Engineering for Health
Welcome to the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBT) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). For more than 60 years we have been active in research and teaching in the field of biomedical engineering.
In interdisciplinary projects together with medical doctors and medical industry, we investigate new technical systems that help to diagnose diseases earlier and more accurately as well as systems that make therapies more successful.
The main focus of the research program of Prof. Dr. Werner Nahm's group is optical systems in medicine and life sciences. Current projects are focussing on surgical visualization and optical diagnosis [more].
The group of PD Dr. Axel Loewe develops computational models of the heart and applies them to cardiological problems. We focus on cardiac electrophysiology and elastomechanics to contribute to answer clinical questions such as the genesis of e.g. cardiac arrhythmias and appropriate treatment strategies. Signal processing of cardiac signals (ECG and electrograms), machine learning, and artificial intelligence are further focus fields [more].
Our group recently attended the Helmholtz AI Conference 2025 in Karlsruhe. It was a highly insightful event, emphasizing critical advancements in AI for science, including foundational models, agentic AI, and energy consumption. Silvia and Julian presented their research via posters (PSII-43 and PSII-46), sparking valuable discussions. This conference offered a crucial opportunity to engage with the AI community and gather new perspectives for our work.
From 25 to 28 May, the Coupled Problems conference took place in Villasimius, Sardinia. Our institute was represented there by Joshua, who presented a convergence analysis of spatial discretisation for meshes with explicitly represented cardiac cells. The aim was to reduce simulation runtimes based on the Extracellular-Membrane-Intracellular (EMI) model by deliberately coarsening the mesh resolution – without compromising the significance of the results.
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From April 23–26, the 91st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) took place in Mannheim. Joshua and Silvia presented posters on their latest research (pacing frequency dependence of cardiac excitation conduction via fibroblasts and non-invasive atrial cardiomyopathy diagnosis), while Christian gave a talk on the automatic division of bi-atrial geometries. Pascal and Axel also attended, connecting with the cardiology research community.
Since the turn of the millennium, computational modelling of biological systems has evolved remarkably. The article highlights recent achievements and new challenges, particularly in the cardiovascular system. It emphasizes the importance of mechanistic and data-driven models and their synergies to foster future progress in medical research and artificial intelligence.
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From March 30 to April 1, the annual meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) took place, bringing together scientists, healthcare professionals, and key stakeholders from around the world involved in arrhythmia management. Axel Loewe and Silvia Becker represented the IBT at the event. Additionally, Silvia gave a presentation on why it matters how the P-wave is measured in the ECG.
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Accurately identifying the origin of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) is crucial for improving diagnosis and treatment. Read more about this innovative approach led by a collaborative research team, including contributions from CaMo IBT.
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