Johanna Pfeifer from the HybridEcho team recently attended the International Student Congress of (bio)Medical Sciences (ISCOMS) in Groningen – one of the world’s most renowned student congresses in the field of medicine. The event featured a rich program including hands-on workshops and a wide range of talks and discussions on topics such as gastrointestinal medicine, neurology, surgery, the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare and much more. Especially valuable was the exchange with fellow participants from around the world, as well as the insights shared by outstanding speakers. Johanna not only gained new perspectives for her work with HybridEcho, but also had the chance to present her current research results on ” Differentiation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Regenerative Nodules, and Cirrhotic Liver Tissue using Quantitative Ultrasound in affordable Handheld Ultrasound Devices” to an international audience

The HybridEcho team was proud to exhibit at the IEEE 6G Summit in Dresden – one of the leading platforms for future wireless communication technologies. Our presentation focused on the intersection of 6G innovation and medical technology, with a particular emphasis on ultrasound imaging. We showcased our latest developments and prototypes, demonstrating the potential of 6G for advanced medical applications. These achievements were made possible through the dedication and technical expertise of our team. Special thanks to everyone who played a key role in preparing and presenting our demo:

• Moritz Herzog
• Richard Nauber
• Cornelius Kühnöl
• Edgar Dorausch
• Pascal Stöver
• Franz Richter
• Mai Beckers
• Lisa Schurack
• Aswanth Thayyil

We look forward to further developing our work and actively contributing to the dialogue between telecommunications and medical technology.  

From March 24, to April 2, 2025 over 50 students of medicine, engeneering and computer science dedicated themselves to current developments and challenges in medical technology. Together, the students not only gained insights into each other disciplines, but also developed startup ideas together and met real research groups. Many thanks to all the motivated participants! We look forward to seeing some of you again at the upcoming summer projects.  

At our All-Hands Meeting hosted by SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH, Julian Kober unveiled the first prototype of our very own “HybridEcho Ultrasound Machine.” While it may still have the unmistakable look of a lab prototype (and we embrace that 😄), it marks the culmination of years of dedication and sets the stage for exciting advancements ahead. This year’s ambitious goal? Producing the first tissue image using the HybridEcho approach! The meeting was packed with updates that highlight the incredible collaboration across our consortium:

• Marco Kircher (Fraunhofer IPMS), alongside Erhard Landgraf and Daniel Köhler (Infineon Technologies), presented major strides in cMUT development.
• Tönnis Trittler (HybridEcho) shared groundbreaking work on metamaterial-based transducers, created in partnership with SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH, HETEROMERGE GmbH, and Fraunhofer IKTS.
• Dr.-Ing. Richard Nauber, Cornelius Kühnöl, and Edgar Dorausch demonstrated innovative approaches to adapting mobile communication signal processing techniques to ultrasound imaging.
• Karsten Stork (Exelonix GmbH) introduced signal orchestration methods developed with Contronix Engineering GmbH.
• Sebastian Wolfram (WOLFRAM Designer und Ingenieure) showcased visionary design concepts that give a glimpse into the future of the HybridEcho project.

We are proud to announce the defense of yet another Diploma Thesis from the HybridEcho project: Luisa Recknagel focused on the acoustical characterization of micro-scaled samples from Two-Photon Lithography. She developed a measurement technique using a Scanning Acoustic Microscope to determine the specific acoustic impedance. The thesis was developed and supervised together with Susan Walter from our project partner Fraunhofer IKTS.   Great work, Luisa!

During the second weekend of November, Julia, Tina, and Johanna, three members of the HybridEcho team, attended Euroson 2024 in Naples, Italy – a global meeting of ultrasound professionals focused on clinical applications and recent innovations in ultrasound technology. This annual event is a crucial platform for sharing insights, exploring groundbreaking research, and setting standards in the field. Throughout the conference, we tested cutting-edge imaging technologies firsthand and assessed their potential impact on clinical practice. In addition to attending inspiring lectures, symposia, and workshops, we presented our latest research on the following topics: “Backscatter coefficient in focal liver lesions – Influence of attenuation correction” and “Backscatter Coefficient in Raw Ultrasound from Handheld Devices for Quantification of Liver Steatosis.” Euroson 2024 offered a valuable opportunity to connect with other experts in the field, exchange ideas with national and international colleagues, and explore multidisciplinary perspectives on advancing ultrasound technology. The setting of Naples, with its unique atmosphere, provided an inspiring backdrop to an already enriching experience for the HybridEcho team.

