At its meeting on June 25, 2018, the Board of Trustees of the Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technologies Jena (Leibniz-IPHT) underlined the successful structural and strategic development of the institute and decided to implement planned innovations in the departmental structure.

Dr. Bernd Ebersold, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society, emphasized the positive development of the Leibniz-IPHT: “Since its admission to the Leibniz Association four years ago, the institute has continued to advance its research activities in optical health technologies and thus successfully sharpened its strategic research profile. That the Leibniz-IPHT is one of the world’s leading institutions in this field is due to the highly qualified workforce and not least to the sustainable support provided by the Federal Government and the Free State of Thuringia”.

As a result of the structural and strategic development, the committee decided to set up two new research departments. With them, the Leibniz-IPHT strengthens its competence in the fields of high-resolution microscopy and system technology. In addition, the Board of Trustees appointed Prof. Christian Eggeling as head of the new research department “Biophysical Imaging”. The scientist, who has been Professor of Super-Resolution Microscopy at the Institute of Applied Optics at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena since December 2017, is investigating high-resolution microscopy methods that allow unique insights into the nanocosmos of living cells and tissue. “High-resolution fluorescence microscopy excellently complements the imaging techniques established at the Leibniz-IPHT and opens up new applications in optical medical diagnostics and basic biological research,” Prof. Jürgen Popp, scientific director of the Leibniz-IPHT and professor of physical chemistry at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, emphasizes the importance of the research topic for the scientific orientation of the institute.

The second new research department, called “Optical Molecular Diagnostics and Systems Technology”, is dedicated to the targeted translation of research results in the fields of health technologies and medical technology. “This is one of the structural measures that the Institute has taken to anchor the topic of translation centrally in our research strategy. This enables us to close existing gaps in the value chain and bring innovations to the healthcare market more quickly,” says Popp. From December 2018, the experienced industrial researcher Dr. Ralf Ehricht, who previously worked at Alere/Abbott in Jena, will take over the management of the new department. Ehricht has been appointed to a W3 professorship of the same name together with the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.

In addition, the Board of Trustees appointed Prof. Heidemarie Schmidt to succeed the retired Prof. Hans-Georg Meyer as head of the research department for “quantum detection” and Prof. Tomáš Čižmár to succeed Prof. Hartmut Bartelt, who headed the “Fiber Optics” research department. Following the proposal of the institute’s management, the department was renamed “Fiber Research and Technology”.
 
In a further resolution, the Board of Trustees approved the conversion of the research group “Fiber Sensor Technology” into a research department “Fiber Photonics”, proposed by the Institute’s management and recommended by the Scientific Advisory Board. This department is headed by Prof. Markus Schmidt.

“With Heidemarie Schmidt, Tomáš Čižmár, Christian Eggeling and Ralf Ehricht, we have succeeded in bringing internationally outstanding personalities from academia and industry to the Leibniz-IPHT.  In this way, we can expand already established topics such as optical health technologies and quantum technology and build up new fields of competence such as systems technology,” said Popp summarizing the innovations.