News

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.

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.

Bubble Games: can we design for empathy?

Bubble Games: can we design for empathy?
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.
Please enjoy this second bonus episode of season 3. And yes, we will get back to our topic of design and health soon for the next episode, promise. We just couldn’t let this one slip past.
IDE alumna Anne Raspoort met haar reef tiles

Could oysters hold the pearl of wisdom for reef restoration?

Could oysters hold the pearl of wisdom for reef restoration?

The expanding design universe

The expanding design universe

Helping designers give UX insights a longer life

Helping designers give UX insights a longer life

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.

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.

Alfred Schouten appointed professor of System Identification for Human Motion Control

Alfred Schouten has been appointed professor of System Identification for Human Motion Control in the Department of BioMechanical Engineering. Alfred Schouten’s research focuses on the development of methods and applications for identifying and understanding neuromuscular control. He does this in both healthy people and people with neurological disorders.

New CRISPR-Cas system with on-off switch cuts proteins

Researchers from TU Delft in the group of Stan Broun have discovered a CRISPR-Cas system that cuts proteins instead of DNA.

TU Delft iGEM team aims to develop sensor to detect GHB in drinks

Someone may slip drugs into your drink without you noticing, after which you may not be able to think clearly. However, this kind of drugging can almost never be proven, because GHB disappears from the blood within 3 hours. The iGEM student team at TU Delft is working on a fast sensor to detect GHB in drinks. This will alert the user and provide evidence of drugging. 

TU Delft researchers create flow-driven rotors at the nanoscale

Onderzoekers van de TU Delft hebben de kleinste door stroming gedreven motoren ter wereld ontwikkeld. Geïnspireerd door de iconische Nederlandse windmolens en door biologische motoreiwitten hebben ze een zichzelf configurerende, stromingsgedreven turbine uit DNA gemaakt, die energie van een elektrische of zoutgradiënt omzet in bruikbaar mechanisch vermogen. De resultaten bieden perspectief voor de ontwikkeling van actieve robotica op nanoschaal. Het artikel is vandaag gepubliceerd in Nature Physics.

Dekker scholarship for MRI research Sebastian Weingärtner

De Hartstichting heeft onderzoeker dr. Sebastian Weingärtner van de TU Delft een Dekkerbeurs toegekend. Dat is een persoonlijke onderzoeksbeurs voor getalenteerde wetenschappers die jaarlijks wordt toegekend. Met de beurs van 490.000 euro kan hij de komende jaren onderzoek doen naar hart- en vaatziekten.

Convergence brings together investment of 60 million for future-proof healthcare

Tien Flagship projecten van de Convergence, de strategische samenwerking van de TU Delft, het Erasmus MC en de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam gaan onderzoek doen gericht op het toekomstbestendig maken van de gezondheidszorg. De Flagships ontvangen bij elkaar 20 miljoen euro van het Convergence Health & Tech programma. Samenwerking met publieke en private partijen voegt daar nog eens ruim 40 miljoen aan toe.

Evolutionary model predicts how cells control the partitioning of their molecules

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Göttingen, Germany, and the TU Delft in the Netherlands have developed a new method to study how mixtures, consisting of many different molecules, interact to reliable form different droplets, as happens continuously in the living cell. This is the first time that scientists designed a model of many interacting molecules that can predict how particular droplets form. They published their findings in PNAS this week.

Kateřina Staňková receives Vidi grant

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Vidi grant worth up to 800,000 euros to Kateřina Staňková, a scientist of the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. The grant provides her with the opportunity to further elaborate her own research idea and expand her research team. Kateřina explains what her Vidi research entails.
Richard Goossens on the podcast episode #24 cover

Out of the Blue #24: Clashing Disciplines in Healthcare - Richard Goossens

A design researcher and a doctor sit together for a coffee in a hospital café. They discuss and draw on a napkin what a joined education programme for designers and medical students could look like. What if doctors understood design for healthcare, and designers the healthcare world?
Podcast Out of the Blue - episode 25: Jack and Yuka

Out of the Blue #25 - International students of Delft Design – Yuka & Jack

It’s been a long and well-deserved summer break. Before we headed off, we had a lovely chat with two international student editors of IDE. Yuka & Jack already share their experiences as international students as student editors on the IDE website. For this bonus episode, they talk with Ianus and Producer Marc about work-life balance, what’s it like studying Delft Design and much more. Enjoy! We will be back with our final episode on design & health soon.

Collaborations by design

Addressing the complex challenges of today and tomorrow requires many actors, perspectives and disciplines. But forming effective and mutually beneficial collaborations can be challenging. Designing with Delft aims to facilitate this process, bringing researchers and educators from the university together with innovators from organisations to identify common goals, define a shared vision and develop concrete plans for collaborations.
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.
Research Xueliang Li: Handling stress: using wearable technology to help people with PTSD

Handling stress: using wearable technology to help people with PTSD

The obvious triggers of stress are all around us: pressing deadlines at work, children not sleeping through the night, a leaking roof. But sometimes it's smaller things, certain locations or specific times of day, that increase our stress levels. Understanding those triggers using wearable technology, with a focus on people who experience a lot of stress - people with PTSD - was the topic of Xueliang Li’s PhD research.