TU Dresden projects (selection)

Project content:

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe eating disorder with the highest mortality rate among psychiatric disorders, often caused by suicide. Current treatments, which include intensive nutritional therapy and psychotherapy, are only effective in about 50% of cases, leaving many patients at risk of relapse and chronicity. Despite their high health and societal burden, personalized, biology-based treatment approaches for AN are lacking due to insufficient research on biological markers. The BIOREXIA project, a groundbreaking international collaboration, aims to fundamentally change AN care by identifying and validating biomarkers that can guide personalized treatments.
By analyzing existing blood samples, the project will focus on biomarkers associated with key biological pathways such as leptin and ghrelin signaling, which are critical for the regulation of appetite and metabolism. In addition, the study will integrate results from advanced brain imaging techniques, such as structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to examine cortical thickness - a potential predictor of disease severity and relapse risk. These findings allow clinicians to classify patients based on their individual biological and neurological profiles. This stratification helps determine the intensity and type of treatment needed, thereby improving patient outcomes and reducing the risk of relapse. By tailoring therapy to individual needs, BIOREXIA aims to improve the quality of life of patients and caregivers, reduce the societal burden of AN and contribute to more sustainable healthcare systems.
This innovative approach has the potential to transform the management of AN and set a new standard for personalized psychiatry.

Project content:

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major cause of stroke, myocardial infarction and heart failure, which are associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. To address the global extent of AF, it is necessary to develop new tools that meet the demands for differentiated early detection, precise classification and therapy development.

This is exactly where the CardioEpiX project comes in, offering a solution for precise patient and clinical picture differentiated in vitro diagnostics of various forms of AF. The consortium consists of a Saxon SME (Sciospec Scientific Instruments GmbH) and two Saxon research institutions (TU Dresden and Leipzig University).

At TU Dresden, we focus on the imaging of clinically relevant, different forms of VHF by in vitro phenotyping of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes as well as on the efficacy and risk stratification of drugs using the VHF models.

For large area deposition of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H), capacitively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with an excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz (RF-PECVD) has been predominantly used to date. Due to the good layer properties that can be achieved using RF-PECVD, this is the most common process, particularly for thin, high-quality a-Si:H layers on planar substrates.

In this project, however, extremely thick (> 30µm) a-Si:H coatings are to be deposited on planar and non-planar substrates with a deposition rate greater than 5 µm/h. For this purpose, an alternative plasma-assisted coating process is used in this project: microwave-assisted chemical vapor deposition with a plasma excitation frequency of 2.45 GHz (MW-PECVD). The basic advantage of microwave excitation over other types of discharge is that it is a plasma source and therefore the substrate does not form an electrode directly involved in the current flow. Furthermore, higher deposition rates can be achieved with MW-PECVD due to higher electron energies and electron and ion concentrations.

Project content:

KIMed - the Network for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine - pursues the goal of permanently networking relevant stakeholders along the medical data value chain. In particular, this includes data-leading institutions, methodological and technical partners as well as users from medicine and research. The focus of the funding project is on establishing a cooperative network that enables structured exchange, collaboration and the joint further development of expertise in the School of Medicine AI.

A central working topic of the network is the conceptual design of a protected infrastructure for processing medical data in Saxony. This serves as a common reference and development basis and should enable the use of large, networked data sets under strict data protection and security requirements in the future. KIMed thus creates organizational, methodological and conceptual conditions to support the development and testing of AI applications in a secure framework without developing a marketable product itself.

Project content:
For some years now, there has been a trend towards the introduction of additive manufacturing (AM) processes in the production of electronic and microelectronic components. Their advantage over subtractive or hybrid processes is the economical use of materials and energy and an extreme degree of design variability. One example of an electrochemical AM process is metal deposition from an electrolyte droplet with a volume of just a few nanoliters (meniscus confined electrochemical deposition, MCED).

In a joint project between the Saxon medium-sized company GeSiM, Gesellschaft für Silizium-Mikrosysteme mbH in Radeberg, and the TU Dresden, Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems (IHM), Chair of Nanoelectronics (NE), MCED is to be used in a device development for industrial applications, e.g. for the production of bio-implants and bio-sensors. For this purpose, an MCED module, a construction platform movable in the Z-direction and a potentiostat will be integrated into the proven GeSiM device platform "BioScaffolder" in such a way that the deposition of copper and gold as microelectrodes will also be possible on 3D molded bodies and as free-standing wires with a length of a few millimeters. The aim is to market the developed MCED 3D printer worldwide.

The project is being financed by the European Regional Development Fund and by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament.