On June 13th, this year’s MESA+ Meeting was held at the Kinepolis cinema in Enschede. After two years of restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, we were finally able to meet in person again. It was a joyous meeting, with much time for networking, sharing knowledge, showcasing research and programmes and improving cooperation between different research groups. The programme included lectures given by scientists of MESA+, internationally renowned scientists, networking- and parallel sessions, and of course, the MESA+ poster competition.
LECTURES AND PARALLEL SESSIONS
Prof. dr. Tom Veldkamp, rector magnificus of the University of Twente, opened the meeting with a word of welcome to the 550 participants. Prof. Lydia Bourouiba from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented her research on Pathogen Transmission and Fluid Physics: Insights and Challenges. Prof. Patricia Lago from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam discussed the challenges of Empowering Software Solutions for Cloud Sustainability. In the afternoon, prof. Matthias Lütolf from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne presented his research on Engineering Organoid Development.
During parallel sessions in the morning and afternoon, MESA+ scientists gave presentations about their research.
POSTER COMPETITION
Throughout the day, 84 posters from all different research groups at MESA+ were presented and discussed. The group with the best poster was awarded this year’s David Reinhoudt poster award, named after MESA+’s first scientific director. The winners were Nienke van Dongen, Ruben Kolkman, Sandra Michel-Souzy, Jorien Berendsen, Dorothee Wassenberg, Jan Eijkel, Jurriaan Huskens and Loes Segerink, with their poster ‘Cancer biomarker detection on chip in urine samples’. The second place was won by Saurabh Soni, Alessandro Borrini, Fuad Alami, Niels van der Velde and Christian Nijhuis with their poster ‘Hybrid Molecular Electronics: Dynamic Organic Devices for Energy-Efficient Neuromorphic Computation’. The third place went to Erwin Berenschot, Bjorn Borgelink, Chris van Kampen, Yasser Pordeli, Christian Deenen, Haye Witteveen, Roald Tiggelaar, Han Gardeniers and Niels Tas with their poster ‘Wafer-scale fabrication of NEMS and electronic nano-devices by 3D crystallographic nanolithography’.
AWARDS
This year’s Dave Blank Outreach Award, consisting of €1.000 to be spent on outreach activities, was given to Alexander Brinkman, professor of Quantum Transport in Matter. The Business Impact Award was awarded to Nienke van Dongen, Ruben Kolkman, Sandra Michel-Souzy, Jorien Berendsen, Dorothee Wassenberg, Jan Eijkel, Jurriaan Huskens and Loes Segerink, with their poster ‘Cancer biomarker detection on chip in urine samples’.
The prize for the MESA+ Photo contest, the first quarter’s picture award, was also awarded at the MESA+ meeting. Nienke van Dongen claimed it for her picture of air cleaning droplets.
For a photo impression of the MESA+ meeting, see the picture gallery on our intranet.
