Institute of Biomaterials (WW7): News 2011

December 2011

Student Success

Congratulations to Bo Pang who recently (19^th December 2011) passed his PhD oral examination at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London.
The title of his PhD thesis is "Optomechanical borosilicate glass matrix composites". Bo was supervised by Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Dr David McPhail (Imperial College London). In the photo Prof. Boccaccini and Bo Pang on the day of the PhD exam at Imperial College.
Prof. Boccaccini elected member of the German Science Foundation (DFG) Review Board
Prof. Boccaccini has been elected member of the Review Board of the German Science Foundation (DFG) for the Panel "Materials Science: Biomaterials".
The election was held on line and about 100.000 scientists of the German Scientific system could vote to elect the members of the Review Board in the different disciplines (more).
Visit of Ms. Piyachat Chuysinuan (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)

Ms. Piyachat Chuysinuan, PhD student in the Applicable and Industrial Polymeric Materials Research group (Head: Prof. Dr. Pitt Supaphol) at The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 1^st December 2011. She gave a seminar on "Electrospun fiber mats containing herbal substances for biomedical applications"and discussed future collaborations in the field of biodegradable polymers for drug delivery and wound healing. In the photo: Ms P. Chuysinuan, Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Ms N. Patcharakamon (PhD student at the Institute of Biomaterials).

November 2011

Visit of a delegation of Nagoya Institute of Technology and 2^nd German-Japanese Seminar on Advanced Ceramic Materials
In the framework of the international collaboration between Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITECH) and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, a large delegation of authorities, academic professors and students from NITECH visited Erlangen on 23-25 November. Organised by Prof. P. Greil (Erlangen) and Prof. T. Kasuga (NITECH) the 2^nd German-Japanese Seminar on Advanced Ceramic Materials was held. In the framework of this Seminar, students of the Institute of Biomaterials presented 3 posters, including the participation of undergraduate students Ms Anke Metze, Ms Julia Graubmann and Ms Chikako Kawamura (visiting student from NITECH). Ms Kawamura was awarded a certificate for her poster presentation entitled "Electrophoretic Deposition of Bioactive Glass/Biopolymer Coatings".
In the 1^st/2^nd photo, Ms. Kawamura and Prof. Boccaccini.
The NITECH delegation, accompanied by Prof. Dr. Peter Greil (Inst. for Glass and Ceramics) and Prof. Dr. A. R. Boccaccini visited the President of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Dr. Karl-Dieter Grüske (3^rd photo).
Project: "Bioactive materials, cell and tissue printing: New therapeutic approaches for organ level tissue engineering and regenerative medicine" selected as one of the new "Emerging Fields" funded projects

The research project "Bioactive materials, cell and tissue printing: New therapeutic approaches for organ level tissue engineering and regenerative medicine" has been selected as one of the University's "Emerging Fields" projects and it will be funded for 2 years.Coordinator is Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini in collaboration with Dr R. Detsch (Institute of Biomaterials) and co-investigators are Prof. R. Horch, Dr U. Kneser, Prof. C. Alexiou, Prof. C. Garlichs (Faculty of Medicine), Prof. B. Fabry (Faculty of Natural Sciences) and Prof. O. Friedrich (Technische Fakultät).
The aim of this project is to establish a multidisciplinary research consortium at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, to develop complex, functional tissues and organs based on smart combinations of bioactive materials, cells and tissue printing. The approach relies on the combination of novel (nano)biomaterials, which will be shaped and micro-structured using innovative rapid prototyping techniques in conjunction with "cell printing" methods (bioprocessing). The ultimate goal is to engineer a range of organ-specific 3D tissues with a pre-formed functional vascular capillary bed and vascular trees such that large tissue lesions can be repaired with short healing time.

Network of Argentinian Scientists in Germany
Prof. Boccaccini attended the 2^nd meeting of the Network of Argentinian Scientists in Germany (Red de Cientificos Argentinos en Alemania, RCAA), which was held on 17-18^th November 2011 in Berlin.
Prof. Boccaccini is the representative of the area "Engineering" and a member of the Advisory Committee of RCAA.
Dr. Alejandro Gorustovich (CONICET, Argentina) visits the Institute of Biomaterials

Dr. Alejandro Gorustovich, research scientist of CONICET and Universidad Catolica de Salta (Argentina) visited our Institute in November in the framework of a DAAD scholarship.
Currently we collaborate with Dr. Gorustovich's group in the area of collagen/bioactive glass composite scaffolds and effects of bioactive glass on angiogenesis in the context of bone engineering [1].

