XV International Conference on Electrical Bio-Impedance (ICEBI) & XIV Conference on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT)

Abstract

Over recent years advanced measurement methods have facilitated outstanding achievements not only in medical instrumentation but also in biotechnology. Impedance measurement is a simple and innocuous way to characterize materials. For more than 40 years biological materials, most of them based on cells, have been characterized by means of electrical impedance for quality control of agricultural products, monitoring of biotechnological or food processes or in health care. Although the list of possible applications is long, very few applications successfully entered the market before the turn of the century. This was, on the one hand, due to the low specificity of electrical impedance with respect to other material properties because it is influenced by multiple factors. On the other hand, equipment and methods for many potential applications were not available. With the appearance of microcontrollers that could be easily integrated in applications at the beginning of the 1980s, impedance measurement advanced as a valuable tool in process optimization and lab automation. However, established methods and data processing were mostly used in a new environment. This has changed significantly during the last 10 years with a dramatic growth of the market for medical instrumentation and also for biotechnological applications. Today, advanced process monitoring and control require fast and highly parallel electrical characterization which in turn yields incredible data volumes that must be handled in real time.Many newer developments require miniaturized but precise sensing methods which is one of the main parts of Lab-on-Chip technology. Moreover, biosensors increasingly use impedometric transducers, which are not compatible with the large expensive measurement devices that are common in the laboratory environment.Following the achievements in the field of bioimpedance measurement, we will now witness a dramatic development of new electrode structures and electronics. Structures down to sub-micrometer range and complex impedance measurements tools integrated at single chips are now affordable.Moreover, the introduction of alternative signals and data processing algorithms focuses on very fast and parallel electrical characterization which in turn pushes this technique to new applications and markets. Electrical impedance tomography today yields pictures in real time with a resolution that was impossible 10 years ago.The XVth International Conference on Electrical Bio-Impedance in conjunction with the XIVth Electrical Impedance Tomography ICEBI/EIT 2013 organized by the Institute for Bioprocessing and Analytical Measurement Techniques, Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Germany, together with the EIT-group at the University of Göttingen, Germany, brings world leading scientists in these fields together. It is a platform to present the latest developments in instrumentation and signal processing but also points to new applications, especially in the field of biosensors and non-linear phenomena. Two Keynote lectures will extend the view of the participants above the mainstream of bio-impedance measurement. Friederich Kremer (University of Leipzig) delivers the plenary lecture on broad bandwidth dielectric spectroscopy. New achievements in the research of ligand gated ionic channels will be presented by Klaus Benndorf (University of Jena). Leading scientists in the field of bio-impedance measurement, such as, Sverre Grimnes, Orjan Martinsen, Andrea Robitzki, Richard Bayford, Jan Gimsa and Mart Min will give lectures for students but also more experienced scientists in a pre-conference tutorial which is a good opportunity to learn or refresh the basics.List of committees Conference Chair Dr Uwe Pliquett Professor Dieter Beckmann Institut für Bioprozess- und Analysenmesstechnik eV, Rosenhof, Heilbad Heiligenstadt, GermanyTechnical Program Chair Maik Hiller Conventus Congressmanagement & Marketing GmbH, Carl-Pulfrich-Str. 1 – 07745 JenaPre-Conference Tutorial Coordinator Uwe PliquettInternational Advisory committee Kenneth R Foster, USA Sverre Grimnes, Norway David Holder, UK Alexander V Korjenewski, Russia Ørjan G Martinsen, Norway Mart Min, Estonia Stig Ollmar, Sweden Tadeusz Palko, Poland Pere J Riu, Spain Andrea Robitzki, Germany Hermann Scharfetter, Austria Leigh C Ward, AustraliaConference logo Sponsor logos