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Imerse

The IMERSE Lab, led by Dr. Axel Krieger at Johns Hopkins University, focuses on advancing medical robotics through innovative tools and techniques to enhance surgical efficiency and patient outcomes. Key projects include the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) for autonomous soft-tissue suturing and the development of magnetic suturing systems aimed at minimizing tissue trauma. The lab also engages in research for patient-specific vascular grafts and autonomous systems for tumor resection, showcasing significant advancements in surgical automation and precision.

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9 views2 pages

Imerse

The IMERSE Lab, led by Dr. Axel Krieger at Johns Hopkins University, focuses on advancing medical robotics through innovative tools and techniques to enhance surgical efficiency and patient outcomes. Key projects include the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) for autonomous soft-tissue suturing and the development of magnetic suturing systems aimed at minimizing tissue trauma. The lab also engages in research for patient-specific vascular grafts and autonomous systems for tumor resection, showcasing significant advancements in surgical automation and precision.

Uploaded by

christinezyu.math
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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IMERSE LAB
Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and
Equipment Lab

Dr. Axel Krieger


Dr. Axel Krieger is an Associate Professor of Mechanical
Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr.
Krieger’s work focuses on the development of novel
tools, imaging, and robot control techniques for
medical robotics. Specifically, Dr. Krieger investigates
methodologies that (i) increase the smartness and
autonomy and (ii) improve image guidance of medical
robots to perform previously impossible tasks, improve
e"ciency, and improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Axel Krieger previously served as Assistant


Professor and Head of the Medical Robotics &
Equipment Lab at the University of Maryland, College
Park. He was also an Assistant Research Professor at
the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical
Innovation at Children’s National, where he led
research on robotic tools and laparoscopic devices.
Notable projects included the development of the
smart tissue autonomous robot (STAR) and innovative
applications of 3D printing for surgical planning and
patient-specific implants.

Dr. Krieger holds several licensed patents for


biomedical devices. He joined Children’s National after
several years of experience in private industry at
Sentinelle Medical Inc. and Hologic Inc. His role within
these organizations was Product Leader developing
devices and software systems from concept to FDA
approval and market introduction. Dr. Krieger
completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at
the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and his
doctorate at Johns Hopkins, where he pioneered an
MR-guided prostate biopsy robot used in over 50
patient procedures at three hospitals.

Google Scholar

Lab Members

Anuruddha Bhattacharjee, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Medical Robotics,
Magnetic Manipulation

Ji Woong Kim, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Robot Learning, Manipulation

Deepak Raina, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Medical Robotics and Imaging, Deep Learning

Paul Maria Scheikl, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Surgical Robotics
Machine Learning

Jiawei Ge, MS

PhD Candidate

Surgical Robotics

 

Michael Kam, MS

PhD Candidate

Medical Robotics

Seda Aslan, MS

PhD Candidate

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Lidia Al-Zogbi, MS

PhD Candidate

Surgical Robotics
Machine Learning

Justin Opfermann, MS

PhD Candidate

Robotics

Idris Sunmola, BS

CS PhD Student

AI in Surgical Robotics

Noah Barnes, BS

PhD Candidate

Surgical Robotics

Jesse Haworth, BS

PhD Candidate

Surgical Robotics

Mariana Smith, BEng

PhD Candidate

Surgical Robotics

Samuel Schmidgall, BS

PhD Candidate

Machine Learning
Surgical Robotics

 

Xinhao Chen, BEng

PhD Student

Magnetic Actuation System

Michelle Song, BS

PhD Student

Surgical Robotics

Ethan Kilmer, BS

CS PhD Student

Surgical Robotics

Alumni

Research Overview
Our work focuses on both basic research and
translational research in the development of
novel tools, imaging, and robot control
techniques for medical robotics.

Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR)

Autonomous surgery holds the promise of


providing e"cacy, safety, and consistency
regardless of individual surgeon skills and
experience. The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot
(STAR) represents a groundbreaking robotic
platform showcasing surgical automation in image-
guided surgery through advanced technologies.
The platform seamlessly integrates 2D-3D
perception, deformable suture planning,
constraint motion control, and deep-learning
tissue tracking capabilities, resulting in the
achievement of autonomous soft-tissue suturing.
STAR recently marked a significant milestone by
successfully completing pre-clinical feasibility
studies on animal models.
Magnetic Suturing Systems

Magnetic fields can exert forces and torques onto


remote magnetic surgical tools that is located
inside of the patient’s body, and obviate the
physical connections with the standard robotic
arm structures. This property of magnetic robotics
provides a promising alternative to miniaturize the
surgical tools for the next generation of surgical
systems, where less tissue trauma and more
patient comfort in clinics. As a target medical
application, we focus on magnetic suturing, where
the needle is magnetic and can be guided to
penetrate into the tissue to complete a suturing
task. Our research continues towards enhancing
the penetration capability and system-level
intelligence via merging the digital and physical
intelligence.

Semi-Automatic Planning and Three-


Dimensional Electrospinning of Patient-
Specific Grafts for Fontan Surgery

This work aims to develop a semi-automatic tissue


engineered vascular graft (TEVG) planning method
for designing and 3D-printing hemodynamically
optimized Fontan TEVGs. We present a
computation framework by parameterizing Fontan
grafts to explore patient-specific vascular graft
design space and search for optimal designs. We
employed nonlinear constrained optimization
technique to minimize indexed power loss of
Fontan grafts while keeping hepatic flow
distribution (HFD) and percentage of abnormal
wall shear stress (%WSS) within clinically
acceptable thresholds. Our work significantly
reduces the collaborative e#ort and turnaround
time between clinicians and engineering teams for
designing patient-specific hemodynamically
optimized TEVGs.

Image-Guided Autonomous Robotic


System for Tumor Resection

Tumor resection surgery, a vital cancer treatment,


requires the complete removal of tumors and
adjacent healthy tissues, demanding high surgical
precision for optimal oncologic outcomes. We
developed the autonomous system for tumor
resection (ASTR), a pioneering dual-arm, vision-
guided robotic system tailored for this purpose.
Demonstrated in a glossectomy-mimicking surgical
setup using porcine tongue samples, ASTR’s
successful autonomous performance yielded no
positive margins, showcasing precision and
consistency that rival or even surpass manual
resections by experienced otolaryngologist.

Research is fun, but


it’s even better with
fun activities!
Lab Gallery

Latest News from Our


Lab

Congrats Jesse and Mariana on


successfully passing the DQE
in Mechanical Engineering

Read more

Congrats Lidia’s research


featured on the Hopkins
Engineering News
When Minutes Matter: Robot Tackles Trauma’s
Silent Killer

Read more

A Fluorescent Suture Could


Brighten Up Surgical
Outcomes | Giving to Johns
Hopkins
In the IMERSE Lab at the Whiting School of
Engineering, Justin Opfermann, a mechanical
engineering PhD student, and his team are
developing Glow and Sew, an innovative
surgical tool designed[…]

Read more

VIEW MORE

Contact us
Please reach out if have any questions about the
research or opportunities.

Axel Krieger, PhD


Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Whiting School of Engineering
Johns Hopkins University
Email: [email protected]

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