Institute News

Artificial intelligence and computer-aided support for diagnosis and therapy in digital medicine—these are the topics Fraunhofer MEVIS is presenting at the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Medical Imaging conference, which is held in San Diego, California, from February 18 to 22. This year, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS is again well represented at the renowned conference with numerous scientific and educational contributions.

Conclusion of an innovative art, science, and technology collaboration on the human body by the artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast and Fraunhofer MEVIS.

Prof. Dr. med. Fabian Kiessling has been recognized by Clarivate as a Highly Cited Researcher 2023 in the Pharmacology and Toxicology category. This is the fifth consecutive year he has been on the Highly Cited Researcher list, having already been recognized in the same category in 2022 and 2021 as well as in the Cross-Field category in 2019 and 2020.

At this year’s annual RSNA meeting (Radiological Society of North America) in Chicago, Fraunhofer MEVIS presents, among others, the following promising innovations for AI-supported medicine: SATORI which helps to conduct multicenter studies and OncoChange which supports the follow-up of tumor treatments.

Great hopes, but also weighty concerns: Currently, there is a lively debate about algorithms that can learn, especially in medicine where AI systems are supposed to help detect diseases and identify optimal future therapies. This raises important questions: How do the algorithms arrive at their results and how can they be verified? Who develops these new technologies that affect the health of so many diverse people? And who creates the stories and images that represent the new digital solutions in medicine? The Scottish-based creator Fiona Smith is exploring this field of tension with an elaborate art project that she will develop as part of the STEAM Imaging V residency program. Her idea: In her interactive installation “The Box”, the audience will feed an AI with data and then be able to observe how the machine reacts in an audio-visual display.

Whose Scalpel 2.0 is an audio-visual art performance that explores the intersection of technology and sensory perception. In this piece, the artist's cardiac MRI data are presented through technological devices, highlighting the progression of medicine and its cultural implications. During the live performance, the artist lets real time heart rate data from the artist, a dancer, and the audience influence the presentation and experience of images and sounds. This sensor-based interactive design fosters a multilayered perception of the body, prompting contemplation on body concepts and technology's role in our lives.

School students, their friends, mothers, and scientists exchange ideas on breast health. On the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the BREAST HEALTH AWARENESS workshop took place at the Institute on 9 October – an event by women for women with scientists, pupils from the partner school Schulzentrum Walle, their friends, mothers, and teachers.

In an engaging lecture by the cardio expert and professor Gerhard Hindricks on August 30th, approximately 70 attendees simultaneously gained insights into pioneering approaches in cardiac medicine and into the possible routs toward securing healthcare in remote or underserved regions. Because those who deal with cardiovascular diseases cannot avoid taking a global epidemiological perspective: Diseases of the heart and vessels are the leading cause of death globally and affect various geographical locations, age groups, and socioeconomic structures.

On Friday, August 25, a Disability Awareness Workshop took place at Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen. The half-day workshop was designed and led by a dedicated team from Inklupreneur, a Berlin and Bremen based initiative whose mission is to promote inclusion in the workplace and to actively support companies in doing so.

Since earlier this year, research scientists of Fraunhofer MEVIS are engaged in the four-year project AEGEUS (A Novel EEG Ultrasound Device for Functional Brain Imaging and Neurostimulation) alongside with several other European partners. The goal of AEGEUS is to develop and manufacture a radically new prototype headset that combines transcranial ultrasound imaging with electroencephalography.

Fraunhofer MEVIS is well represented at the 13th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics (META 2023), July 18–21 in Paris, France.

Conclusion of the Fraunhofer MED2ICIN lighthouse project. On July 17, the project participants will present the prototype in Frankfurt.

Squid Game’s Lee Jung-Jae joins Cate Blanchett in new voiceover for EVOLVER: A Virtual Reality Journey Of Life and Breath.

Fraunhofer MEVIS is well represented at the 19th European Congress on Digital Pathology (ECDP) in Budapest, Hungary from June 14 to 17, 2023.

On Monday, June 12, 2023, the 15th meeting of the Advisory Board (Kuratorium) took place in the institute building of Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen. With the participation of all members of the Advisory Board and led by the Chairman Prof. Hans Maier, the meeting was held in personal attendance for the first time in four years.

Fraunhofer MEVIS is well represented at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the International Society for MR Radiographers & Technologists (ISMRT) in Toronto from June 3 to 8, 2023.

