2024 at BME: soft cells, superconducting transistors and Nobel Prize winners

The BME had notable successes each month in 2024. Below is a selection of news of the specific months from the fields of research, innovation and training. 

January: TwinEU

One of the largest projects in the EU’s innovation framework is TwinEU, which aims to develop the concept of a digital version of the European electricity system. 75 partners from 15 countries are working for a period of 3 years with funding worth HUF 20 million euros to make the system more transparent, manageable and predictable, which is also necessary to achieve the climate neutrality targets set for 2050. BME plays a prominent role in the consortium responsible for the project starting at the beginning of the year.

February: UniSpace

Within the framework of the Hungarian UniSpace programme, four independent but coordinated space science postgraduate specialist training programmes were launched in September 2022, and the first graduates totalling 72 received their degree certificates on 24 February. 17 Hungarian universities participate in the program, and BME is active in all fields (space technology specialist, space science specialist, nutrition and health science specialist, space policy consultant).

March: Respray

The world’s first spray deodorant refill solution by the BME-based startup Respray won a prestigious award. On 26 March, the Environmental Innovation Award sponsored by the Ministry of Energy was presented to Respray Solutions Kft., which was hosted by the Z10 incubator house of BME. Andor Réti, one of the founders, is a mechanical engineer student at BME.

April: memory protein

Gergely Nándor Nagy, a researcher of the BME, and his co-authors published a paper on memory formation in the journal Nature Communications. During his postdoctoral research in Oxford, the lecturer of the Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science of the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, in cooperation with colleagues at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Michigan, studied the dominant protein molecule present in the brain area responsible for memory formation. They uncovered fundamental new knowledge about the protein molecule’s structure and interactions, which can provide guidance to further research.

May: Nobel Prize winners

In only one week, two Nobel Prize winning scientists visited BME. First, Ferenc Krausz, János Neumann Professor of BME and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave a lecture, and then a few days later Bernard L. Feringa, the 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry responded to students’ questions.

June: the suspension bridge of Zemplén

At the beginning of the month, the 700-meter-long steel cable suspension bridge next to city of Sátoraljaújhely was opened, connecting the local Szárhegy and Várhegy hills at a height of 80 metres. Researchers from the Department of Bridges and Structures, the Department of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics and the Department of Geodesy and Surveying of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the Department of Fluid Mechanics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of BME participated in the design of the structure called the Bridge of National Unity.

July: Ernő Rubik

On the occasion of the opening of the international competition of young physicists, Ernő Rubik, a former student of BME’s Faculty of Architecture and inventor of the Rubik’s Cube visited the University. The contestants took lots of photos with the 80-year-old architect-designer, who signed many cubes, gave interviews, and then responded to questions by bme.hu.

August: terahertz light source and disease map

BME’s researchers developed a novel terahertz light source using diamonds, and their achievements open up new possibilities in medical diagnostics and security screening, among other fields. The article, published in Science Advances, was the result of international collaboration, though all of the authors are Hungarian. The first author, Sándor Kollarics, recently earned his PhD from the Doctoral School of Physical Sciences at BME’s Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Another article was published in Nature Communications in August about bioinformaticians at BME who, using a custom-developed disease map and refining their methodology, had identified new subtypes of depression. The importance of the joint development with Semmelweis University is that understanding the common background of depression and its immediate co-morbidities allows researchers to distinguish the major subtypes of depression and enables more precise diagnoses and consequently more effective treatments.

September: soft cells

New Geometric Shapes were identified by BME Mathematicians. The new and universal class of shapes, with models that fill the space without gaps or sharp points was given the name “soft cells”. A deeper understanding of soft cells could explain, for example, the static geometry of tissues or one of the most common biological processes of shape evolution, the growth of plant roots.

October: superconducting transistors and satellite cameras

BME researchers deciphered how superconducting transistors switch, and their study offering a long-awaited explanation to this phenomenon was published by Nature Communications. “We studied the noise and fluctuation of the electron flow through the superconductor. We identified a connection between the fluctuation of the current flowing in the wire and the fluctuation of the electrons leaving the gate electrode, and that the grid vibrations on the surface of the sample play an important role, ” said Szabolcs Csonka, head of the Superconducting Nanoelectronics Momentum Research Group.

As part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) planetary defence (space safety) programme, the HERA satellite was launched into outer space with a mission to study the binary asteroid named Didymos – including its internal properties for the first time – and to conduct detailed measurements of the kinetic impactor test results from NASA’s DART mission. The “eyes” of the probe, consisting of six optical cameras, were calibrated by BME researchers, who will also calibrate the images sent back from the spacecraft to provide scientists with accurate data for their analyses.

November: space conference

The actors of the European space ecosystem held their meeting in late November at the BME. More than 300 professionals from 13 different countries had registered for the two-day event, which was held under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The annual meeting was attended by everyone who matters in the EU space industry: industry players, decision-makers and representatives of the EU’s space programme.

December: REWIRE

With BME’s Department of Network Systems and Services being the only Hungarian participant, the EU-funded REWIRE project designed to renew European cybersecurity training came to a close. Twenty-five organizations from eleven countries had worked on solutions that can contribute to supporting innovation in cybersecurity. BME was tasked to participate in the development of new training programmes that could be made available free of charge to all European professionals. The four courses are cyber incident responder, cyber threat intelligence specialist, penetration tester and chief information security officer.

Happy New Year to the readers of bme.hu!

Rector's Office, Department of Communications