NMI project WOUNDSENS - 23/10/2024

Wound monitoring using sensory nanofibres

Monitoring the condition of chronic, non-healing wounds requires wound dressings to be changed at short, regular intervals. In the EU-funded WOUNDSENS project, researchers at the NMI in Reutlingen are using electrospinning to produce novel types of wound dressings. These consist of biosensory fibres that send information about the condition of the wound to the outside, thereby improving inflammation detection.

Research association - 24/07/2024

SPI-MP: pioneer in personalised medical technology

Every person is unique – even when they are ill. This is why many approaches to personalised medicine have been under development. The Stuttgart Partnership Initiative - Mass Personalization (SPI-MP), which focuses on basic research into fabrication and biomaterial technologies for personalised biomedical systems, is at the heart of such research work. The projects range from artificial knee joint cartilage to state-of-the-art stroke diagnostics.

Printing a new cornea during an operation to restore a patient’s eyesight: This groundbreaking step in the fight against corneal disorders is set to become reality with a laser based process using personalized bioink. The method was developed by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in collaboration with Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and Evonik Healthcare. Their project won the idea award in this year’s NEULAND innovation contest.

An unexpected discovery surprised a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart: nanometer-sized diamond particles, which were intended for a completely different purpose, shone brightly in a magnetic resonance imaging experiment – much brighter than the actual contrast agent, the heavy metal gadolinium. Could diamond dust one day become a novel contrast agent used for MRI?

Collagen has been used in ophthalmology since the 1990s, particularly in the treatment of corneal defects. However, why and how this technique works was only known in theory. Researchers at the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen led by Lu Fan have found the necessary evidence and can now reliably explain how this technique works.

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Priscilla Briquez, junior professor at the Department of General and Visceral Surgery at the Freiburg University Medical Center and member of the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg, has received a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant from the European Commission. Her DRESSCODE project will receive a total of 1.5 million euros funding for five years.

Help with osteoarthritis of the knee - 27/09/2023

Individualised knee-joint cartilage: artificial tissue that fits

Knee joints are subject to considerable stress throughout our lives. The natural shock absorber cartilage wears out over a lifetime, so many people develop knee osteoarthritis. Treatment is available in the form of artificial cartilage. This "off-the-shelf" tissue often does not grow well. Researchers are developing an individualised cartilage replacement made from biomaterial that is produced by 3D printing based on MRI images.

Project BlindZero - 03/08/2023

Hope for patients with eye diseases: human cornea from 3D printers

Thousands of cornea transplants are performed every year. However, donors are rare and the procedure is not always without complications. Researchers at the University of Heidelberg are developing an innovative technique in the project BlindZero. It involves ‘printing’ human corneas directly onto patients’ eyes using 3D bioprinting. The reprogrammed genetically engineered cells used for this purpose are not expected to cause a rejection reaction.

"Programmable" polymer materials - 24/04/2023

Medicine of the future: intelligent 4D polymers from the printer

It is impossible to imagine medicine without 3D printing, which can be used to make implants or for culturing cells and tissues. It is now possible for 3D objects to be given an added dimension, namely an ability to make simple autonomous movements, by changing their size. Researchers at Heidelberg University have been able to produce microscopically small 4D structures from intelligent polymers that can be tailored to individual requirements.

Junior Professor Dr Daniela Duarte Campos has been awarded a substantial grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). She and her junior research group are investigating bioprinting for tissue and organ engineering at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University and at the “3D Matter Made to Order” Cluster of Excellence, a collaboration between Ruperto Carola and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Elastin as artificial muscle material - 02/03/2022

Artificial muscle from proteins for diverse future applications

As far as diversity and complexity are concerned, proteins are nature's smallest marvels. Biotechnologists have already used natural proteins as a basis for the development, bespoke design and production of artificial systems. This is what the livMatS cluster of excellence at the University of Freiburg has been doing. Researchers in the cluster have successfully produced an artificial muscle from elastin that functions autonomously.

Dr. Stefan Schiller and Dr. Matthias Huber from the University of Freiburg’s livMatS Cluster of Excellence have succeeded in developing a muscle solely on the basis of natural proteins. The autonomous contractions of the material, which the researchers presented in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems, can be controlled with the help of pH and temperature changes.

Which neurons in the brain mediate fear responses - and how do they flip the switch when the danger is over? The research team of Prof. Ingrid Ehrlich at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems (IBBS), Department of Neurobiology studies these questions. Their latest results obtained in collaboration with scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel (Switzerland), the National Institute of Health (USA), and Innsbruck…

Stem cell therapy for regenerating intervertebral discs - 16/07/2020

Ulm’s simulator has Europe’s back

Back pain is often caused by intervertebral disc disorders. Much has already been tried and is available to help patients. Despite extensive progress, there is still no surefire recipe for success. iPSpine, an EU-funded project to which researchers from Ulm are contributing interdisciplinary engineering and biomedical expertise, aims to design a novel therapy for back pain based on intervertebral disc regeneration.

Article - 10/01/2019

Stocktaking and recommendations for action: the BBAW’s fourth gene technology report

In the new gene technology report, the interdisciplinary working group of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW) takes stock of gene technology developments in Germany during the past few decades, and discusses the societal, legal and ethical challenges associated with these technologies in the future. The report is highly topical due to the controversy surrounding the ruling of the European Court of Justice on CRISPR/Cas9 genome…

Dossier - 18/06/2012

Biobanks treasure chests for biomedical research

The Research Committee at the German Bundestag, the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag and the German Ethics Council are all interested in this biomedical research tool, which is both necessary and meaningful. However, opinions with regard to the ethical, legal and technical approach to biobanks differ. Since March 2012 it has become absolutely clear that Germany will not pass a biobanking law during the current mandate.