PD Dr. Nickel is a board-certified attending surgeon at Heidelberg University with special interest in minimally invasive and robotic-assisted surgical technology for upper gastrointestinal and pancreatic diseases.His scientific interests include application of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality and 3D Printing in Surgery. He is the scientific director of the surgical training center and leads the scientific group of surgical training research, digital technologies, and minimally invasive upper gastrointestinal surgery within the Division of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery at Heidelberg University.

He is an active member of the Technology Committee of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons and serves as a member of the Education Committee in the European-African Hepatopancreatobiliary Association and is the Lead of the Focus Group “Technology and Training” in the German Study Group of Robotic Surgery."

PD Dr. Nickel leads the Start-Up OneSurgery that develops the Augmented Reality Training System for Minimally Invasive Surgery called "iSurgeon". He believes in Surgical Data Science and in the symbiosis of Man and Machine with Mixed Intelligence for improving surgical outcome and patient safety."