December 2010

  • Mr. Yu Nagao left Erlangen Mr Yu Nagao, visiting PhD student from Nagoya Institute of Technology Yu Nagao, PhD student at the Department of Frontier Materials, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, working under supervision of Prof. Akinori Takasu, visited our Institute for 3 months in the framework of the collaborative agreement between the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Nagoya Institute of Technology "Institute of Ceramic Research and Education". Mr Nagao worked on a project investigating the electrophoretic deposition of biopolymers and bioactive glasses on stainless steel substrates for biomedical applications in collaboration with Ms Sigrid Keim, PhD student in our Institute.

 

 

 

 

  • Inaugural Lecture - Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini
    Professor Boccaccini's Inaugural Lecture at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, hosted by the School of Engineering (Technische Fakultät), was presented on 10th December 2010 with the participation of more than 100 faculty colleagues, students and collaborators. The faculty principal, Prof. Reinhard German, and the President of the University, Professor Karl-Dieter Grüske, attended the event, in which also Prof. R. N. Klupp Taylor (Particle Technology ) and Prof. O. Friedrich (Medical Biotechnology) presented their Inaugural lectures. Prof. Boccaccini introduced his research activities in the broad field of bioactive materials for tissue engineering in a lecture with the title: "Can we persuade the body to heal itself? The biomaterials answer".

  • Final Project Meeting in London
    The final scientific meeting of the project: "Preparation and Characterization of Calcium Phosphate Cement Reinforced with Bio-functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Medical Applications", funded by the British Council under the PMI2 Connect initiative, was held on 14-15 December at Imperial College London. The project involved collaboration between researchers and students of the Department of Materials, Imperial College London (research groups of Dr D. McPhail and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini) and the School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Malaysia (Dr. Sharif Hussein Sharif Zein).
    Key results of this project have been presented at international conferences and in recent scientific papers, including: Chew at al., Reinforcement of calcium phosphate cement with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and bovine serum albumin for injectable bone substitute applications, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, (in press).

  • Most read article, Royal Society Publishing
    The paper "Bone tissue engineering therapeutics: controlled drug delivery in three-dimensional scaffolds", J. R. Soc. Interface 7 (2010) pp. 209-227; co-authored by Dr V. Mourino (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Imperial College London, UK) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini has been listed as one of the 10 most read articles (November 2010) published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, as announced in the journal webpage.

  • Invited Speaker
    Professor Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the 4th Wiener Biomaterials Symposium, held in Vienna, Austria, on November 15-17. He was also an invited speaker at the International Workshop on Processing of Nanostructured Ceramics, Polymers and Composites held in Belgrade, Serbia, on November 29-30, 2010. In both cases Prof. Boccaccini presented lectures on the latest developments in the field of bioactive nanostructured composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

 

November 2010

      • Special issue published
        The special issue: "ICCM-17: Composites in Biomedical Applications" in Composites Science and Technology has been now published: Composites Science and Technology, Volume 70, Issue 13, Pages 1763-2032.
        This special issue was co-edited by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Joao F. Mano (University of Minho, Portugal). The 19 papers published in this issue were selected from high quality contributions presented at the 17th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM-17). held in Edinburgh, Scottland (UK) in July 2009. The papers cover a broad variety of topics reflecting the numerous applications of composite materials in the fields of tissue engineering, biopoplymer/ceramic nanocomposites and biomimetic materials.

      • TOP 25 paper in Biomaterials
        A review paper co-authored by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini is the third most downloaded paper of the journal Biomaterials (link to journal here) according to the site TOP 25 Hottest Articles (Elsevier) in the period July-September 2010. The paper is:

        Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering
        Biomaterials, Volume 27, Issue 18, 1 June 2006, Pages 3413-3431 Rezwan, K.; Chen, Q.Z.; Blaker, J.J.; Boccaccini

      • Paper from our group on Electrophoretic Deposition is TOP of TOP 25 of J. Europ. Ceram. Soc.
        A paper co-authored by Professor Boccaccini is the most downloaded paper published in the J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. (period July-September 2010), according to the Elsevier webpage. The papers is:

        Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotubeceramic nanocomposites
        Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1 March 2010, Pages 1115-1129 Boccaccini, A.R.; Cho, J.; Subhani, T.; Kaya, C.; Kaya, F.