[1] Gorustovich, A.A., Roether, J.A., Boccaccini, A.R.: Effect of bioactive glasses on angiogenesis: A review of in vitro and in vivo evidences, Tissue Eng. Part B 16 (2010) 199-207
Visit of Ms Chikako Kawamura, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan

In the framework of the international collaboration between the Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITECH) and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Institute of Ceramics Research and Education), Ms Chikako Nakamura, student in the Graduate School of Engineering at NITECH, is visiting our Institute until the end of the year. She is working in collaboration with Dr. Alejandra Chavez and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini in the development of nanoscale bioceramic/polymer coatings by electrophoretic deposition.

Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker at the Sino-German Symposium on "Multifunctional Biomaterials and Polymer-based Controlled Drug Release Systems"
The Sino-German Symposium on "Multifunctional Biomaterials and Polymer-based Controlled Drug Release Systems" was held at the Centre for Biomaterial Development, Helmoltz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), Campus Teltow, on October 26-30, 2011. The Symposium was chaired by Prof. Andreas Lendlein (HZG) and Prof. Z. Gu (Sichuan university, China). The Symposium participants (see image) discussed key issue associated with biomaterials development, primarily for drug delivery systems, from the perspective of Chinese and German researchers.
Electrophoretic Deposition: New laboratory for Material Science and Nanotechnology students
Our institute established a new laboratory for Materials Science and Engineering and Nanotechnology students of our University. The experiments demonstrate the application of the electrophoretic deposition technique to develop homogeneous coatings for biomedical applications and is designed to provide understanding of the correlation between EPD parameters and coating quality.
We thank Dipl.-Ing. Sigrid Seuß and Dr. Helga Hornberger (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini on 2^nd November 2011 in our EPD laboratory) for their effort in organizing and demonstrating this exciting laboratory for our students!

October 2011

1^st Meeting of the "Northern Bavarian Initiative for Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine"
The 1^st Meeting of the "Northern Bavarian Initiative for Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine" was held on 25^th October 2011 at the University of Bayreuth, hostes by Prof. T. Scheibel, with participation of researchers working in the fields of biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine from the University of Bayreuth, Erlangen-Nuremberg and Würzburg. The meeting was organised by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), Professor Juergen Groll (University of Würzburg) and Prof. Thomas Scheibel (University of Bayreuth). The main objective of this new initiative is to build a forum for researchers and technology exchanges and academic collaborations among partner universities in the mentioned fields, to which also the local biomedical industry will be invited. This first academic activity being organised is the "1^st Northern Bavaria Biomaterials Seminar", to be held at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Biomaterials, on 17.01.2012, with participation of Master students, PhD students and young researchers of the 3 Universities.

(Pictured: Dr. A. Bernet (BT), Dr A Leal (BT), Dr. U Gbureck (WÜ), Prof. J. Groll (WÜ), Prof. T Scheibel (BT), Prof. L. Meinel (WÜ), Prof. H. Walles (WÜ), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (ER), Prof. S. Förster (BT), Dr. U. Kneser (ER), Dr. R. Detsch (ER), Prof. B Fabry (ER), Dr. J. Probst (WÜ).)
Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dipl.-Ing. A. Hoppe visit McGill University, Montreal, Canada
In the framework of the Quebec-Bavaria Collaboration on "Nanocomposite biomaterials for bone regeneration" Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and PhD student Alexander Hoppe (in the photo with Prof. Nazhat and students of McGill University) visited recently the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University in montreal (Canada). Earlier this year, also Dipl.-Ing. Jasmin Hum visited McGill University. The visits were hosted by Prof. Showan Nazhat. The collaboration with the research group at McGill started earlier this year and it focuses on the developement and characterisation of a new family of nanostructured collagen-bioactive glass composites following results presented in our joint papers, for example ref. [1].

[1] Benedetto Marelli, Chiara E. Ghezzi, Dirk Mohn, Wendelin J. Stark, Jake E. Barralet, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Showan N. Nazhat, Accelerated mineralization of dense collagen-nano bioactive glass hybrid gels increases scaffold stiffness and reulates osteoblastic function, Biomaterials 32 (2011) 8915-8926.
Fellowship of the American Ceramic Society and McMahon Lecture Award at Alfred University (USA)
Professor A. R. Boccaccini presented the John F. McMahon 2011 Award Lecture at the Inamori School of Engineering, Alfred University, NY, USA, on 13^th October 2011.
Sponsored by the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University, the annual invited lecture recognizes a renowned expert in materials science. The lecture of Prof. Boccaccini was on "Development and Applications of Bioactive Glass and Composite Scaffolds for Bone Engineering: Advances and Challenges".
Prof. Boccaccini received the award of Fellow of the American Ceramic Society at the 113^th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society held in conjunction with the MS&T’11 conference in Columbus, OH, USA, on October 17, 2011.
In the images, Prof. Boccaccini with Dr Marina Pascucci, President of the American Ceramic Society, and with Prof. Larry Hench, the inventor of Bioglass, at the Awards ceremony.
Dipl.-Ing. Jasmin Hum visits the Vienna University of Technology

