Mechanical Engineering Welcomes New Faculty Member Axel Krieger

The Department of Mechanical Engineering welcomes new faculty member Assistant Professor Axel Krieger. Before joining the University of Maryland faculty, Krieger was the Assistant Research Professor and program lead for Smart Tools at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National. There, he led a group of scientists and engineers in the research and development of robotic tools and laparoscopic devices.

Projects at Children's included developing a surgical robot called Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) and using 3D printing for surgical planning and patient specific implants. In 2016, Popular Science listed STAR as one of the “12 Most Important Health Innovations of the Year.” STAR enables doctors to suture the delicate tissues of intestines with greater precision and even spacing than either human or human-assisted robotic surgeons are capable.

Krieger’s research focuses on the development of novel tools, image guidance and robot control techniques for medical robotics. Specifically, he investigates methodologies that increase the intelligence and autonomy of medical robots to perform previously impossible tasks and improve both efficiency and patient outcomes.

Krieger holds several licensed U.S. patents for biomedical devices. He has several years of experience working in private industry at Sentinelle Medical Inc. and Hologic Inc. where he served as a Product Leader developing devices and software systems from concept to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and market introduction.

He completed both his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. During his time at Hopkins, Krieger pioneered an MRI-guided prostate biopsy robot that has been used in over 50 patient procedures at three hospitals. Krieger’s biopsy robot provides three-dimensional MRI guided needle placement with millimeter accuracy under physician control.

For more information on Assistant Professor Axel Krieger, visit his faculty webpage.

Published May 12, 2017