens? In her PhD research, Annemarijn Steijlen takes a step in that direction.

Bubble Games: can we design for empathy?

Building a better society is no solo endeavour. It needs people to join forces and tackle problems together. But this can only happen if there is a foundation of trust and understanding. In an increasingly polarised world, a group of Dutch designers asked whether it possible to create this strong foundation? Can we design for empathy?

ERC Synergy Grant to unravel the formation of protein complexes

A prestigious ERC Synergy Grant worth 9.4 million euros has been awarded to a team of researchers that aims to elucidate a new mechanism to explain how protein complexes are formed.
Podcast cover art

Out of the Blue #26: Conversations on Design & AI

We have a fun one for you this time. Recently, our colleague Eric Gu hosted three Delft Design researchers in a conversation on design and AI. Alessandro Bozzon, Maria Luce Lupetti and Kars Alfrink talked about the needs and challenges of designing AI. About the role of the designer in its development and how the design practice itself can change through the relationship with AI.

The expanding design universe

AI is turning static products into dynamic ones that change while we use them. This requires new design methodologies. The European network and PhD programme DCODE, coordinated from the TU Delft Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, is all about rethinking the future of design in a world full of AI.
IDE alumna Anne Raspoort met haar reef tiles

Could oysters hold the pearl of wisdom for reef restoration?

A TU Delft Master’s project tries to make large-scale reef restoration possible with a pilot project to re-establish oysters in the North Sea.

New radiolabelling method for personalised cancer treatment

Researchers from TU Delft have found a new method to efficiently make nano carriers loaded with radioactive salts for both medical imaging and treatment. Because the assembly of these nano carriers is incredibly simple, the innovation is very suitable for clinical research and treatments of cancer patients.
Gebotteld water

From bottled water to doctor

Most people, according to PhD candidate Mirjam Visser, say they want to shop sustainably but few consumers actually purchase the most environmentally-friendly option when shopping. For her thesis research, she set out to understand why some consumers will buy green options while others won’t - and how to encourage people to make more sustainable choices.
Professor Huib de Ridder

The many angles of technology and human centred design

From an early career in experimental psychology to Professor of Informational Ergonomics at TU Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), Professor Huib de Ridder has learned that there are a lot of ways to look at things. But one point has always remained central: it all begins with the human.

Helping designers give UX insights a longer life

Once a designer is no longer actively involved in the development process, UX insights are often neglected, reducing the UX quality of the product or service. This phenomenon inspired Lilian Henze’s PhD research into how designers can prevent it from happening and actually facilitate the use of UX insights in the entire development process

Did someone fall down the stairs or were they pushed? NFI and TU Delft are working on a model for complex falls

Did a person fall or was he or she pushed? Cases where a deceased person lies at the bottom of the stairs are complex. To aid detection, the NFI is working with TU Delft on a computer model that can simulate human falls.