In the framework of a visiting fellowship awarded by the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials (KMM-VIN), Dipl.-Ing. Jasmin Hum visits in the period October-December 2011, the Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures at the Vienna University of Technology. She will work under supervision of Prof. Christian Hellmich (in the photo with Jasmin) in the field of non-destructive characterisation of the elastic properties of bioactive glass scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
Professor K. K. Chawla Honorary Symposium in USA

Prof. Boccaccini was one of the co-organisers of the Symposium on Fibers, Foams and Composites, in honor of Prof. K. K. Chawla (University of Alabama, at Birmingham, USA) held at the Materials Science and Technology (MST 2011) conference in Columbus, OH, USA on 15-20^th October 2011.
In the picture symposium co-organisers Dr. G. Gladysz (Telleborg), Dr. P. Portella (BAM, Berlin), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Prof. N. Chawla (Arizona State University), with Prof. K. K. Chawla. Papers presented at the symposium will be published in a special issue of the journal Materials Science and Engineering A.
Prof. Boccaccini will deliver the John F. McMahon 2011 Lecture at Alfred University in NY, USA
Professor A. R. Boccaccini will be the John F. McMahon 2011 Lecturer at the Inamori School of Engineering, Alfred University in New York, USA, on 13^th October 2011.
Sponsored by the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University, the annual invited lecture recognizes a renowned expert in materials science. It was created to honor the memory of John F. McMahon, an Alfred University alumnus, faculty member and dean of the New York State College of Ceramics. The lecture of Prof. Boccaccini will be on "Development and Applications of Bioactive Glass and Composite Scaffolds for Bone Engineering: Advances and Challenges".
Professor Boccaccini: Invited speaker at MST 2011, Columbus, OH, USA
Professor Boccaccini will present 2 invited lectures at the Materials Science & Technology 2011 Conference & Exhibition, to be held on October 16-20, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio, USA1)

1) "Electrophoretic Deposition of Biomaterials" at the Symposium on Surface Properties of Biomaterials: Bioglass and Cellular Interactions, invited by Prof. S. Bose and Prof. A. Bandyopadhyay (Washington State University)

2) "Advances in the Development of Composite Porous Structures for Bone Tissue Engineering" at the Professor K. K. Chawla Honorary Symposium on Fibers, Foams and Composites: Science and Engineering.This symposium is co-organised by Prof. N. Chawla, Dr. P. Portella and Dr. G. Gladysz and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini to celebrate the career and achievements of Professor K. K. Chawla (University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA).

September 2011

Invited lectures at conferences in France and Italy
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was Topic Coordinator for Topic Area F: Materials for Healthcare Applications at the EUROMAT 2011 conference held in Montpellier, France, on 12-15 September 2011. He presented the highlight lecture: "The biological effect of ionic dissolution products from bioactive glasses", co-author: Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Hoppe.
At the BIOFOAMS 2011 conference held in Capri, Italy, on 21-23 September 2011, Prof. Boccaccini was a keynote speaker. He presented the lecture:
"Polymer Coated Bioactive Glass Foams: Toughened Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering", co-authors: Miss P. Nooeaid, Dr.J. A. Roether (WW5), Prof. Dr. D. W. Schubert (WW5).
Prof. Boccaccini elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society
Prof. Boccaccini has been elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. The award will be presented at the 113^th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society to be held in conjunction with MS&T’11 in Columbus, Ohio, on October 16-20, 2011.

August 2011

Student Success
Vincent Bürger, who graduated from the MAP course recently and carried out his Master thesis at our Institute under supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Hoppe, in collaboration with Prof. L. Wondraczek (WW3), on the topic: "Effects of Residual Surface Stresses on the Bioactivity of Bioactive Silicate Glasses" has won the joint first prize of the 2011 Oldfield Award of the Society of Glass Technology of the United Kingdom.

July 2011

Researchers from the National Research Centre (Cairo, Egypt) visited our Institute

Prof. Salma M. Naga and Dr. Hesham El-Maghraby of the Ceramics Department, National Research Centre in Cairo, Egypt, visited our Institute on 22^nd July in the framework of the project "Synthesis, characterization and potential applications of oxide ceramics in bone substitution medicine". Porous bioceramic materials prepared in Egypt are being tested in our laboratories in terms of their biological compatibility.

