About us

(Early Stage Researchers, ESRs)

We are 15 young scientists from 13 different countries researching different imaging modalities and their optimisation for monitoring Mg-based implants in this training network. Everyone has different objectives to optimise the imaging for this new class of biodegradable Mg-based implants, thereby pushing the safety of degradable magnesium implants even further.

MgSafe final meeting Pisa, Italy, April 2022
Early Stage Researchers visiting Hereon labs at Geesthacht, Germany, November 2021
Graz, Austria, December 2019
Brüttisellen, Switzerland, September 2019
Oslo, Norway, June 2019

ESR 01 Begüm Okutan from Turkey at MUG

Begüm defended her doctoral thesis "In vivo characterization of designated magnesium materials by microCT and fluorescence imaging in rats" at the Medical University in Graz.

LinkedIn post

Begüm at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Begüm Okutan from the Medical University of Graz works on the in-vivo characterization of magnesium-based implants and the working title of her PhD is: In vivo characterisation of designated Mg materials (pins and wires) by µCT and fluorescence imaging.

ESR 02 Romy Marek from Switzerland at MUG

Romy successfully defended her doctoral thesis "Large Animal in vivo Characterization of Designated Full Size Magnesium Implants by clinical CT and µCT in a Juvenile Sheep Model" at the Medical University in Graz.

LinkedIn post

Romy at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Romy Marek from the Medical University of Graz works within the MgSafe project on: Large animal in vivo characterisation of designated full size Mg implants (K-Wires, screws) by clinical CT.

ESR 03 Maryam Rahmati from Iran at UiO

Maryam Rahmati is the first MgSafe ESR to defend her doctoral thesis

Maryam Rahmati successfully defended her doctoral dissertation ‘In vivo evaluation of biomaterials for bone regeneration applications using advanced imaging techniques’:
PhD defence Maryam

Maryam at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

During her PhD studies in MgSafe, Maryam Rahmati from the University of Oslo (UiO) works on the histological validation of advanced bone-implant imaging techniques. She is focusing on the assessment of implant degradation and incorporation by histological and immuno‐histochemical analyses and the comparison of histological evidence with advanced imaging techniques.

ESR 04 Heithem Ben Amara from Tunesia at UGOT

Heithem successfully defended his thesis

2023-11-17 Heithem successfully defended his thesis "Biodegradable magnesium implants, immunomodulation, and tissue repair/regeneration" at the University of Gothenburg

Heithem interview on his PhD project (UGOT)

PhD thesis 'Biodegradable magnesium implants, immunomodulation, and tissue repair/regeneration'

Cover illustration of Heithem Ben Amara's thesis. Tissue response to biodegradable magnesium implants (Mg). Histology of bone (1) and soft tissue (2,3) at the interface with Mg. Gas bubbles from Mg in tissues studied by electron microscopy (4), immunohistochemistry (5), and image analysis (6)

PhD thesis 'Biodegradable magnesium implants, immunomodulation, and tissue repair/regeneration' (pdf)

Heithem at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Heithem Ben Amara broke his arm when he was a child and still remembers the operation, when the fixing screw was removed. Today he is a PhD student at University of Gothenburg (UGOT) and researches biodegradable magnesium based implants. Within MgSafe, he will focus on molecular and structural analyses during bone healing and soft-tissue inflammation.

ESR 05 Christina Yiannakou from Cyprus, Greece at MHH

Christina at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Christina Yiannakou from Cyprus is doing her PhD within the EU-project MgSafe at Hannover Medical School (MHH). The working title of her PhD is: MRI development for Mg implants to study inflammation.

ESR 06 Leon Riehakainen from Estonia at CNR-IFC

Leon at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Leon Riehakainen from Estonia is working at Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica in Pisa (CNR-IFC) and doing his PhD on multimodal imaging of bone regeneration and remodelling after implantation of degradable Mg-based devices in experimental animal models with a special focus on PET imaging.

ESR 07 Eduarda da Silva from Portugal at CNR-IFC

Eduarda at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Eduarda's task within MgSafe are biochemical and biohumoral studies of bone regeneration and remodelling after implantation. She is affiliated with Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica in Pisa (CNR-IFC).

ESR 08 Hafiz Wajahat Hassan from Pakistan at OsloMet

Wajaht sucessfully defended his thesis

Dr. Wajahat Hassan (left) and his supervisor Dr. Peyman Mirtaheri

29 August 2023 Wajahat sucessfully defended his thesis 'In vivo monitoring of tissue oxygenation in response to a Mg-based biodegradable implant using NIR spectroscopy' at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Congratulations with this great success!

Wajahat at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Hafiz Wajahat Hassan is working on spectral analysis at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet). His focus is on the In vivo monitoring of the body reaction to the implant by using a novel optical probe and near IR spectroscopy.

ESR 09 Diana Martinez from Columbia at WUT

She started in October 2019 at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in the Materials Design Division. Her task in the network is the characterisation of corrosion layer structure and composition in explants.

ESR 10 Hanna Ciewka from Poland at Hereon

Hanna at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Hanna started her PhD within MgSafe at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Hereon) April 2019. She works at the Hereon-outstation at DESY and focusses on the structural characterisation of explants by synchrotron radiation. One objective is the imaging of magnesium implants in native tissue environment.

ESR 11 Kamila Iskhakova from Russia at Hereon

Kamila at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Kamila Iskhahova started her PhD at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Hereon). Her aim is to link ultrastructure and biomechanical properties of bone adjacent to biodegradable magnesium implants. She studies the biomechanical properties of the bone-implant surface and the adjust bone tissue by synchrotron radiation at the Hereon outstation at DESY.

ESR 12 Marwa Chaabane from Tunesia at SCANCO

Marwa at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Marwa Chaabane from Scanco Medical AG is a computer scientist. During her PhD she will work on the development of a system to join 2D, 3D and 4D data and to describe their relative relation in space & time. The working title of her thesis is Software development for management and visualisation of multimodal data.

ESR 13 Mostafa Berangi from Iran at MRI.T

Mostafa started his PhD at MRI.Tools in Berlin (MRI.T). He works on his thesis titled En route to the clinic: MR safety - MR antenna design tailored for magnesium alloy implants.

ESR 14 Jonathan Espiritu from Canada at SYN

Jonathan at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

PhD student Jonathan Espiritu from Canada works at Syntellix in Hannover (SYN) and researches within the EU project MgSafe on MR safety and the influence of Mg implants on MR signals.

ESR 15 Valeria Grasso from Italy at VSI

Valeria defended her thesis summa cum laude

from left to right: Dr. Jithin Jose, Prof. Regine Willumeit-Römer, and Dr. ing. Valeria Grasso

28 April 2023 Valeria very sucessfully defended her thesis 'High-resolution ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging for human applications' at the Kiel University, Germany.

Congratulations with this great success!

Valeria at the first MgSafe meeting in Oslo

Valeria Grasso is a PhD student working at FujiFilm SonoSite (VSI) in Amsterdam. She focusses on high-resolution ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging for human applications.