Online, 11th November 2021
Organizing Commitee
- Mauro Femminella
- Barbara Genocchi
- Werner Haselmayr
- Jari Hyttinen
- Kerstin Lenk
- Richard Morris
- Adam Noel
- Maximilian Schäfer
- Michael Taynnan Barros
Keynotes
| Keynote 1: Coronavirus Transmission via Aerosol Propagation from a Molecular Communication Perspective |
 Prof. Peter Hoeher University of Kiel, Germany |
| Peter Adam Hoeher received the Dipl. Ing. degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, in 1986, and the Dr. Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1990. From 1986 to 1998, he was with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. From 1991 to 1992, he was on leave at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ. Since 1998 he is a Full Professor of electrical and information engineering at Kiel University, Kiel, Germany. His research interests are in the general area of wireless communications and applied information theory. Since 2014, he has been a Fellow of the IEEE. Abstract Besides mimicking bio-chemical and multi-scale communication mechanisms, molecular communication provides a theoretical framework for virus infection processes. In this keynote, aerosol and droplet transmission is modeled as a multiuser scenario with mobile nodes, related to broadcasting and relaying. In contrast to data communication systems, in the application of pathogen-laden aerosol transmission, mutual information between nodes should be minimized. Towards this goal, several countermeasures are reasoned and the infection performance is evaluated by means of a mutual information analysis and a related probabilistic performance measure. The findings are supported by experimental results and by an advanced particle simulation tool. This work is inspired by the recent outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but also applicable to other airborne infectious diseases. |
| Keynote 2: Molecular Communication Technology for Human Medicine |
 Prof. Ilangko Balasingham Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway |
| Ilangko Balasingham received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, both in signal processing for communications. He performed his Master’s degree thesis at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, USA. From 1998 to 2002, he worked as a Research Engineer developing image and video streaming solutions for mobile handheld devices at Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Oslo, Norway, which is now part of Microsoft Inc. Since 2002 he has been with the Intervention Center, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, where he heads the Wireless Biomedical Sensor Network Research Group. He was appointed as a Professor in Medical Signal Processing and Communications at NTNU in 2006. For the academic year 2016/2017 he was Professor by courtesy at the Frontier Institute, Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan. His research interests include super robust short range communications for both in-body and on-body sensors, body area sensor network, microwave short range sensing of vital signs, short range localization and tracking mobile sensors, and nanoscale communication networks. He has authored or co-authored over 280 journal and conference papers, 8 book chapters, 42 abstracts, 6 patents, and 21 articles in popular press. He has given 23 invited/keynotes at the international conferences. In addition, he is active in organizing conferences (Steering Committee Member of ACM NANOCOM since 2018; General Chair of the 2019 IEEE Int. Symposium of Medical ICT and the 2012 Body Area Networks (BODYNETS) conference; TPC Chair of the 2015 ACM NANOCOM) and editorial board (Area Editor of Elsevier Nano Communication Networks since 2013 and Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Communications and Networks since 2020). He is a Senior IEEE member. Abstract The molecular communication models and theories have recently provided a set of tools to study complex biological systems in a simplified manner producing mathematically tractable solutions. This has enabled us to study diseases and develop novel treatment methods in an unprecedented manner. Optimizing such methods and overcoming biological barriers to effectively deliver therapeutics remain challenging. This talk presents state-of-the-art and future research opportunities in establishing molecular communication technologies for human medicine. The main idea has been devised to replicate the delivery of (macro)molecules with the delivery of data. The focus here will be on drug delivery using extracellular vesicles used as cargos to transfer therapeutics in a form of functional proteins, genetic lipids and genetic materials to the cells that need them. The extracellular vesicles can be engineered to have mechanisms that further can improve their propagation and targeting properties, as well as uptake from the recipient to minimize side effects. |
| Keynote 3: Plants as information processing machines |
 Prof. Richard Morris John Innes Centre, UK |
| Richard is a group leader in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the John Innes Centre. His research aims to shed light on the physics of information processing in plants. He has published over 80 research papers, including in Science, Nature, PNAS, Current Biology, and The Plant Cell, many of which are in the top 1% of ISI most highly cited papers. Richard has won over £40 million in grant funding, including a recent ERC Synergy programme grant. Abstract Molecular communication is critical for plant survival. Plants have to deal with environmental challenges throughout the lifetime. They continuously monitor their surroundings, sensing changes and initiating the appropriate responses. I will present some of the processes by which plants encode, transmit and decode this environmental information, focussing on one of the most important signals: calcium. |
| Keynote 4: Anomaly detection and localization based on Molecular Communications |
 Prof. Masoumeh Nasiri-Kenari Sharif University of Technology, Iran |