Jakob Schäfer successfully defended his dissertation this week. He has spent the last two years at HybridEcho researching quantitative ultrasound on the liver and wrote his dissertation on the topic of ‘Correlation between spectroscopic attenuation of broadband raw ultrasound data collected by handheld devices and the Controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP)’.

During the first week of October, Moritz and Johanna, both members of the HybridEcho clinical team had the pleasure of attending the DLT2024 (Dreiländertreff), hosted by the ÖGUM, DEGUM and SGUM in Salzburg, Austria. The DLT is a multidisciplinary ultrasound meeting of the German-speaking countries Austria, Germany, and Switzerland and takes place annually. The event is a platform for discussing innovative techniques, exploring the latest research findings and developing common standards regarding the application of ultrasound in the medical field. Experts of clinical and technical aspects of ultrasound came together to explore the recent developments, test new equipment and gain knowledge in meetings, lectures, workshops and case discussions. In this context Johanna had the opportunity to present the latest results regarding the current researches of our team in the field of quantitative ultrasound and its application on focal liver lesions. Dr. med. Nicole Kampfrath showcased part of our research on the quality of ultrasound imaging.

The conference proved to be a framework for connecting with like-minded people, exchanging ideas with national and international collaboration partners and discussing multidisciplinary approaches on further development of ultrasound technology.

This year Hybrid Echo again joined the annual conference for visceral medicine hosted by the DGVS in Leipzig. Recent findings of their research activities were presented in different sessions, the group displayed demos of their technology in the exhibition hall to discuss and exchange ideas with clinical experts from all over germany amd hosted a session at the interface between medicine and technology. Since working on new probe designs the group also showcased and tested ergonomic prototypes with clinicians to collect user feedback. Thanks to DGVS for organizing this great event, we are looking forward to come back next year!

The HybridEcho team showcased their latest advancements in medical ultrasound technology at the 2024 IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Joint Symposium in Taiwan. They presented six scientific posters and a lecture covering hardware, signal processing, and clinical applications. Congratulations to Tina Gabriel for winning 1st place and Julian Kober for taking 2nd place in the 90-second pitch competition.

We had the opportunity to present a variety of demos at the AI & Electronics for Medicine Conference 2024. As an interdisciplinary research project, we’re driven by these questions: – How can we improve the diagnostic output for physicians? – How can we use 6G-based algorithms to get a better ultrasound picture? – How can we build a probe to utilize advanced algorithms and signals? That’s what we are demonstrating at the booth! We want to highlight the tremendous signal quality gains achieved by the hybrid technology approach together with optimized waveforms and processing compared to conventional piezo-based sensor systems. Beyond that we’re excited to show you which technologies from our consortium partners are in the HybridEcho prototypes. Therefore the Fraunhofer IPMS shows their extremely sensitive MEMS with their cMUT Eval Kit and HETEROMERGE GmbH demonstrates their microscale 3D printing capabilities of Metamaterials. We already had lots of interesting exchange and discussions and are looking forward to future cooperations. Many thanks belong to the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health for the excellent organization of the event.

Last week, our team hosted the first-ever Interdisciplinary Ultrasound Symposium (UltrasounDD) in Dresden, welcoming over 50 attendees from diverse fields. Engineers, clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders gathered to exchange knowledge. Key insights included the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the exciting local ultrasound research. A special thanks to our speakers, exhibitors, EKFZ for their support, and our hardworking students. We look forward to continuing these conversations and hope to see everyone next year!

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the organizers of the workshop from the University of Paderborn for organizing this event.

Our research group recently organized our first hackathon in cooperation with MMS-Telekom. This event was an incredible success, drawing nearly 30 enthusiastic participants from diverse backgrounds. The hackathon featured three exciting challenges designed to test and expand the participants’ skills:

1. Analysis of Raw Ultrasound Data: Participants tackled the complexities of interpreting raw ultrasound data, applying innovative techniques to enhance data accuracy and usability.
2. Cleaning and Controlling Databases: This challenge focused on the essential task of maintaining and managing large datasets, ensuring data integrity, and optimizing database performance.
3. Setting Up a Good Medical Database: Participants worked on creating a robust medical database, emphasizing the importance of data organization and accessibility for medical research and applications.

