Research into the internet of the future
The Center of Excellence Silicon Photonics for Optical Communications (SPOC) will receive up to DKK 59 million from the Danish National Research Foundation.
The centre is tasked with developing the scientific basis for a new era in communication with the goal of achieving ultimate data capacity combined with significant energy efficiency improvements.
Its tasks will include developing new light sources for ultra-broadband super channels and secure communication, and researching new, spatially distributed transmission technologies to create opportunities for even more data transmission. Silicon is key to this research as the material is used to make optical chips with the capacity to create particularly spatially distributed light, perform ultra-fast signal processing and emit ultra-broadband light and individual photons. The new centre’s activities will continue to build on a number of records that the team of researchers behind the centre at DTU Fotonik have already set, including the fastest chip in the world—which can process the fastest serial optical data signal to date—and the world record for the volume of data transmitted in the light from a single laser (43 Tbit/s).
Additional information:
Professor Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, Head of Centre, Silicon Photonics for Optical Communications (SPOC);
Tel. +45 45 25 37 84 / email: lkox@fotonik.dtu.dk
Research into drug delivery via nano and microcapsules
The Center of Excellence Intelligent oral Drug delivery Using Nano and microfabricated containers (IDUN) will receive up to DKK 56 million from the Danish National Research Foundation..
Doctors often prefer administering drugs orally, as this is the easiest and least unpleasant method for the patient. There are, however, a number of obstacles to administering medication orally. For example, the medicine is often broken down by the acid environment in the stomach, which is why some medicine must be administered intravenously. The new IDUN basic research centre will now work to improve the efficiency of oral drug delivery. Under the leadership of Professor Anja Boisen, the centre will design containers measuring just a few micrometres for oral drug delivery. These containers are to function as tiny toolboxes, designed with internal compartments for bioactive substances and trigger devices.
Results from the first experiments with micro-containers indicate that passage through the intestinal wall boosts the effect of the active substances in the medicine by a factor of ten.
The development of micro-containers for human patients makes high demands on micro and nanotechnological know-how, and new discoveries and research breakthroughs are sure to be achieved when nano-fabrication experts, theorists, pharmaceutical developers and application specialists have the opportunity to combine their skills over the coming six years. The results will initially benefit treatments for HIV and diabetes in particular.
Additional information:
Professor Anja Boisen, Head of Centre, Intelligent oral Drug delivery Using Nano and microfabricated containers (IDUN);
Tel. +45 27 28 59 99 / email: anja.boisen@nanotech.dtu.dk
Research into improved scanning technologies for medical image processing
The Center of Excellence Center for Hyperpolarization in Magnetic Resonance will receive up to DKK 55 million from the Danish National Research Foundation.
Image generation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) plays an important role in many branches of science today, from physics and chemistry to biology and medicine. The application of the methods is limited when it comes to generating images of rapid dynamic processes, or measuring extremely low substance concentrations both in vivo and in vitro.
Hyperpolarization using Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) is one way to address the problem, given that DNP makes it possible to amplify the signal more than 10,000 times. This, in turn, allows the study of aspects that would otherwise be impossible to pin down.
Hyperpolarization is an advanced technological method for magnetizing substances. A substance with a powerful magnetic signal can be used for medical imaging and cancer diagnosis, for example. When the substance is injected into the patient, a subsequent MRI scan will not only reveal a cancerous tumour, but also provide insight into the metabolism of the tumour itself. Doctors can thus build up a better idea of how aggressive the cancer is, and of whether or not it is responding to treatment. Similarly, hyperpolarization using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) may provide a window into the inner workings of the cells themselves, thus providing a tool for understanding and optimising the function of both human and industrially applied cells.
Hyperpolarization using DNP is still in its infancy, however. Improved understanding and a better theoretical description of the fundamental scientific processes behind DNP hyperpolarization will constitute the nucleus of this particular Center of Excellence.
Additional information:
Honorary Professor Jan Henrik Ardenkjær-Larsen, Head of Centre, Center for Hyperpolarization in Magnetic Resonance;
Tel. +45 +40 27 27 75 / email: jhar@elektro.dtu.dk
Professor Jens Øllgaard Duus, tel. +45 20 83 52 07 / email: jduus@kemi.dtu.dk