05 November 2020: The German Reaearch Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG)  is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The campaign "DFG2020 - Because Research Matters" was launched to mark this occasion. In short statements, scientists can express why they have decided #fortheKnowledge. Of course, we, as the Collaborative Research Centre 1270 ELAINE, have also taken part in this campaign and would like to say "Congratulations" to the DFG.
»Deciding #fortheknowledge means deciding for life. For our Collaborative Research Centre 1270 ELAINE, this means in particular an intensive exchange in an interdisciplinary team from the fields of medicine, natural sciences and technology in order to achieve a common goal and to promote young researchers.«

12 October 2020: The international conference "Progress in Electrially Active Implants - Tissue and Functional Regeneration (ELAINE 2020)", organized by the scientific staff of the CRC 1270 ELAINE, took place from 29 to 30 September 2020. Due to the current situation around the COVID-19 epidemic and its precautionary measures, the conference was held exclusively virtually. About 100 participants met on both days on the virtual platform hopin to discuss the latest developments in the field of electrically active implants and their therapeutic applications. In the context of invited lectures, selected presentations from the submissions and a digital poster session novel scientific aspects were presented and discussed around the main topics "Electrical Neurostimulators", "Multiscale Modelling and Simulation", "Piezo-active Materials and Power Supply of Electrically Active Implants" and "Therapeutic and Regenerative Application of Electrical Stimulation".

25 August 2020: The book „Materials for Medical Application“, Editor Robert B. Heimann, was released on August, 24th, 2020 by De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.com/books/978-3-11-061919-5. This book gives an introduction to the highly interdisciplinary field of biomaterials. It concisely summarizes properties, synthesis and modification of materials such as metals, ceramics, polymers or composites. Characterization, in vitro and in vivo testing as well as a selection of various applications are also part of this inevitable guide. Cover image information: Scanning electron microscopy image - Rostock University Medical Center (UMR): FE-SEM Merlin, Carl Zeiss (Electron Microscopy Center). Cells: Dept. of Cell Biology, UMR. Courtesy Susanne Stählke (project A03). Material: Laser structuring provided by Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH, SLV, Rostock, Germany. Courtesy Rigo Peters.

24 August 2020: Our annual retreat with the entire CRC 1270 ELAINE took place from 18 to 20 August 2020. Due to the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic we decided to hold the event with about 60 people virtually this year. In addition to the presentation of the scientific work of the individual projects, there was also sufficient time for discussions on the different research fields. The discussions were used to clarify questions of understanding, to give suggestions and to discuss new possibilities of cooperation. The 7th members' meeting of the CRC 1270 ELAINE also took place virtually after the retreat.
We are pleased that the three-day event could be carried out successfully in spite of the special circumstances and that the exchange of ideas and experiences did not come too short.

21 August 2020: We were honored to welcome our guest Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille for a lecture about “Life without ancestors?” on 17 August 2020. The IRTG colloquium took place in a hybrid format: 21 pre-registered and socially distant participants were present at the lecture hall in Gehlsdorf, while other members of the ELAINE-community and other interested parties were able to follow the lecture and participate in the discussion via a Zoom meeting.

18 May 2020: On 1 May 2020 Dr.-Ing. Simon Adrian was appointed assistant professor for "Numerical Simulation Methods in Theoretical Electrical Engineering" at the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. With this junior professorship the University of Rostock supports the CRC 1270 ELAINE, in which Simon Adrian will lead a new subproject in connection with deep brain stimulation, in which he will cooperate closely with other project leaders from both the electrical engineering and medical fields to contribute his scientific expertise. Prof. Adrian received his Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA) and as a graduate engineer in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the TU Munich. Afterwards he began his doctoral studies in the context of a binational program at the TU Munich and the French engineering school IMT Atlantique (Brest, France). He completed his dissertation entitled “Rapidly Converging Boundary Integral Equation Solvers in Computational Electromagnetics” in 2018 with distinction. During his doctorate, he worked as research assistant at the Chair of High-Frequency Engineering of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Eibert. His research included the development of algorithms for the stabilization of integral equation methods for electromagnetic radiation and scattering problems with applications in microwave and antenna technology, electromagnetic compatibility and of electroencephalography. After his doctorate he collected further international experience as Postdoc and Visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin. His last position was as development engineer at Infineon Technologies AG in Neubiberg.

14 May 2020: Due to the current situation regarding the spread of COVID-19, we experiment with different formats for our ELAINE qualification programme and communication channels. Our IRTG guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Waltemath on 13 May 2020 took place in an almost empty lecture hall. 45 ELAINEs and guests participated online in lecture and discussion. Thank you, Professor Waltemath!