        In addition, a review paper on EPD co-authored by Prof. Boccaccini is in position 5 of the list:

        Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology
         Article Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 28, Issue 7, 1 January 2008, Pages 1353-1367 Corni, I.; Ryan, M.P.; Boccaccini, A.R.

October 2010

  • ASCE Award Winning Paper The paper "Geopolymers from DC Plasma Treated APC Residues, Metakaolin, and GGBFS" co-authored by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and co-authors of Imperial College London (Dr. I. Kourti, Dr. D. Amutha Rani, and Dr. C.R. Cheeseman) which was presented at the Second International Conference on Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies held on June 28 – June 30, 2010 in Ancona, ITALY, has received the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Award (click to download) for outstanding contributions.

  • First two bachelor-theses completed at the Institute of Biomaterials (WW-7)
    Mr Alexander Kent and Mr Paul Ritter, students of Materials Science and Engineering at our University, have completed the first two bachelor theses in our Institute. Alexander worked on the "Development of bioactive glass scaffolds for bone tissue engineering" co-supervised by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dipl.-Ing. A. Hoppe. Paul developed novel PEEK coatings on stainless steel substrates by electrophoretic deposition, co-supervised by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dipl.-Ing. S. Keim. We wish Alexander and Paul the best of successes in their further academic careers.

 

 

 

 

  • Prof. Boccaccini attends meeting in Berlin with the president of Argentina, Mrs Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Invited by the Argentine Embassy in Berlin, Prof. Boccaccini attended a meeting of Argentine scientists based in Germany with the Argentinean president Mrs Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Argentina, Dr Lino Baranao and the Director of International Relations of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MinCyT) of Argentina, Dr. A. Menvielle. Prof. Boccaccini is an advisor of MinCyT in topics if international research collaborations and a member of the recently founded Scientific Committee of the Network of Argentinean Researchers in Germany .

 

 

September 2010

  • Ceramics for Environmental and Energy Applications: Book co-edited by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini published The volume "Ceramics for Environmental and Energy Applications" has been published in the Ceramic Transactions series of the American Ceramic Society (vol. 215), Editors: A. R. Boccaccini, J. Marra, F. Dogan, H.-T. Lin, T. Watanabe. Details

  • Two papers from our group on Electrophoretic Deposition are TOP of TOP 25 of J. Europ. Ceram. Soc.
    Two papers co-authored by Professor Boccaccini are the most dowloaded papers published in the J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. (period April-June 2010), according to the Elsevier webpage The papers are:

    Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotubeceramic nanocomposites
    Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1 March 2010, Pages 1115-1129 Boccaccini, A.R.; Cho, J.; Subhani, T.; Kaya, C.; Kaya, F.

    Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology
    Article Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 28, Issue 7, 1 January 2008, Pages 1353-1367 Corni, I.; Ryan, M.P.; Boccaccini, A.R.

  • Prof. Larry L. Hench visits the Institute of Biomaterials
    Prof. Larry L. Hench, professor emeritus of Imperial College London (UK) and director of special projects at University of Central Florida (USA) visited the Institute of Biomaterials on ocasion of the Erlangen Biomaterials Symposium on 3rd September, where he was an invited speaker. Larry Hench is the inventor of bioactive glass, a material of high applicability in bone replacement material and in dentistry. Bioactive glass is one of the attractive materials being investigated in our institute for bone tissue engineering and orthopaedic coatings. Larry toured our laboratories and discussed with members of the institute on the use of bioactive glass in composites for bone tissue engineering in the framework of current collaborative research projects.

  • Prof. Boccaccini: visiting professor at the University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, Italy
    Prof. Boccaccini has been named visiting professor in the Department of Materials and Environmental Engineering (DIMA) at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Prof Boccaccini is collaborating with colleagues at DIMA in the fields of electrophoretic deposition of nanoceramic powders, microwave densification of ceramic coatings and novel glasses and composites for functional applications. Participation in joint research projects including the exchange of students and researchers is planned between our Institute and DIMA.

  • Symposium: Biomaterials Challenges for the 21st Century Symposium 2010 Speakers
    The Erlangen Symposium: Biomaterials Challenges for the 21st Century was held on 3rd September 2010 at the Institute of Biomaterials, organised by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The programme of the symposium is here. The main conclusions in relation to future biomaterials challenges and anticipated research opportunities which were discussed during the symposium by the more than 80 participants is available here: .doc File .pdf File

  • The special issue: "EUROMAT 2009 – MATERIALS FOR HEALTHCARE" in Advanced Biomaterials has been now published
    This special issue was edited by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The 15 papers published in this issue were selected from the high quality contributions presented at the Euromat 2009 Conference, held in Glasgow, UK, in September 2009. The papers cover a great variety of biomaterial systems, i.e. biopolymers, bioactive glasses, bioceramics, metal alloys and composites for biomedical applications encompassing tissue engineering and regeneration, drug delivery, functional and antibacterial coatings, biomimetic nanomaterials and molecular dynamics simulations of biomaterials.

