Research Group

Bio-observatory

Education

Group leader: Emil Boye Kromann

We develop hardware for capturing fast dynamics inside complex biomimetics (artificial tissues) and for high-throughput characterization of biological samples. Our goal is to bring about new screening tools for early-stage clinical diagnostics and for pre-clinical research/development. We are motivated equally by these end-goals and by the prospect of enabling unexpected discoveries, unravelling the biological machinery that underpins life and disease.

While our goals are broad, we stick to well-defined research challenges. Currently, our main focus is to develop optical instrumentation for large volume screening and high (‘super-‘) resolution imaging of structurally complex organ-on-chip systems - a technology, which can (down the road) advance our fundamental understanding of biological life, inform decision-making in personalized medicine, and fast-track the development of pharmaceutical treatments without animal testing.

We actively involve BSc/MSc-students in our work, both as thesis/project-students and via our course, 22510 Biomedical Prototyping, which takes place in DTU Skylab. Our core expertise is hardware/software-development for imaging of life at the micro/nano-scale and we enjoy working across disciplines with the more bio-savvy research groups around us.

Our group is anchored in the Department of Health Technology's Section for Optical Sensing and Imaging Systems.
 
Summer retreat 2022

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Projects

Ongoing research projects

Imaging large and living organ-on-chip systems

Optics and biology are the central themes in our research. But our day-to-day work also includes software development, hardware-software interfacing, and large-volume data handling.
We are developing a new bio-imaging approach geared for observing complex living samples like organ-on-chip systems. This work is supported by a NERD grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF20OC0059893).
 

Charting the bio-nanoparticle composition of liquid biopsies

Optics and biology are the central themes in our research. But our day-to-day work also includes automation of large-volume sample-handling.
Description: We are developing a new type of flow cytometer geared for charting the bio-nanoparticle composition of liquid biopsies like blood. This work is supported by a Lundbeck Experiment grant from the Lundbeck Foundation (R346-2020-1257).

Visualizing biological transport processes at the intestinal barrier

Laser light, projected through an objective, forms a light-sheet inside the sample. Another objective images the resulting fluorescence onto a camera. Thus, we can map the distribution of fluorescent markers inside the sample. 

We are implementing an adaptive-optics enabled lattice light-sheet microscope and a two-photon excitation microscope geared for observing biological transport across intestinal barrier models in organ-on-chip systems. This work is a contribution to the Center for Intestinal Absorption and Transport of Biopharmaceuticals (CitBIO), which is supported by a Challenge Programme grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF16OC0022166).

 

Group Leader

Emil Boye Kromann

Emil Boye Kromann Groupleader, Associate Professor Department of Health Technology Mobile: (+45) 23 37 22 38

Emil B. Kromann:

2018 - Now Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Technology, DTU
2017 - 2018 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, DTU
2012 - 2017 Biomedical Engineering (PhD), Dept. of Cell Biology, Yale University
2006 - 2012 Biomedical Engineering (BSc and MSc), DTU

 

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We run the BSc-level course 22510 Biomedical Prototyping in DTU Skylab – our innovation incubator.

The development of new biomedical instrumentation requires expertise in a range of scientific disciplines, including biology, medicine, electronics, mechanics, software, and (increasingly) optics. In this hands-on course, participants combine knowledge and practical skills from each of these fields to design, construct and test a bioimaging instrument (recently, a confocal laser scanning microscope, a widefield fluorescence microscope, a flow cytometer, and an automated AR-rig). Through hands-on work and a hackathon about a real-world biomedical problem, participants learn to use the workshops and start-up resources in DTU Skylab. Thus, the course strengthens participants’ basis for pursuing their own tech-ideas at their own initiative during their studies and beyond.

Alumni

Jadze Princeton C. Narag

PhD completed in 2023

 

Lasse P. Kristiansen

Started PhD studies in 2023

Research assistant in 2023

MSc thesis completed in 2023

Research assistant in 2020-2021

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Carl Emil S. Kovsted

Started PhD studies in 2023

Research assistant in 2022-2023

MSc thesis completed in 2022

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Jeppe B. Petersen

BSc thesis completed in 2022

 

Andrea S. Numme

BSc thesis completed in 2022

 

Anton A. Henriksen

BSc thesis completed in 2022

 

Andreas Rosenbom

BSc thesis completed in 2022

 

Elvin Iruthayam

MSc thesis completed in 2022

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Kirstina B.P. Vestersøe

MSc thesis completed in 2021

 

Andreas Hafstrøm

Research assistant in 2020-2021

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Anubhav Dureja

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Laila Rahmaoui

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Louise Frost

BSc thesis completed in 2020

 

Patrick Janowski

MSc thesis completed in 2019

 

Kristian J. Moltved

Research assistant in 2018

 

Gamze Yilan

BSc thesis completed in 2018

 

Huda I. Muhudin

BSc thesis completed in 2018

Our offices are located on the second floor (Danish: Første etage) of DTU Building 344.
Emil’s office (room 120) is in the middle of the hallway.
Our lab is in room 915 in the basement of the same building.

Mail: ebkro@dtu.dk
Phone: +45 (DK) 2337 2238
Location: Google maps

Mailing address:
Emil B. Kromann
Technical University of Denmark
Dept. of Health Technology
Oersteds Plads, Bldg. 345C, reception
2800 Kgs. Lyngby
Denmark

Living and working in Denmark