Resumen:

Our understanding of natural processes in the life sciences is very strongly dependent on our ability to observe in sufficient detail how an organism’s biochemical processes evolve, and how they connect to that organism’s overall behaviour. This is partially a technical issue, because we require multiple observational modalities, correlated with each other, and at multiple length scales, and as engineers, it is the kind of methodology we can contribute.
One of our approaches is to detect fluid motion using MRI at high spatio-temporal resolution. Fluid flow is responsible for transport within all organisms, so good image resolution of fluid flow is important for any such analysis. The method confirms that motion can be properly accounted for in MRI and reveals interesting patterns at this microscopic scale. Furthermore, adjusting the way the information is encoded into the MRI signal, offers opportunities to extend the range of speeds and other information that can be encoded.
Particularly exciting is the chance to observe engineered living materials nondestructively, during behaviour, and ultimately to study a complete biophysical response at multiple length scales and levels of detail. Here, I will report on our discovery of an important advantage of MRI in conjunction with carbon materials.
Another approach is to develop a method to handle spontaneous organism movement in MRI. MRI is a precursor for high-resolution spectroscopy via molecular imaging (voxel-based NMR). Removing movement artefacts leads to useful MRI, and we hope, eventually, useful dynamic MR spectroscopy. Note, only humans will follow verbal instructions in the MRI, and solving silent motion compensation greatly extends the range and usefulness of MRI, for example, for technical systems, organisms, and even infants.
In my talk, I will focus on our technical approaches and solutions, establishing the toolkit, so to speak. I will draw on some of our recent publications listed below. Once the initial technical challenges are overcome, such a capability would help enable the unravelling needed to connect for molecular metabolomics with observed behaviour.

Biografía:

Jan Korvink is Professor of Microsystems Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where he has held a full professorship since 2015. He earned his MSc from the University of Cape Town (1987) and his PhD from ETH Zurich (1993). Before joining KIT, he became a Full Professor at the University of Freiburg in 1997, co founded the Institute of Microsystems Technology (IMTEK), and served as Director of the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS), helping shape one of Europe’s leading environments for interdisciplinary research. He is a recipient of major European funding awards, including an ERC Advanced Grant (2012–2016), two ERC Proof of Concept Grants, and an ERC Synergy Grant, reflecting his long standing leadership in miniaturized NMR and microsystems innovation. He is the Speaker of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre HyPERiON (2022–2026, with potential extension to 2034) and serves as Helmholtz Program Speaker for the Research Area Information, where he contributes to the national strategy for materials digitization and instrumentation. Prof. Korvink leads an international research group of about 25 members working on miniaturized NMR systems, additive manufacturing, computational design, and correlative multimodal instruments. His team has published more than 340 journal papers and continues to advance the frontiers of microfabrication, sensing, and next generation NMR technologies.