Research News

Sometimes it’s not just the chemical composition of a substance that matters but also the way in which the ingredients are ordered at the atomic level: the crystal structure. For example, the wrong crystal structure of one and the same material could mean the difference between an effective and a failed drug.

The new issue of Portraits of Science is out: a series of interviews with (former) students, scientists and supporters who all helped to make 2017 another special year.

The 3mE Girls Challenge ‘Where nature meets technology’, an event for girls in their fifth year of pre-university education who want to acquaint themselves with the mechanical engineering programme, has turned out to be a massive hit. After the huge success of the first edition last year, the Department of Mechanical Engineering organised a follow-up on 9 February 2018.

Complex new medical instruments often do not make it beyond the expensive and time-consuming prototype phase. With this in mind, Ewout Arkenbout developed a new, virtual development method allowing for instruments to be evaluated and adjusted at an earlier stage. On Monday 12 February, Arkenbout will be awarded his PhD at TU Delft for his work on this subject.

In her search to determine the optimal speed skating technique, doctoral candidate Eline van der Kruk developed a dynamic computer model of a skater and instrumented clap skates. In the future, these will make it possible to offer skaters and coaches real-time visual feedback during training sessions. On Thursday 8 February, the day before the start of the Winter Olympics, Van der Kruk will be awarded her PhD at TU Delft for her work on this subject.

A new initiative focussing on intensifying collaborations between Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Process & Energy division of 3ME has just been granted . Massachusetts International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) awarded Global Seed Funds Award, worth 30,000$ to the Intensified Reaction System (IRS) group of the Department of Process & Energy.

Jenny Dankelman, full professor of minimally invasive surgery and interventional techniques, and Tim Horeman, assistant professor of sustainable surgery at the Department of BioMechanical Engineering, will receive significant funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (NWO/ZonMw) for their research initiative entitled ‘SMART Surgical system: High-quality medical devices making minimally invasive surgery applicable to low-resource settings’.

It has been the undisputed gold standard for implants for dozens of years: titanium. This strong, light and corrosion-resistant metal can be safely incorporated into the body. And yet there is a great deal of discussion about how titanium implants are made. The rise of 3D-printing technology has opened the door to new manufacturing possibilities.

It has been the undisputed gold standard for implants for dozens of years: titanium. This strong, light and corrosion-resistant metal can be safely incorporated into the body. And yet there is a great deal of discussion about how titanium implants are made. The rise of 3D-printing technology has opened the door to new manufacturing possibilities.

On Friday 16 February 2018, Christian Poelma, professor of multiphase systems at the Department of Process & Energy, will deliver his inaugural speech ‘Opaque Flows Clarified’’. The speech will begin at 3 PM in TU Delft’s Aula