Tino Ebbers, professor in physiological measurements, receives the prize for his outstanding research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Linköping University.

Tino Ebbers is awarded the Uncle Adam Prize for ‘conducting ground-breaking and world-leading research on how to quantify and visualize physiological events in the cardiovascular system.’ He will receive a monetary award of SEK 300,000 at Linköping University’s Academic Celebration on 1 June.

“I come from the technical side, but I find working with the human body extremely interesting. I want to learn as much as possible about how the body works, both when we are healthy and when we get sick. For me, this means working closely with the patient and close to the doctors who have the knowledge,” says Ebbers, professor at the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, HMV, at LiU, to LiU.

4D Flow MRI

In addition to satisfying his curiosity about what happens in the body, he wants research to contribute to better healthcare and treatments. An important part of his research is to develop techniques that can be used to understand the human body. Some of the techniques he has been a driving force in developing are now being used in healthcare. One example is what is called 4D Flow MRI, which makes it possible to measure and visualize pressure and blood flow in the heart in all directions as well as over time. This measurement technique is currently available in all magnetic resonance imaging cameras and is used clinically, for example to examine children with congenital heart defects.

Improve diagnosis and treatment of heart disease

Tino Ebbers is already working on the next technique, reports LiU. Digital copies of a person’s cardiovascular system, a digital twin, are created using a magnetic camera or computed tomography. This technology enables researchers to produce information about the cardiovascular system that cannot be measured, and to predict disease progression or the effect of a treatment in a way that is more specific to each individual. The long-term goal is to improve diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

The Onkel Adam Prize

The purpose of the prize is to promote medical research at LiU while honoring the memory of Onkel Adam. Onkel Adam was the well-known pen name used by the physician, author, publicist and politician Carl Anton Wetterbergh who lived in Linköping in the 19th century.

Photo of Tino Ebbers: Magnus Johansson/LiU