Biomedical Engineering & Robotics (BER)

Current Topics/Projects

Biodiversity is one of the most important components for the functioning of global ecosystems and represents the basis for the existence and future of mankind. Nevertheless, so far only about 10-20% of all species are known and their function in the ecosystem described. In close cooperation with the Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery at the Museum of Natural History Berlin, new methods are being developed to digitize large insect collections and automatically determine their species. In this way, changes in the ecosystem can be detected.

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) eggs are model organisms that help to understand the development of tumors and genetic diseases and to treat them more effectively. To do this, the sensitive eggs must be sorted and automatically analyzed. The robots and analysis software required for this are being developed at IAI.

Automated Microscopy

Automated fluorescence microscopes for high throughput in-vivo screening (HTS) of zebrafish embryos are developed. Morphological features and stages of development can automatically be detected using machine learning algorithms.

Image of an Ichneumonid wasp with overlaid heatmap

A fully automated sorting robot for small insects is developed in close cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Evolutionary and Biodiversity Research in Berlin, that can classify and sort 14 different insects using machine learning methods. The quantification of insects from collected trap samples is necessary to identify threatened insect species and to take appropriate preventive measures.

Schematic illustration of an amperometric sensor

Printed, flexible sensors for measuring in-vivo ozone concentrations in tissue are designed. Additionally reference systems for calibrating new gas sensors are developed.

Zebrafish Heart Ventricel

Open Science software is developed to analyze parameters of zebrafish heartbeat such as: heart rate, rhythmicity, fractional shortening and heart wall thickness automatically from videos of zebrafish hearts.