The event was a fantastic opportunity for our group to engage with talented individuals, exchange ideas, and advance our understanding of critical topics in medical technology and data management. We are grateful to MMS-Telekom for their support and collaboration in making this hackathon a memorable and productive experience. s

In the beginning of June, ISCOMS 2024 took place in Groningen, Netherlands, showcasing a well-organized student congress centered on biomedical topics. Among the many participants, Tina Gabriel presented her work on “H-Scan in Liver Steatosis – Based on Raw Ultrasound Data.” Her presentation received recognition as the session winner in “Nuclear Medicine and Imaging Techniques.” Tina will continue her work on this subject as part of her medical thesis. Future research will not only aim to stage the level of steatosis but also attempt to differentiate between different etiologies.

Tönnis Trittler presented the latest research results within our SAB funded project at the Workshop Microprinting 2024 in Bad Schandau. The workshop covered emerging trends in Microprinting, showcasing materials, methods and applications. Our shown work shows how we are pursuing additive manufacturing of matching layers for ultrasonic transducers using two-photon-polymerization lithography. We would like to thank all involved project partners for making these advancements possible – namely Fraunhofer IPMS, Fraunhofer IKTS and HETEROMERGE GmbH.

Jacob Urban successfully completed his Diploma Thesis in December as part of the HybridEcho Team. Jacob Urban successfully completed his Diploma Thesis in December as part of the HybridEcho Team. As part of the technology development for a new ultrasound probe, Jacob examined parameters that influence the assessment of ergonomics and measurement the limits of good ergonomics for these. This meant that new concepts were developed and tested. In the end, a new form was successfully implemented and validated.

Pascal Stöver successfully completed his Diploma Thesis in December as part of the HybridEcho Team. In his thesis, Pascal developed an advanced Fourier Transform algorithm, a critical component for the reconstruction of ultrasound images. Following the completion of his thesis, Pascal continued his work with the HybridEcho Team, contributing further to advancements in medical imaging technology. We congratulate Pascal on this significant achievement and wish him continued success in his endeavors.  

We joined the IUS 2023 in Canada, as one of the most important conferences for ultrasound technology. Edgar Dorausch discussed his “Pizza-Algorithm,” a Fourier-based method for synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging enhancement. Daniel Swist presented his  research on merging mobile communication signals with ultrasound imaging to address the penetration vs. resolution trade-off. All these results would not have been possible without the help of the rest of the group, especially Julian Kober, Cornelius Kühnöl, and Tönnis Trittler!

We presented our latest prototype at the InnoDays 2023! This year’s edition of the conference was somewhat special since it was also the interim check of the Else Kröner Foundation. As part of the EKFZ, we are proud to showcase our results, thereby supporting the center in its application for future funding. We thank all the people involved in the development of our system and especially in the preparation of the set up!

This year Hybrid Echo again joined the annual conference for visceral medicine hosted by the DGVS in Leipzig. Recent findings of their research activities were presented in different sessions, the group displayed demos of their technology in the exhibition hall to discuss and exchange ideas with clinical experts from all over germany amd hosted a session at the interface between medicine and technology.

Since working on new probe designs the group also showcased and tested ergonomic prototypes with clinicians to collect user feedback. Thanks to DGVS for organizing this great event, we are looking forward to come back next year!

Our HybridEcho Consortium had another productive All-Hands Meeting in Dresden! It was a full day of discussions aimed at turning our vision of a new ultrasound device into reality. Thanks to the tremendous effort everyone is contributing to the project we are making rapid progress. The open spirit among us enables the sharing of problems and to find solutions due to the incredible knowledge within the consortium. Part of the All-Hands meeting were members of Fraunhofer IKTS, Fraunhofer IPMS, Infineon Technologies, HETEROMERGE GmbH, Contronix Engineering GmbH, Exelonix GmbH, SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus, WOLFRAM Designer und Ingenieure and of course the HybridEcho research group.

We are happy to announce the participation of Omid Chaghaneh and Tönnis Trittler in the “Data-driven Exploration and Design of Materials” summer school. This summerschool is part of the D3-Graduate School for Metamaterials at TU Dresden, aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing among PhD students working in the metamaterials field. Omid and Tönnis discussed their ideas on metamaterial-based piezoelectric structures and matching layers with the other participants and presented the preliminary results of Omids simulation in a poster titled “Numerical Study of Metamaterial Piezoelectric Structure with Medical Ultrasonic Imaging Application”. <img class=”alignnone wp-image-7671 size-full” src=”https://digitalhealth.tu-dresden.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2077.jpg” alt=”” width=”667″ height=”1038″ /> <div class=”wpb_text_column”> <div class=”wpb_wrapper”> <div class=”wpb_text_column”> <div class=”wpb_wrapper”> <div class=”wpb_text_column”> <div class=”wpb_wrapper”></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

After an intensive six-month period, Cornelius Kühnöl successfully completed his Master’s thesis in an Cooperation between FAU (Erlangen-Nürnberg) and TU-Dresden, culminating in July 2023. The research was centered around the investigation of various signal forms’ suitability for MIMO techniques in ultrasound imaging. This independent endeavor showcased Cornelius’s commitment to advancing the field. Building on this accomplishment, Cornelius is poised to embark on a new chapter in 2023, commencing his Ph.D. studies within our group.

