Novel imaging through further development of X-ray sources

Theresa Staufer works at the Institute of Experimental Physics and heads the project funded by the Joachim Herz Foundation. Photo: Staufer - Whether at the dentist or orthopedist: X-ray examinations are among the most common diagnostic procedures. The research of Theresa Staufer and her team is intended to further develop a compact X-ray system that will make special analyses in biomedical research much easier to implement and thus more accessible. The project is supported by the new funding program -Innovation Academy for Applied Infection Research- of the Joachim Herz Foundation. With the help of so-called X-ray fluorescence, immune cells in living organisms can be tracked and new insights into inflammatory diseases can be gained. This groundbreaking application has been developed by a team from the Department of Physics at the University of Hamburg led by Florian Grüner and Theresa Staufer: in addition to tracking cells, the temporal and spatial distribution of drugs or antibodies can also be measured. In this way, for example, new insights can be gained in the development of drugs, or foci of inflammation and tumor metastases can be precisely localized.