The Director of Fraunhofer MEVIS, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Horst Hahn, was awarded the honorary membership in the German Radiological Society (DRG) on Friday, May 19, at this year's 104th German Radiology Congress (Deutscher Röntgenkongress, RÖKO).

At DMEA, Fraunhofer MEVIS will present software solutions for data structuring as well as guideline-based and data-driven decision-making to interested companies. In addition, MEVIS experts will demonstrate optimized image-guided procedures for tumor follow-up in cancer treatments and lung diseases using AI. The experts of the Fraunhofer MEVIS team look forward to welcoming you at the booth of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in hall 2.2, booth D-107.

The executive board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has appointed Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andrea Schenk as deputy director of Fraunhofer MEVIS as of April 3, 2023. Fraunhofer MEVIS warmly welcomes Andrea Schenk to the institute leadership.

Artificial intelligence and computer-aided support for diagnosis and therapy in digital medicine – these are the topics Fraunhofer MEVIS is presenting at the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Medical Imaging conference, which is held in San Diego, California, from February 19 to 23. This year, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS is again on-site at the renowned conference with numerous contributions.

On Wednesday, 25.01.23, the kick-off at Fraunhofer MEVIS took place with students of the vocational high school class BGy25-G of the school center in Bremen-Walle (SZ Walle) and their teachers. The partnership aims to get students from SZ Walle excited about science and research in digital medicine and to encourage them to deal with the many aspects of the subject practically. Together, Fraunhofer MEVIS wants to promote talents and gifts and thus attract researchers with diverse life backgrounds for the digital medicine of tomorrow and, at the same time, contribute to more educational equality.

On Monday, the Los Angeles-based Bulgarian media artist Eli Joteva provided her work “IntraBeing Expanded View” as a permanent exhibit to Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute’s building at the main location in Bremen.

Fraunhofer MEVIS presents its latest developments in AI-related software solutions for image and data-supported early detection, diagnosis, and therapy at the Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL from November 27th to December 1st.

Prof. Dr. med. Fabian Kiessling has been recognized by Clarivate as a Highly Cited Researcher 2022 in the Pharmacology and Toxicology category. This is the fourth consecutive year he has been on the Highly Cited Researcher list, having already been recognized in the same category in 2021 as well as in the Cross-Field category in 2019 and 2020.

Fraunhofer MEVIS is delighted to complete ”STEAM Imaging IV“ with the independent evaluation of the workshops with school students and STEAM evenings with their parents as part of the artist-in-residence program STEAM Imaging IV. The Program allows media artists to engage in intensive exchange with Fraunhofer MEVIS scientists to critically examine current methods, developments, and research results in their works.

Exhibition: 7th to 16th November 2022--- Zeynep Abes, Turkish media artist and graduate of UCLA's Design Media Arts MFA program, exhibits Moments Within: Forgotten Feelings and False Memories. The video installation is the outcome of her residency »STEAM Imaging IV« at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, Germany.

4–13 NOVEMBER 2022— PRESS & INDUSTRY NIGHT: WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER— Following its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Festival, London based art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast brings EVOLVER, their extraordinary, collaborative virtual reality experience, to Europe.

A draft project to develop an educational app about breast imaging in collaboration with Fraunhofer MEVIS was recently rewarded with the Barbers Bursary Award.

As part of the “STEAM Imaging IV” residency program, Turkish artist Zeynep Abes is on the trail of the secrets of memory. At the beginning, the MR image of a blood vessel tree in the human brain appears on the monitor. Sound and music start to play and the image dissolves, forming shapes and patterns that immediately dissolve again and come together to form new structures. The work can leave you spellbound and immersed in an associative maelstrom of organic-looking pixel clouds flowing back and forth. “Moments Within: Visualizing the Journey of Memory” is the title of the multimedia work by Turkish artist Zeynep Abes. It was created during the “STEAM Imaging IV” residency program hosted this year by the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS in Bremen in collaboration with Ars Electronica, the International Fraunhofer Talent School Bremen, the School Center Walle, and the UCLA ArtSci Center. In September, the artwork will be presented online at this year's Ars Electronica Festival. At the end of 2022, it will be on display as an installation at the UCLA ArtSci Center.

Bremen will be hosting the prestigious International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in 2026. Thanks to the successful application made by the U Bremen Research Alliance and the Section for Artificial Intelligence at the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik) this leading conference will be held in Germany again after 43 years. With this, Germany and especially Bremen demonstrated its suitability as an excellent place for artificial intelligence and science.