August 2010

  • Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini receives Ivor Jenkins Medal in LondonIvor Jenkins Award for Professor Boccaccini Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini received recently the Ivor Jenkins Medal 2010 of the UK Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) at the Special Awards Dinner in London. This prize is awarded in recognition of significant contribution which has enhanced the scientific, industrial or technological understanding of materials processing or component production using particulate materials. Boccaccini is recognised for his contributions to the fields of biomaterials processing and electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials and composites.

July 2010

  • Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini organises symposium on "Biomaterial Applications"
    • Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is organising the symposium "Biomaterial Applications" in the framework of the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE 2010) Conference, organised by the German Materials Society (DGM) in Darmstadt, Germany, on 24-26 August 2010. MORE INFORMATION HERE:

http://www.dgm.de/dgm/mse-congress/index.php?lg=en

  • 18. Symposium "Verbundwerkstoffe und Werkstoffverbunde", Chemnitz, Germany Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini member of the organising committee of the 18. Symposium "Verbundwerkstoffe und Werkstoffverbunde", Chemnitz, Germany, 30th March - 1st April, 2011. The call for abstracts is now open: http://www.dgm.de/dgm/verbund/index.php?lg=de
  • Prof. Bikramjit Basu (ITT Kampur, India) visits our InstituteProfessor Basu and Professor Boccaccini On 9th July, Prof. Bikramjit Basu, Associate Professor and P K Kelkar Research Fellow Department of Materials Science and Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, visited our Institute to discuss collaborative projects. Prof. Basu presented a talk on: Processing-Microstructure-Biocompatibility relationship of HAp based composites and experimental results on influence of electric and magnetic field on cell-material interaction.
  • Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini elected member of the UK EPSRC Peer Review College
    Prof. Boccaccini has been reelected as member of the Peer Review College of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK. He has served as member of the College since 2003.

 

 

 

 

  • Professor W. E. (Bill) Lee visits the Institute of BiomaterialsProf. Bill Lee und Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini
    Professor W. E. (Bill) Lee, Head of the Department of Materials of Imperial College London and director of the Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics (CASC) at Imperial College visited our Institute on 28-29 June 2010. In the framework of the Department's Kolloquium he presented the talk: "Laser Modified Microstructures in Ceramics". Moreover Prof. Lee and Prof. Boccaccini signed a memorandum of understanding between CASC and the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen in recognition of the mutual benefits accruing to their respective communities. The two Institutions will promote and develop their cooperation by several means including exchange of academic staff and students and development of cooperative research projects.

June 2010


  • Nanoparticles, Environment and Health, 18th June 2010, Imperial College London
    The Workshop "Nanoparticles, Environment and Health" was held at Imperial College London on 18th June 2010. This workshop was organised by the NaNoRISK (Nanotoxicology Research in South Kensington) Initiative with participation of Prof. Boccaccini as a member of the Management Committee of NaNoRISK. This initiative provides a platform for the study of nano-sized materials in relation to the environment and human health. The aim is to establish multidisciplinary research in the hazard and risk of nanomaterials and to develop safe applications of nanotechnology. More information is available in the recently launched webpage: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/nanorisk

May 2010

  • Institute of Biomaterials partner in the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN)
    Our Institute has been approved as one of the 35 partners of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN).
    KMM-VIN was founded under the auspices of the European Commission as a single legal entity with a supranational character to offer integrated basic and applied commercial research, educational and innovation activities in the field of knowledge-based multifunctional materials.
    The KMM-VIN is an international, non-profit association (AISBL) head-quartered in Brussels and incorporated under Belgian law (No d'entreprise 889 462 185). The aim of KMM-VIN is to foster the creation of a powerful platform for research and development and industrial application of advanced multifunctional materials in order that Europe may become a global power in this field, thus contributing to enhancing the quality of life of European society. Details on the mission and activities of KMN-VIN are available here.

