Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are among the fastest-growing technologies of the 21st century. They also open up enormous opportunities for social integration: through cultural and educational offerings, through networked digital interaction spaces, or as a means of promoting citizen participation. The contributions in this volume present a wide range of application scenarios for VR and AR in the fields of education, health and public space. They demonstrate in a practical way how society, but also companies, can benefit from expanding their technological skills and taking diversity aspects into account. After all, genuine participation is only possible through a sustainable, transdisciplinary and citizen science approach.

Our book chapter ‘Human-Centred Design of Mixed Reality Applications in Medical Education – GreifbAR’ is now available in open access. Authors are Robert Luzsa, Moritz Queisner, Christopher Remde, Igor Sauer, Nadia Robertini and Susanne Mayr.

As part of the BMBF-funded project ‘Tangible Reality – Skilful Interaction of User Hands and Fingers with Real Tools in Mixed Reality Worlds’, we investigated how XR technology can be integrated into medical education. The chapter presents an interdisciplinary, XR-based training system for surgical knot tying. It describes key design principles and experiences from development and evaluation. In addition, it proposes a model for the human-centred design of comparable training applications that can also support other projects.

We warmly invite you to the opening of »Vessels. Infrastructures of Life« at the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité (bmm), a group exhibition curated by Igor M. Sauer and Navena Widulin with contributions by Assal Daneshgar, Emile de Visscher, Frédéric Eyl, Karl Hillebrandt, Eriselda Keshi, Dietrich Polenz, Moritz Queisner, Iva Rešetar and Igor M. Sauer.

Vernissage
Wed, 4 June 2025, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

Exhibition
5 June – 12 October 2025 Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Wed, Sat, 10:00 am - 7:00 pm Closed on Mondays

Venue
Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité (bmm) Virchowweg 17 10117 Berlin

What do plants, animals, humans and cities have in common? They all have vascular systems and, therefore, an infrastructure without which they would not be able to survive.

In the human body, arteries and veins move the blood together with the heart. Plants have a finely branched vascular system for the transport of water and nutrients. And cities utilize an underground network of pipelines that supply clean water and remove wastewater. The temporary exhibition, co-curated by Igor Sauer and Navena Widulin, shows how these vessels function and how they can be visualized, used and reproduced.

What can medicine learn from these natural and technical supply systems? What role does the interdisciplinary view – between biology, design, materials research and medical technology – play for regenerative medicine? And what innovative approaches can be derived from this for the development of artificial and bioartificial donor organs?

»Vessels. Infrastructures of Life« provides insights into the work of designers, material scientists and surgical researchers who are working together on solutions for the future – inspired by nature, technology and the logic of living systems. From exhibits on transplantation and regenerative medicine to examples of architecture and design, the exhibition offers exciting insights into these often-hidden structures. The objects on display correspond with those in Rudolf Virchow’s historical collection of specimens. A particular focus lies on the connections between natural vessels and human-made networks, such as the regulation of temperature in buildings or the water and wastewater supply in cities.

The temporary exhibition »Vessels. Infrastructures of Life« is a collaboration between the Berlin Museum of Medical History and the Experimental Surgery at the Charité and the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as part of the → ＿matter Festival 2025.

Our paper, "90-Day Mortality Prediction in Elective Visceral Surgery Using Machine Learning: A Retrospective Multicenter Development, Validation, and Comparison Study" has been published online ahead of print in the International Journal of Surgery.
Authors are C. Riepe, R. van de Water, A. Winter, B. Pfitzner, L. Faraj, R. Ahlborn, M. Schulze, D. Zuluaga, C. Schineis, K. Beyer, J. Pratschke, B. Arnrich, I.M. Sauer, and M.M. Maurer

Machine Learning (ML) is increasingly being adopted in biomedical research, however, its potential for outcome prediction in visceral surgery remains uncertain. This study compares the potential of ML methods for preoperative 90-day mortality (90DM) prediction of an aggregated multi-organ approach to conventional scoring systems and individual organ models.

This retrospective cohort study enrolled patients undergoing major elective visceral surgery between 2014 and 2022 across two tertiary centers. Multiple ML models for preoperative 90DM prediction were trained, externally validated and benchmarked against the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score and revised Charlson Comorbidity Index (rCCI). Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) and precision recall curves (AUPRC) including standard deviations were calculated. Additionally, individual models for esophageal, gastric, intestinal, liver, and pancreatic surgery were developed and compared to an aggregated approach. A total of 7,711 cases encompassing 78 features were included. Overall 90DM was 4% (n = 309). An XBoost classifier demonstrated the best performance and high robustness following external validation (AUROC: 0.86 [0.01]; AUPRC: 0.2 [0.04]). All models outperformed the ASA score (AUROC: 0.72; AUPRC: 0.08) and rCCI (AUROC: 0.81; AUPRC: 0.11). rCCI, patient age and C-reactive protein emerged as most decisive model weights. Models for gastric (AUROC: 0.88 [0.13]; AUPRC: 0.24 [0.26]) and intestinal surgery (AUROC: 0.87 [0.05]; AUPRC: 0.17 [0.09]) revealed the highest organ-specific performances, while pancreatic surgery yielded the lowest results (AUROC: 0.66 [0.08]; AUPRC: 0.22 [0.12]). A combined multi-organ approach (AUROC: 0.84 [0.04]; AUPRC: 0.21 [0.06]) demonstrated superiority over the weighted average across all organ-specific models (AUROC: 0.82 [0.07]; AUPRC: 0.2 [0.13]).

ML offers robust preoperative risk stratification for 90DM in elective visceral surgery. Leveraging training across multi-organ cohorts may improve accuracy and robustness compared to organ-specific models. Prospective studies are needed to confirm the potential of ML in surgical outcome prediction.

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Zeynep Akbal as a new member of the team!
Before she started as a post-doctoral researcher at the Digital Surgery Lab she studied communication sciences, media sciences, philosophy, and worked on developing her interdisciplinary method around virtual reality (VR) technology. She did her doctorate in philosophy at Universität Potsdam. Her dissertation is recently published as a monograph, titled "Lived-Body Experiences in Virtual Reality. A Phenomenology of the Virtual Body.”
Her research focuses on the intersection of philosophy of perception, cognitive sciences and VR. In her recent research project “Tactile Stimulation in VR” at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, she focused on the behavioral consequences of haptic feedback in a VR task.

Wellcome to the team!