Leona Schmidt-Speicher received her M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering in November 2019 from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During her degrees, she studied and worked at the University of Purdue (USA), wrote her bachelor thesis and worked at Global Advanced Manufacturing Institute (GAMI, China) and studied at the University of Córdoba (Argentina). She specialized in Medical Engineering and Microstructure Technology. After completing her studies, she joined the group “BioMEMS – Biomedizinische Mikrotechnik” of Prof. Dr. A. E. Guber at the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) in the research field of biomedical microtechnology in December 2019. During her Ph.D., she will be working on the development of a modular microfluidic bioreactor for plant cell cultivation within the Dialog-ProTec-Project.

Research topics

• BioMEMS
• Microfluidic systems
• Ultrasonic welding

Research experiences

• BioMEMS
• Mechanical bactericidal surfaces on Titanium
• Fabrication of Micro- and Nanostructures
  • Electron Beam Lithography
  • Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE)
• Surface Analysis
  • Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
  • Vertical Scanning Interferometry (VSI)

Supervised students‘ theses

• Master's thesis: "Optimierung eines mikrofluidischen Chips zur Untersuchung des Wurzelwachstums und Ermittlung der industriellen Fertigungsmöglichkeiten durch eine Unternehmensstudie - Optimization of a Microfluidic Chip for the Analysis of Root Growth and Determination of the Industrial Production Possibilities through a Company Study". 2020. E. Pawlenko.
• Master's thesis: "Konstruktiver Anschluss von Sensoren an einen mikrofluidischen Bioreaktor sowie deren Testung auf Eignung für die online-Ermittlung der    entsprechenden Parameter - Connection of sensors to a microfluidic bioreactor". 2021. B. Bailer.
• Master's thesis: "Additive Fertigung und Untersuchung eines Formeinsatzes für PDMS basierte Mikrofluidikchips - Additive Manufacturing and Analysis of a Mold for PDMS   based Microfluidic Chips". 2021. T. Mellert.
• Master's thesis: "Optimierung eines mikrofluidischen Wurzelchips: Ansätze für eine flexible Fluidzuführung sowie für die Serienfertigung". 2021. Y. Peiffer.
• Master's thesis: "Untersuchung und Optimierung des Strömungsverhaltens innerhalb eines mikrofluidischen Bioreaktors zur Kultivierung von Pflanzenzellen". 2021. L. Supp.