Defence of doctoral thesis in the field of Bioelectronics and Instrumentation, M.Sc. Marco Soldati

M.Sc. Marco Soldati will defend the thesis "Characterization of open issues in low-frequency computational dosimetry" on 11 June 2021 at 12:00 in Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation.

Opponent: Prof. Theodoros Samaras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Supervisor: Prof. Ilkka Laakso, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation

The public defense will be organized via remote technology. Follow defence: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61163441113
Zoom Quick Guide: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide

Thesis available for public display at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Doctoral theses in the School of Electrical Engineering: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/53

Press release:

Human exposure to electromagnetic fields has always been the subject of public concern. In the low-frequency range (1 Hz -10 MHz), the main adverse health effects are recognized to be the alteration of the synaptic activity in the brain and retina, and the stimulation of excitable cells, such as nerve and muscle cells. To prevent potential risks, two international organizations, namely the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (IEEE ICES), have set exposure limits for human protection.

When deriving these exposure limits, a significant margin of safety was considered to take into account for several sources of uncertainty. As a consequence, the current exposure limits are intentionally conservative. The main aim of the present work was to lessen the uncertainty of exposure assessment, with the purpose of providing quantitative data useful for deriving acceptable levels for human protection that are not overly conservative.

State-of-the-art methods based on physiological measurements from transcranial magnetic stimulation experiments, high-resolution anatomical models, individualized electric field computations and biological axon models were used to characterize open issues affecting the assessment of human exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields. The obtained results are useful for the evaluation and selection of appropriate safety factors to derive exposure limits that offer sufficient protection for individuals. Moreover, they represent a solid basis for the revision and harmonization of the current international exposure standard and guidelines.

Contact information of doctoral candidate: