NTP Press Conference: Draft Technical Reports of the National Toxicology Program’s Radiofrequency Radiation Studies in Rodents

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) announced the release of two draft technical reports of the results of studies of the health effects of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation in rodents. The NTP held a telephone press conference on Friday, February 2, 2018 to summarize the findings in the reports and answer questions. At a peer review of the draft reports, scheduled for March 26 – 28, 2018, Niels Kuster and Myles Capstick of IT'IS will provide background information on the design and rationale of the exposure regime.

Fake vs. Real – The Zurich43 Retreat 2018 at Pilatus Kulm

Zurich43's annual retreat, this year with the theme "Fake vs. Real", was held 29 – 30 January 2018 at Hotel Pilatus-Kulm. The two days were packed with presentations and discussions to dissect high-quality science, products, and services.

Game On! Z43’s Annual Party, 2018 “The Next Level” Edition

The annual Zurich 43 party, this year with the gamer theme “The Next Level”, was held at Halle 622 in Zurich-Oerlikon on Friday 19 January 2018.

Major ViP Extension: Morphing of Virtual Population Models Broadens BMI Population Coverage

IT’IS achieves long-awaited breakthrough with the release of morphed ViP models that cover slender to obese subjects.

Faculty and Masters Students from the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences Visit Zurich43

Prof. Sven Hirsch of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) visited Zurich43 with students in the Life Sciences - Applied Computational Life Sciences (ACLS) Master's Program on the afternoon of Monday, January 15, 2018 for a tour and an introduction to IT'IS research activities.

"Brown Bag Lunch" Seminar Series Special Guest Prof. Dr. med. Friedhelm Hummel

Prof. Dr. med. Friedhelm Hummel, the Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering of the Brain Mind Institute, SV, EPFL, visited the IT'IS Foundation on Tuesday, December 19 and was a guest speaker in the Brown Bag Lunch Seminar series. The title of his talk was "Non-invasive brain stimulation for recovery: Towards precision medicine."

Winter 2017 Info Day at Z43

On Thursday, December 14, Niels Kuster delivered his annual "State of Z43" report to all employees. The presentation was followed by an apéro, where Niels was presented with a life-size portrait of himself!

Z43 Visit to the Wyss Center at Campus Biotech in Geneva

Several representatives of Z43 visited the Wyss Center for Bio & Neuroengineering at Campus Biotech in Geneva.

IT’IS Paper Selected for the May 2017 Cover of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

The paper "Pregnant women models analyzed for RF exposure and temperature increase in 3T RF shimmed birdcages" by Manuel Murbach, Esra Neufeld, Theodoros Samaras, Juan Córcoles, Fraser J. Robb, Wolfgang Kainz, and Niels Kuster was selected for the May 2017 issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

IT’IS Foundation at the 2017 International Wireless Certification Conference and CTTL Forum-International Certification Sub-Forum, Shanghai CN, November 28 – 29, 2017

Prof. Niels Kuster was an invited speaker at the 2017 International Wireless Certification Conference and CTTL Forum-International Certification Sub-Forum, held November 28 – 29, 2017 in Shanghai, China on the challenges faced by the wireless industry in response to changes in certification rules and regulations.

SPARC Data and Resource Kick-Off Meeting

On November 16-17, 2017, over 70 members of the SPARC consortium met for the "SPARC Data and Resource Center Kick-Off Meeting" organized by the NIH in Washington, DC.

IT’IS Receives 5-Year NIH Award to Build an Integrated Simulation Platform for the Neuroscience World

IT’IS is pleased to announce the award of the project o²S²PARC – Open Online Simulations for Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions. The project is funded by NIH through the Common Fund’s SPARC program to establish a Modeling and Simulation (SIM-) Core within the SPARC Data and Resource Center.

Future Photonics Engineers! Z43 Future Day 2017

On Thursday, November 9, nine preteens participated in the 2017 edition of Swiss National Future Day at Z43 to assemble their own photo-active circuits and build light-sensitive robots.

IT'IS Research Featured at SPEAG / ZMT Workshop in South Korea

Schmid & Partner Engineering AG (SPEAG) and ZMT Zurich MedTech AG (ZMT) held their annual Hardware and Software Workshop at the Gachon Convention Center in Sungnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea on 27 October 2017. The workshop is an opportunity to demonstrate Z43's latest innovations and products, and to exchange information on recent advances and solutions for electromagnetic safety assessment and medical applications.

Fats Domino, Namesake of ViP “Fats” Model, Dead at Age 89

Fats Domino, for whom the ViP obese male model “Fats” is named, died of natural causes at his home in Louisiana, USA on 24 October, 2017. The R&B legend was 89 years old.

Activation of Signaling Cascades by Weak Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields

Einat Kapri-Pardes, Tamar Hanoch, Galia Maik-Rachline, Manuel Murbach, Patricia L. Bounds, Niels Kuster, and Rony Seger Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, Volume 43, pp. 1533–1546, online October 16, 2017, doi: 10.1159/000481977

2nd International Workshop on Photonics Applied to Electromagnetic Measurements (PEM2017)

Release of the First Verified and Validated MRIxViP V1.0 Libraries and IMAnalytics Module V1.0 for Instant, Comprehensive, and Traceable Evaluation of Implantable Medical Devices

MRIxVIP V1.0 and IMAnalytics V1.0: The first comprehensive solutions for fast, verified, validated, and traceable evaluations of implant safety during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Novel hyperthermia applicator system allows adaptive treatment planning: Preliminary clinical results in tumour-bearing animals

S. Dressel, M.-C. Gosselin, M. H. Capstick, E. Carrasco, M. S. Weyland, S. Scheidegger, E. Neufeld, N. Kuster, S. Bodis, and C. Rohrer Bley, Veterinary and Comparative Oncology, online 11 September, 2017, doi: 10.1111/vco.12340

China's National Institute of Metrology Visits the IT'IS Foundation

Prof. Teng Junheng, Director of the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) China, along with several NIM Department Chairs visited the IT'IS Foundation on 11. September 2017.

IT'IS at ICES TC95 Meeting in Rosslyn, VA, 14-16 Aug 2017

In August 2017, the International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) Technical Committee 95 held their bi-annual meeting in Rosslyn, VA, to update electromagnetic exposure standards.

Aiping Yao Selected As URSI GASS 2017 Student Paper Competition Finalist

IT'IS Foundation PhD student Aiping Yao was selected as a finalist in the Student Paper Competition at URSI GASS 2017 for her work entitled "Robust experimental evaluation method for the safety assessment of implants with respect to RF-induced heating during MRI", co-authored by Earl Zastrow and Niels Kuster.

On the Use of Conformal Models and Methods in Dosimetry for Non-Uniform Field Exposure

Dragan Poljak, Mario Cvetković, Oriano Bottauscio, Akimasa Hirata, Ilkka Laakso, Esra Neufeld, Sylvain Reboux, Craig Warren, Antonis Giannopolous, and Fumie Costen, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, online 18 July, 2017, doi: 10.1109/TEMC.2017.2723459

Effects of body habitus on internal radiation dose calculations using the 5-year-old anthropomorphic male models

Tianwu Xie, Niels Kuster, and Habib Zaidi, Physics in Medicine & Biology, Volume 62, Issue 15, pp. 6185–6206, online 13 July 2017, doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/aa75b4

IT'IS and ZMT at Auden Group Seminar in Taipei, Taiwan July 6, 2017

Niels Kuster and Erdem Ofli were presenters at the Auden Group Seminar on the integration of next-generation electromagnetic technologies in biomedical applications held in Taipei, Taiwan July 6, 2017.

Manuel Murbach Wins Arthur Pilla Young Scientist Award at BioEM2017

Manuel Murbach was recently named the Arthur Pilla Young Scientist at BioEM2017, the joint annual meeting of BEMS and EBEA, in Hangzhou, China June 5 – 9, 2017, for his platform presentation entitled "MRI radiofrequency exposure estimation in morphed patient anatomies".

Noninvasive Deep Brain Stimulation via Temporally Interfering Electric Fields

Nir Grossman, David Bono, Nina Dedic, Suhasa B. Kodandaramaiah, Andrii Rudenko, Ho-Jun Suk, Antonino M. Cassara, Esra Neufeld, Niels Kuster, Li-Huei Tsai, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, and Edward S. Boyden, Cell, Volume 169, Issue 6, pp. 1029–1041, online 1 June 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.024

Swiss Chamber of Technical and Forensic Experts Visit Zurich43

Members of the Swiss Chamber of Technical and Forensic Experts visited the IT'IS Foundation to learn about procedures for safety certification of wireless devices.

ETH Zurich D-ITET Masters Students and VetClinics-UZH Faculty Visit Zurich43

Master students from the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (D-ITET) of the ETH Zurich visited Zurich43 for a seminar on "Non-ionising radiation: a health risk from low doses?". The visit was part of the course "Energy, Resources, Environment: Risks and Prospects" taught by Dr. Thomas Flüeler. The students toured the IT’IS research facilities, with stops at the Yellow Chamber, ICEy and TDS probes, and the AllyPally phantoms. The seminar continued with presentations from representatives of the VetSuisse faculty and Ärztinnen und Ärzte für Umweltschutz and concluded with time for questions and discussion.

IT’IS Wins Award for Best Abstract in Session at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Manuel Murbach of the IT'IS Foundation won the best abstract award in a joint session on High Field Systems & Applications & MR Safety at the 25th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in Honolulu, Hawaii, 22 – 27 April 2017 for his presentation entitled "Morphing and Posing of Computational Anatomical Models: Enhanced Patient-Specific MRI RF Exposure Prediction."