The JUGA Summerschool in Berlin once again united young researchers in the field of gastroenterology, creating an inspiring environment for knowledge exchange and collaboration. This gathering provided an ideal platform for participants to showcase their own research. A much-anticipated annual highlight of the Summerschool is the presentation of the “JUGA Studiensiegel” award, honoring the two most outstanding scientists. We are delighted to announce that Moritz Herzog received this prestigious award for his ongoing work in the field of raw ultrasound data analysis.

We are delighted to announce the participation of our ultrasound research group at the recently concluded 6G Summit in Dresden. As the industry focuses on taking sixth generation (6G) mobile communications to a new level, our attention was focused on exploring the potential of cutting-edge ultrasound technology driven by mobile communications technologies. The conference served as a platform for industry executives, academics and leading professionals in the field of mobile communications. Together we shared trends, ideas and business opportunities. The centrepiece of our presence at the 6G Summit was our booth, where we showcased the remarkable capabilities of ultrasound technology. Visitors were excited to discover the many applications made possible by the convergence of ultrasound technology and mobile communication architectures. One of the highlights of our stand was that visitors had the opportunity to immerse themselves in an interactive demonstration showcasing the power of ultrasound technology. At our stand was a human body model that was to be fed with a specific fluid. The aim was to use ultrasound technology to determine whether the liquid contained alcohol or not. The idea behind that was to use the speed of sound to distinguish between different kind of liquids. The enthusiastic response of the conference participants underlined the immense potential offered by modern ultrasound technology thanks to advances in mobile communication architectures and techniques. Participants were able to see first-hand the exceptional accuracy and versatility of ultrasound in identifying substances in the human body, which opened up new applications and possibilities.

Exciting news: the HybridEcho research group had a meeting to plan a new project grant that will be filed at the Sächsische Aufbaubank – Förderbank – as part of the SEMECO Cluster! Our project aims to develop a new medical ultrasound system that leverages the power of microelectronic systems and metamaterials to enable advanced signal structures. This interdisciplinary project brings together several companies and research institutes to work on cutting-edge technologies that will revolutionize medical imaging. We are proud to be part of such a motivated and innovative consortium involving Infineon Technologies, HETEROMERGE GmbH, Fraunhofer IPMS, Fraunhofer IKTS, SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH, Exelonix GmbH, WOLFRAM Designer und Ingenieure, Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems, Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health Thanks to the HybridEcho Team for the excellent preparation especially Julian Kober, Tönnis Trittler, Edgar Dorausch, Daniel Swist and to our patrons Jochen Hampe and Gerhard Fettweis.

Advances in information technology will significantly shape and change medicine in the future. Experts from medicine and high-tech can only actively shape the upcoming change together. The two-week interdisciplinary Springschool is designed to give students an insight into the basics of each other’s disciplines, they can make new contacts and discover future research areas across disciplines. The cooperation between high-tech and medicine will lay the foundation for future-oriented university medicine. Students from the above-mentioned disciplines are invited to discover the promising technologies that result from the merging of the disciplines. More than 40 medical, engineering and computer science students had the opportunity to network across disciplines and discover future research areas. The HybridEcho Research Group was significantly involved in the organisation of the Spring School. Our ultrasound experts gave several lectures and taught the participants in hands-on workshops to make the technology tangible.

After publishing the results of his master thesis at the SPIE 2023, Edgar Dorausch recieved the best students poster award.

After six months, Julian Kober and Tönnis Trittler finished their diploma theses successfully and will start their PhDs in our group in 2023.

Tönnis Trittler: “Investigations on the structuring of monocrystalline PMN-PT wafers for the production of piezoelectric 1-3 composite materials”

Julian Kober: “Investigation of the thermal behavior of piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers when excited with continuous signals”

Congratulations to Edgar Dorausch on your excellent Master’s thesis “Investigations of Multistatic Methods for Realtime Ultrasound Imaging”.

We are happy to welcome you as PhD Student.