Materials research project funded by the DFG's Emmy Noether Program
Scientist at TU Hamburg researches computer-aided mechanics to be used in medicine in the future
18.04.2024
Kevin Linka, research associate at the Institute of Continuum and Materials Mechanics (M-15) at Hamburg University of Technology, will head a junior research group as part of the Emmy Noether Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG). The research entitled "Computational Intelligence for the Mechanics of Soft Materials" (COSMMIC for short) will initially be funded with 1.25 million euros over three years in a first funding phase. If the interim evaluation is positive, a second funding phase is possible.
About the project
Artificial intelligence is currently making great leaps in development, which is also supposed to make work easier in the engineering sciences in the future. For example in medical technology: so far, doctors have been gaining extensive knowledge about patients by manually scanning their bodies. This knowledge can then be used to optimize treatment, for example during surgeries. In the future, robots should be able to take over this task or at least support doctors in doing so. The major challenge here is that biological tissues are highly complex and individual materials. In order to map these correctly and derive precise and reliable findings from them, equally complex mathematical formulas have so far been required, which researchers have to create themselves. Dr. Linka's research group aims to solve this problem using a fundamentally new approach at the interface between artificial intelligence and materials research. The automated, AI-supported creation of mathematical formulas should in future allow comprehensive and reliable statements to be made about complex materials such as biological soft tissue, which can then be used in medicine.
TU Hamburg: Focus on materials science
Dr. Linka's Emmy Noether project fits ideally into the two research fields of "Cyber Physical & Medical Systems" and "Advanced Materials & (Bio)processes" at TU Hamburg. In particular, it can also be seen as further proof of the efficiency of materials research at the university, whose preliminary application for the Cluster of Excellence "BlueMat: Water-Driven Materials" was recently approved by the DFG. Considerable synergy effects can be expected between the "BlueMat" research and the Emmy Noether Group that has now been approved.
About the program
The DFG's Emmy Noether Program gives outstanding early career researchers from all disciplines the opportunity to lead a research group independently for six years and thus qualify for a university professorship. Postdocs and temporary junior professors who are at the beginning of their career can apply for funding.
TUHH - Public Relations Office
Kaja Weber
E-Mail: kaja.weber@tuhh.de
