Given the escalating global burden of valvular heart disease and the pressing need for living heart valve replacements, I decided to focus my research on this healthcare challenge by acquiring new skills through advanced training and international interdisciplinary collaborations. My proposal I3 combines the design and application of a novel bioreactor for assessing tissue engineered heart valves (TEHVs) by highly advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to kickstart the innovation cycle in in-vitro experiments. Especially young patients with valvular heart disease will profit from TEHVs as they suffer from current heart valve replacements lacking the ability to self-repair and growth as well requiring the life-long intake of anticoagulants. Leveraging the high-dimensional, non-invasive analysis potential of MRI, my I3 proposal establishes new innovative tools for TEHV research to enable new insights in the resulting hemodynamics downstream of TEHVs, close the optimization loop in-vitro using patient-specific boundary conditions and reduce the need for ethically and monetary challenging animal experiments. Building on my expertise on advanced MRI, I will acquire new skills to develop a novel MRI-compatible bioreactor in the project. Enabling in-vitro experiments with high precision and repeatability, the imaged flow field in the bioreactor allows me to select and optimize a TEHV for specific hemodynamics of patients. In-vivo MRI-enabled feedback of the resulting hemodynamics offers further diagnosis. Furthermore, in-vitro and in-vivo measurements offer important information for optimization of TEHVs for patient-specific treatments. I will use the knowledge and skills gained from this inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary project for my next career steps (incl. submission of an ERC starting grant) in the field of biomedical engineering research aimed at providing all patients with a suitable heart valve replacement. I3 is a major step towards making this a reality.

"Please research electrostatic charging," pleaded the R&D leader of a major chemical company. While other ignition sources for explosions can be detected, seen, or smelled, electrostatic charge appears unexpectedly whenever liquids or solids flow. Responding to the urgent need for reliable detection of electrostatic charge, we propose advancing the MefiX flow charge measurement system, a groundbreaking innovation from the ERC project PowFEct, to the proof-of-concept stage. MefiX represents a paradigm shift in safety management, offering the world’s first system capable of measuring turbulent flow charge in situ and with spatial resolution. Leveraging advanced machine learning techniques, MefiX identifies hidden ignition sources, providing early warnings against dangerous increases in electrostatic charge during liquid or powder transport processes. The primary technical objective of this PoC is to transition MefiX from a laboratory experiment to a functional prototype. We will validate its technical feasibility under real-world operating conditions and develop a compact, automated, cost-effective prototype device. Our business development activities will assess the project’s commercial viability, supported by secured patents and engagement with European and international stakeholders. To attract customers and investors, we will showcase MefiX at trade fairs and establish a comprehensive roadmap for its future commercialization. Guided by an advisory board comprising multidisciplinary experts, we aim to bridge the gap between scientific excellence and commercial success, foster safe workplaces, and contribute to a prosperous society. Given the immense value of industrial plants, it is highly profitable for companies to invest in MefiX. With quantifiable benefits regarding safety enhancement, economic savings, and potential lives saved, MefiX promises to revolutionize industrial safety protocols, ensuring a safer and more secure future for all.

The electrification of powder flows is one of the most pervasive phenomena in environmental processes and of tremendous importance for technical applications. In industrial plants, excessive electrostatic charges can even lead to hazardous sparks, which have caused numerous catastrophic dust explosions in the past. However, despite its long history of investigation, it is not currently possible to predict the buildup, transport, and accumulation of charge. Starting from 2015, I developed a numerical approach with the important capability to couple the involved scientific disciplines – fluid mechanics (turbulent carrier flow), surface science (triboelectric particle charging), and electrostatics (forces between charges). The first ever fully-resolved simulations revealed that the occurrence of distinct physical flow mechanisms determines the charging rate of powder. This knowledge opens a new way to control the electrification through triggering these mechanisms and, thus, to solve the problem finally. To this end, this proposal aims to develop a novel interdisciplinary computational tool. This task includes establishing several new numerical concepts, such as a single-particle charging model. Beyond the state-of-the-art single-particle and powder flow electrification experiments which both employ innovative measurement methodologies will support the theoretical efforts. The proposed test set-ups will bring about a paradigm shift by quantifying, for the first time, reproducible, facility independent data, tailored specifically to complement the model formulation. The successful project will provide an open-source tool that enables the prediction, evaluation, and limitation of electrostatic charges. To this respect, the research aims not only to prevent accidents in industrial facilities but also to understand the physics of other kinds of electrifying powder flows and to solve a long-standing scientific riddle.

Precision spectroscopy of highly charged ions (HCI) provides insight into atomic systems in which electrons are highly correlated, strongly relativistic, and experience strong internal fields. Thus, HCI are excellent systems to probe and refine our understanding of physics under these extreme conditions. They are the most sensitive known atomic species to probe for possible changes in fundamental constants and offer advantageous properties to study coupling of hypothetical dark matter fields to normal matter. For these applications, high-precision optical spectroscopy of HCI is required. In the past, the spectroscopic resolution of optical transitions in HCI was limited by Doppler-broadening to hundreds of megahertz. We have recently demonstrated the first hertz-level laser spectroscopy of an optical fine-structure transition in highly charged argon using sympathetic cooling and quantum logic with a co-trapped logic ion in a Paul trap, improving the spectroscopic precision by nine orders of magnitude compared to the previous state-of-the-art. Here, we propose to further develop quantum techniques for controlling HCI and to push spectroscopic resolution in order to realise next generation optical clocks based on promising reference transitions in HCI. We will employ these novel types of optical clocks to advance our understanding of atomic structure and to probe for physics beyond the standard model. Sub hertz-level isotope shift spectroscopy of highly charged calcium ions will be performed to improve current bounds on hypothetical fifth forces that couple neutrons and electrons. Furthermore, we will perform optical clock-type spectroscopy on HCI that offer up to a 20-fold higher sensitivity to a possible change in the fine-structure constant and a non-gravitational coupling between dark matter and normal matter than existing clocks. Through frequency comparisons with other clocks, we will improve bounds on these new physics effects.

In analytical methods there is a strong demand for improvement for higher sensitivity, selectivity, and cheaper methods to serve society better. Such developments need to start with a better understanding of basic processes, fundamental technical changes, or exploiting new materials. The UltraSNOM project will develop and investigate a new nanophotonic chemical analysis modality to reach ultra-high detection sensitivity. We will integrate an emerging, AFM-based chemical fingerprinting spectromicroscopy technique, scattering-type Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (sSNOM), with graphene devices. In our experiments, the AFM tip of the sSNOM instrument will couple the light in the near-field into the graphene devices, also containing a minute amount of analyte. Thus, the spatial resolution of our technique will reach up to twenty nanometre lateral resolution, which translates to extremely small amounts of probed volumes. Through coupling between the plasmon polaritons of graphene and the analyte's molecular vibrations, we will be able to achieve ultrahigh detection sensitivity. Our experiments will spread from the terahertz to the far-infrared, which are relevant in chemical fingerprinting, at two synchrotron beamlines in Germany and France as laboratory-based light sources cannot provide high enough intensity light. To achieve the best possible coupling and detection, we will model, characterize and optimize the AFM tips and employ thermoelectric detection in the terahertz where other types of detectors are missing. Compressed sensing will enhance the signal-to- noise ratio of the measurements as less time will be necessary to accumulate a single spectrum.