Cardiovascular AMAZINGness

On Wednesday, we went to one of the coolest places in Germany, the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering. This was a premier engineering facility in the midst of the premier engineering school of Germany. The result, some really cool research and some really cool gadgets. We received a lecture from Dr. Professor Steinseifer, a really chill guy who gave one sweet presentation, bro. He was telling us about some of the cardiovascular devices, they are developing, as well as how their institute works with outside companies to develop new biomedical technologies.

This was pretty amazing to me, for not only did they perform their own experiments, but they also were pretty much guns for hire by other companies, testing the products a company or individual gave to them to test. The institute had many ways of testing devices to see the effectiveness of certain aspects of stents, those tubes that are inserted into the aorta, and other products. There was a part of the presentation where he was talking about how the institute calculated the rate of hemolysis by submitting blood to an 'obstacle course' that would spin blood to find the shear stress required to lyse a blood cell, funny thing is, we could actually understand what he was talking about, in relation to the shear stress testing!

We were then given a tour around the institute, inspecting some of the machines they use for testing and receiving another brief history on stents. Our tour guide was a mechanical engineer turned cardiovascular disease, and he was a really knowledgeable guide. I think we all appreciated the knowledge he brought to the table, because he was able to explain some of the complicated subjects with a student's point of view.

Above: Encasing of some of the bones of Charlemagne. The picture depicts the crowning of Charlemagne, who is higher (mightier) than the archbishop and the pope, effective propaganda by Barbarosa.

After the cardiovascular institute, we visited the city of Aachen and took a tour of Aachen Cathedral and treasury. The cathedral we visited was significant, to say the least. Within the cathedral laid some of the bones of Charlemagne, given to the cathedral by the Emperor (king?) Barbarosa, the same guy who gave the bones of the three wise men to the Köln cathedral. The cathedral was said to be an impressive sight during the period it was built, as it was built during the end of the age of roman architecture and the beginning of gothic (I think). It had influences of the Italian cathedrals of Rome, as well as the Hagia Sofia in today Istanbul, Turkey.

Until next time, yo.