When taking medication, less than one percent of the active ingredient reaches the actual site of the disease. Often, for example in chemotherapy, the whole body is affected, which can cause serious side effects. Anna C. Bakenecker is researching how drugs can be targeted to their sites of action, where they will only have a localised effect. To this end, she is developing tiny micro- and nanorobots loaded with medication, which in the future can also be guided through the body – for example to a tumour, an area of inflammation, or a vasoconstriction.

Bakenecker uses biomaterials that enable triggered drug release and guides the micro- and nanorobots with magnetic fields. In addition to guidance, precise tracking of the tiny robots is essential for safe use in patients. To this end, the medical physics expert and her team are researching a new type of tomographic imaging modality: magnetic particle imaging. This field of research has great potential for nanomedicine, as it allows regions of the body that are difficult to access to be reached, and drugs to be targeted to their sites of action.

‘The associated progress for patients cannot be overestimated,’ said Hessian Minister of Science Timon Gremmels. ‘I am very pleased that we have succeeded in bringing Dr Bakenecker to Hesse with the LOEWE funding, thereby further expanding our still young focus area in medical physics.’

Great asset for TU Darmstadt and RMU

TU President Tanja Brühl emphasises the importance of the new professorship for research at TU Darmstadt and in the Rhine-Main University (RMU) network. “I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Anna C. Bakenecker to a LOEWE Start Professorship at TU Darmstadt. This makes her the third of a total of three dedicated medical technology professorships that form the core of the research cooperation and the medical technology degree programme in the Rhine-Main University Alliance,” said Brühl. “With her research focus on micro- and nanorobotics in conjunction with magnetic particle imaging and hyperthermia for non-invasive cancer therapy, she is an excellent fit for the research and teaching profile of medical engineering. But she will also be a great asset to TU Darmstadt beyond medical technology. With her innovative research, she will be able to set trends in many areas of electrical engineering and will be an enrichment for the Cluster of Excellence project CoM2Life .”

Anna C. Bakenecker's LOEWE Starting Professorship will run for six years from 1 January 2025 and will be based in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (etit) at TU Darmstadt. This also makes it the first LOEWE professorship for the etit department.

Text: TU Darmstadt / sip