| Dr. Masoumeh Nasiri-Kenari is a professor of EE department of Sharif University of Technology, Iran. She received her Ph.D. degree in EE from University of Utah, in 1994. Upon her Ph.D graduation, She joined EE Dept. of SUT. Dr. Nasiri-Kenari founded Wireless Research Laboratory in 2001 to coordinate the research activities in wireless communications, where now focusing on 6G and Molecular Communications. Dr. Nasiri received several awards including Distinguished Researcher and Distinguished Lecturer Awards of EE of Sharif University, Distinguished Scientist of Mazandaran Province, and Distinguished Professor in Engineering from Iranian Academy of Science. She held an International Research Chair on Nano Communication Networks From INSF, and a Research Grant on Green Communication in Multi-Relay Wireless Networks for years 2015-2017, from Swedish Research Council. She is an invited member of Iranian Academy of Science Engineering Committee/Workgroup and a member of WIE Task group of Iranian Academy of Science. She served as the editors of IEEE TCOM and IEEE TMBMC. Abstract During recent years, the design of bio-spired nano networks using molecular communications (MC) have received significant attentions, since MC systems are bio compatible and have low energy consumption with small sizes. These networks can have many applications, specially in health care, environment and industry monitoring, and so on. Fundamental challenge in these applications is the early detection of the signs of an anomaly, like the presence of tumor, pollution, leakage in pipeline and so on. In this talk, first different parts of an anomaly detection system are discussed and then various methods for their recognitions and detections are considered. The problem of localization after detection and also monitoring are acknowledged. After reviewing some current works on this subject, the challenges and the research trends are discussed. |
Panel Discussion
| Panel Chair |
 Prof. Tuna Tugcu Boğaziçi University, Turkey |
| Tuna Tugcu received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1993 and 2001, respectively, and his M.S. degree in Computer and Information Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA in 1994. He was a postdoctoral fellow and a visiting professor with Georgia Institute of Technology, USA between 2001 and 2004. He is currently a professor and the chairperson at the Department of Computer Engineering, in Bogazici University, where he also served formerly as the vice rector and director of the Computer Center. His research interests include nanonetworking/molecular communications and wireless networks. Prof. Tugcu has served with NATO science and technology groups as well as the IEEE standards groups. He has also served on several national advisory committees to the Minister of Telecommunications and Transport and to the Prime Minister of Turkey. He is currently an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-scale Communications. |
| Panelists |
 Prof. Robert Schober, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany |
| Robert Schober (S’98, M’01, SM’08, F’10) received the Diplom (Univ.) and the Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany, in 1997 and 2000, respectively. From 2002 to 2011, he was a Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Since January 2012 he is an Alexander von Humboldt Professor and the Chair for Digital Communication at FAU. His research interests fall into the broad areas of Communication Theory, Wireless and Molecular Communications, and Statistical Signal Processing. Robert received several awards for his work including the 2002 Heinz Maier Leibnitz Award of the German Science Foundation (DFG), the 2004 Innovations Award of the Vodafone Foundation for Research in Mobile Communications, a 2006 UBC Killam Research Prize, a 2007 Wilhelm Friedrich Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the 2008 Charles McDowell Award for Excellence in Research from UBC, a 2011 Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, a 2012 NSERC E.W.R. Stacie Fellowship, and a 2017 Wireless Communications Recognition Award by the IEEE Wireless Communications Technical Committee. Since 2017, he has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by the Web of Science. Robert is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering. From 2012 to 2015, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Communications. Currently, he serves as Member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the IEEE and as VP Publications for the IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc). |
 Dr. Trang Ngoc Cao, Manosh University, Australia |
| Trang Ngoc Cao received the Ph.D. degree in engineering from The University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2020, the M.S. degree in electronics and radio engineering from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, in 2015, and the B.E. degree in electronics and telecommunications from the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology, Vietnam, in 2012. She is currently a research fellow at Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Australia. In 2018 and 2019, she was a Visiting Research Scholar with the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Her research interests are in computational neuroscience, molecular communications, communications theory, information theory, and statistical signal processing. She received several awards, including “Student Travel Grants” for attending the IEEE International Conference on Communications in 2019, the Best Poster Award from the Australian Communication Theory Workshop in 2019, and the Diane Lemaire Scholarship from the Melbourne School of Engineering in 2018. She is a member of IEEE. |
 Prof. Yifan Chen, The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China |
| Professor Yifan Chen is the Dean of School of Life Science and Technology in the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. In the past, he has held various academic and leadership positions in the universities in New Zealand, China, United Kingdom, USA and Singapore. His current research interests include bio-inspired information and communications technologies (ICT) and ICT-inspired bio/nanomedicines where ICT meet bio/nanomedicines, electromagnetic medical imaging and sensing, and wearable health. He is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand (FEngNZ) and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET). |
 Prof. Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA |
| Sasitharan (Sasi) Balasubramaniam received the Bachelors of Engineering (Electrical and Electronics) from the University of Queensland, 1998, Masters of Engineering Science (Computer and Communication Engineering) from the Queensland University of Technology, 1999, and the Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Queensland, 2005. Sasi is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. He was previously the Director of Research at Walton Institute, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland and was also previously an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at Tampere University, Finland. His research interests includes molecular communications modeling and simulations, neural communication and nano networks brain implants, as well as the Internet of Bio -Nano Things (IoBNT). Sasi is currently an IEEE Senior Member and an ACM Member. He is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-scale Communications, and Editor for Elsevier Nano Communication Networks. He was previously an Associate Editor for IEEE Internet of Things journal. In 2018 he was the IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the Nanotechnology Council. |