Amirreza Aghakhani

prof_pic.jpg

School of Engineering, Newcastle University

Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU

amirreza.aghakhani@ncl.ac.uk

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Mechanical Engineering at Newcastle University as of June 2022. Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Department of Physical Intelligence in Stuttgart, Germany. I obtained my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Koc University, Turkey, in 2018. I got my B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2012.

My research interests are centered on small-scale medical robots, acoustics, ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, and lab-on-a-chip systems. In particular, my research thrusts focus on developing medical microrobots and microfluidic devices for biomedical applications by exploiting multiphysics computational modeling, advanced robot design and fabrication techniques, wireless actuation methods using acoustic and magnetic fields, microrobot tracking via ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, and minimally-invasive medical interventions.

news

Oct 25, 2022

Our recent paper “Reduced rotational flows enable the translation of surface-rolling microrobots in confined spaces “ published in Nature Communications shows the effect of the physical confinements on the locomotion of surface-rolling microrobots.

Aug 11, 2022

Our paper “Piezo Capsule: Ultrasonic Way of Wireless Pressure Measurement” is published in Advanced Intellligent Systems. Here, we present the piezo capsule, a simple, cost-effective, and miniaturized passive ultrasound pressure sensing system. We demonstrated the real-time pressure profiles of an artificial vessel for varying fluid flow pulse frequency and volumetric rates.

Jun 29, 2022

I give an invited talk in the Micro/Nanorobots for Medicine workshop of Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics 2022 at Imperial College, London. The talk title is “Trends in medical microrobotics: future outlook and challenges”.

May 12, 2022

Our science advances paper is highlighted in ETH news: “New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body”.

May 11, 2022

Our paper “Real-time 3D optoacoustic tracking of cell-sized magnetic microrobots circulating in the mouse brain vasculature” is published in Science Advances. We demonstrated real-time 3D optoacoustic tracking of magnetic microrobots (5-20 \(\mu\)m diamater) in circulatory vasculture of mice.

selected publications

  1. Nat. Comm.
    Reduced rotational flows enable the translation of surface-rolling microrobots in confined spaces
    Ugur Bozuyuk, Amirreza Aghakhani, Yunus Alapan, and 3 more authors
    Nature Communications 2022
  2. Sci. Adv.
    High shear rate propulsion of acoustic microrobots in complex biological fluids
    Amirreza Aghakhani, Abdon Pena-Francesch, Ugur Bozuyuk, and 3 more authors
    Science advances 2022
  3. PNAS
    Acoustically Powered Surface-Slipping Mobile Microrobots
    Amirreza Aghakhani, Oncay Yasa, Paul Wrede, and 1 more author
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2020