9 March 2020: The Collaborative Research Centre 1270 ELAINE would like to welcome you to our three-day conference ELAINE 2020 at the University of Rostock from 28 to 30 September 2020. ELAINE 2020 aims to provide a platform for the growing community of researchers, engineers and medical practitioners in the field of electrically active implants, with a focus on brain, bone and cartilage stimulation, for interdisciplinary scientific exchange and the networking of experts and young scientists. We cordially invite you to participate and submit an abstract for either oral or poster presentation. The topics include all aspects of therapeutic and regenerative electrical stimulation and implant development for bone, cartilage and deep brain stimulation – from multi-scale modelling and simulation, cell and tissue mechanisms in vitro and in vivo to energy harvesting and electrically conductive and piezoactive materials. At ELAINE 2020, we want to discuss the latest achievements and advancements in the field of electrically active implants in the form of invited lectures, selected lectures from submitted abstracts and poster sessions. We explicitly encourage young scientists to contribute and submit their work. Find more details about the online registration, abstract submission, venue and conference programme here.
♦♦♦ UPDATE - 03 July 2020: Due to the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic the conference ELAINE 2020 will take place virtually on 29 and 30 September 2020! ♦♦♦

5 March 2020: This year, our Collaborative Research Centre 1270 ELAINE would like to present itself to the public again with various activities. After a succuessful participation at the Girls' Day in 2019 called "ELAINE und ICH – Forschung zu Elektrisch Aktiven Implantaten", this year there will also be an offer for the Boys' Day. We are happy about the great interest as the places for the Boys' Day are already fully booked.  All interested girls are welcome to register for the last places for Girls' Day 2020. Our scientists have again prepared a varied programme for you this year. The Girls' Day and the Boys' Day are nationwide campaigns for vocational orientation and will take place this year on Thursday, 26 March 2020. Furthermore various scientists from the CRC 1270 ELAINE will again participate in the annual Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften in Rostock. On 23 April 2020 you will find us from 18:00 to 22:00 o'clock in the Institute of General Electrical Engineering in the Albert-Einstein-Straße 2 in Room Ex 07. There you will get an insight into the current research of our Collaborative Research Centre by means of posters, simulation videos and different models. We are looking forward to your participation in these events.
♦♦♦ UPDATE - 16 March 2020: Due to the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic the Girls' Day and the Boys' Day is canceled nationwide for 2020! ♦♦♦

♦♦♦ UPDATE - 16 March 2020: Due to the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften has been postponed to a later date! ♦♦♦

2 March 2020: Dr. Mareike Fauser from the Department of Neurology of the Rostock University Medical Center gets the opportunity to extend her temporary substitute position for clinicians in the CRC 1270 ELAINE for another 6 months. Thanks to the financial support of the Rostock University Medical Center, she will be doing research on "Optimization of rodent DBS: application of a fully-implantable DBS stimulator in rats" until the end of August.

26 February 2020: The Mare Balticum Fellowship Program of the University of Rostock allows guest stays for national and internationel reserachers to promote young scientists and to strengthen interdisciplinarity. Prof. van Rienen (Speaker of the CRC 1270 ELAINE) has recieved a notive of approval for a joint project with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bojana Rosic from the University of Twente (Faculty of Engineering Technology) for this year. From 1 September to 1 November 2020 Prof. Rosic, who was already part of our lecture series "Women in Natural Sciences and (Bio-)Engineering" in November 2019, will spend her guest stay in Rostock. During this time, she will give various events for young scientists in the form of lectures and seminars on the topics of Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification and prepare a research cooperation.
♦♦♦ UPDATE - 2 June 2020: Due to the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic the guest stay of Prof. Rosic is postponed to the period 15 June 2021 to 14 August 2021! ♦♦♦

23 January 2020: The annual member meeting of our integrated research training group (IRTG) took place on Wednesday, 22 January 2020. In addition to the evaluation of last year's activities and an outlook on planned events and activities for this year, the main focus was on the election of the 2020 IRTG member representatives. Thomas Distler (B03), Simone Krüger (C02) and Julius Zimmermann (A02) are the newly elected IRTG member representatives. We thank you for your willingness to represent the interests of the doctoral researchers and PostDocs for one year within the CRC 1270 ELAINE.

15 January 2020: On Tuesday, 14 January 2020, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Susanne Bowen visited our CRC 1270 ELAINE. Prof. Ursula van Rienen (A02, speaker of the CRC) gave a short introduction to collaborative research centres in general and an overview of the research of our ELAINE-project. Afterwards the topics Deep Brain Stimulation and Electrical Stimulation of Bone and Cartilage were explained in detail. Prof. Alexander Storch (C04) and Prof. Rüdiger Köhling (C03) presented the neurological and physiological basics for the Deep Brain Stimulation. The technical challenges were shown by Prof. Dirk Timmermann (B03) and he presented the neurostimulator which was developed in his research group. The Electrical Stimulation of Bone and Cartilage was explained by Prof. Rainer Bader (C02). In addition to the clinical challenges of cartilage regeneration, he also discussed various examples of bone defects in practice. In addition to the theoretical insights, Susanne Bowen could also get to know the practical work of the CRC: Konstantin Butenko (A02) explained a newly developed simulation tool for deep brain stimulation and showed some simulation results. Simone Krüger (C02) and Dr. Anika Jonitz-Heincke led through the ELAINE laboratory in the research building Life, Light & Matter (LLM). We would like to thank Susanne Bowen for her great interest in our collaborative research centre and the inspiring discussion.