  • Collaboration with the UK Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics (CASC) announced
    Our Institute is one of the international institutions collaborating with the UK Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics (CASC), based at Imperial College London and directed by Prof. W. E. Lee.More information: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/structuralceramics
    The Centre is organising the First CASC Summer School on Ceramics to be held in London, 14-16 September 2010.
    Prof. Boccaccini will be one of the invited lecturers at the CASC Ceramics School.
    For more information see: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/structuralceramics/meetings/summerschool

  • Darmawati PhDCongratulatios to Darmawati Mohamad Yunos, who recently passed her PhD oral examination (viva) at Imperial College London. The title of her PhD thesis is: Fabrication and characterisation of 3D porous bioactive glass-ceramic/polymer composite scaffolds for tissue engineering. Darma's supervisor was Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. We wish Darma all success in her future career !

  • Ceramic Matrix Composites Containing Carbon Nanotubes
    A paper co-authored by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (co-authors Johann Cho, Milo S. P. Shaffer) entitled: Ceramic matrix composites containing carbon nanotubes (J. Mater. Sci. 44 (2009) pp. 1934-1951) - is one of the five most highly-cited articles from the Journal in 2009, according the publisher.

April 2010

  • Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini has been awarded the Ivor Jenkins Medal 2010 from the UK Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). This prize is awarded in recognition of significant contribution which has enhanced the scientific, industrial or technological understanding of materials processing or component production using particulate materials.

March 2010

  • BIOactive highly porous and injectable Scaffolds controlling stem cell recruitment, proliferation and differentiation and enabling angiogenesis for Cardiovascular ENgineered Tissues (BIOSCENT)
    Our Institute is one of the 11 Partners collaborating in the FP-VII funded project BIOSCENT BIOactive highly porous and injectable Scaffolds controlling stem cell recruitment, proliferation and differentiation and enabling angiogenesis for Cardiovascular ENgineered Tissues (BIOSCENT). This is an interdisciplinary research project in the area of cardiac tissue engineering and regeneration. For more details click here.

  • Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini has been appointed Visiting Professor at the Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITECH), Japan, for the period 2010-2014.
    Visiting Professor in NagoyaVisiting Professor in Nagoya Picture2
    The appointment is part of an extended collaboration between NITECH and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, with involvement also of Prof. P. Greil and Prof. A. Roosen.
    This collaboration is carried out in the framework of the Institute of Ceramics Research and Education ITP program supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education.
    In this international collaborative project, also ENSCI Limoges (France) and Imperial College London (UK) are international partners.
    For more information: http://itp.web.nitech.ac.jp/en/index.html

  • Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was nominated to the "Netzwerk argentinischer Wissenschaftler in Deutschland" (Network of Argentine Researchers in Germany) (RCAA). (more)

  • The paper: Application of electrophoretic and electrolytic deposition techniques in ceramics processing, Current Opinion in Solid State & Materials Science, Volume 6, June 2002, Pages 251-260, authored by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Prof. I. Zhitomirsky (McMaster University, Canada), features as one of the TOP 25 downloaded papers of the Journal: (more)

  • The paper: Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 28, January 2008, Pages 1353-1367, authored by Dr. Ilaria Corni, Dr M. P. Ryan (Imperial College London) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, features as the most downloaded paper of this journal according to the Elsevier webpage

  • March 1-2, International Symposium on "Disperse Systems for Electronics" with Session on High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (Prof. Erdmann Spiecker) (download flyer)

February 2010

  • Geopolymers breakthrough involving Prof. Boccaccini's research group reported on the web page of the Geopolymers Institute

  • The special issue: Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD): Fundamentals and Applications" of the Journal of the European Ceramic Society has been now published:
    Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 30, Iss. 5, 2010
    This special issue was edited by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. It includes selected papers from authors who attended the 3rd International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition held in Hyogo Japan (Oct. 2008). The papers in this issue constitute a representative selection of research being carried out worldwide in the field of EPD, with papers both covering fundamentals of the EPD technique, as applied in materials science, and those showing specific examples of application of the technique in a wide range of materials and new systems.

January 2010

  • Tissue engineering using ceramics and polymers Our book co-edited with Dr Julie Gough (University of Manchester) entitled: "Tissue Engineering using Ceramics and Polymers" is published by Woodhead Publishing Ltd. This book will prove an innovative and up-to-date reference for professionals and academics involved in the field of tissue engineering. To learn more about the book contents visit this site.(http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/search.aspx?basic=boccaccini)