Prof. Matthias Epple, University of Duisburg-Essen, visited our Institue
Professor Matthias Epple, Center for Medical Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, who is the president of the German Biomaterials Society (DGBM) visited our Institute on 19^th July 2011 and presented the lecture "Inorganic nanoparticles in biology and medicine", in the framework of the Materials Science Colloquium SS2011 of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of our University.
Professor Mirka El Fray (ERASMUS lecturer) visited our Institute
Prof. Mirka El Fray, Director of the West Pomeranian Center of Advanced Technologies and Professor at the Polymer Institute, West Pomeranian University of Technology (ZUT), Szczecin in Poland, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 4^th - 8^th July 2011.
In the framework of an ERASMUS lecturership, she delivered lectures on "Polymers in Medicine".
Prof. Boccaccini and members of our Institute discussed with Prof. Mirka El Fray the continuing research collaborations and student exchanges between Erlangen and the Polymers Institute at ZUT.

June 2011

Prof. Hala Zreiqat (University of Sydney, Australia) visited our Institute
Prof. Hala Zreiqat, head of the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Research Group at the University of Sydney in Australia, visited our Institute on the 24^th June 2011. She presented a seminar on "A Basis for Building Bone: Novel Biomaterials for New Bone Growth".
Prof. Zreiqat discussed with staff and students of our Institute on opportunities for research collaborations between our research groups in the field of advanced scaffolds for bone engineering.
Student Success
A poster presentation by Tayaab Subhani (PhD student based at Imperial College in London, co-supervised by Prof. M. Shaffer (Imperial), Prof. W. E. Lee (Imperial) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini), entitled Glass composites containig carbon nanotubes: processing, characterization and prospects for toughening (co-authors: Johann Cho, Fawad Inam, Michael J Reece, Bill Lee, Aldo R. Boccaccini and Milo S Shaffer) won the Best Poster Award at 35^th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics & Composites. The award will be presented at the 36^th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics & Composites in Daytona Beach, Florida, in January 2012.
Prof. Boccaccini: Editorial Board Member of Bull. Spanish Ceram. Glass Society
Prof. Boccaccini has been elected member of the Editorial Board of the "Boletin de la Sociedad Espanola de Cerámica y Vidrio" (Bulletin of the Spanish Ceramic and Glass Society). The Bulletin is the official publication of the Spanish Ceramic and Glass Society.
Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker at International Conference in Italy

Prof. Boccaccini attended the 3^rd International Conference on Syntactic and Composite Foams (SCF III), held in Cetraro (Calabria) in Italy on May 29^th - June 3^rd, 2011.

The title of his invited presentation was
"Advances in Development of Bioactive Composite Foams For Bone Tissue Scaffolds".
Publications of our group highly cited and downloaded
The review paper "Electrophoretic Deposition of Carbon Nanotubes" by Boccaccini et al. is listed as one of the top 10 cited papers published in the journal Carbon.

Electrophoretic Deposition of Carbon Nanotubes
A. R. Boccaccini, J. Cho, J. A. Roether, B. J. C. Thomas, E. J. Minay, M. S. P. Shaffer, Carbon, 2006. 44(15): p. 3149-3160.

Moreover, 2 papers of our group published in the journal Biomaterials are included in the list of the Top 25 "Hottest Articles" (Most Downloaded papers) in the period January-March 2011 in the journal.

At number 3:
Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering
K. Rezwan, Q. Z. Chen, J. J. Blaker, A. R. Boccaccini, Biomaterials, 2006. 27(18): p. 3413-3431.

At number 14:
A review of the biological response to ionic dissolution products from bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics
A. Hoppe, N. S. Güldal, A. R. Boccaccini, Biomaterials, 2011. 32(11): p. 2757-2774.

In addition, the recent review paper

Polymer/bioactive glass nanocomposites for biomedical applications: A review
A. R. Boccaccini, M. Erol, W. J. Stark, D. Mohn, Z. Hong, J. F. Mano, Composites Science and Technology, 2010. 70(13): p. 1764-1776.

is included at number 7 in the list of the Top 25 "Hottest Articles" (Most Downloaded papers) in the period January-March 2011 of the journal Composites Science and Technology.

May 2011

COST Action MP1005: NAMABIO
Prof. Boccaccini has been elected member of the Management Committee of the COST ACTION MP1005 "From nano to macro biomaterials (design, processing, characterization, modeling) and applications to stem cells regenerative orthopedic and dental medicine (NAMABIO)", as one of the representatives of Germany.
NAMABIO will focus in interdisciplinary research related to biomaterials and stem cells of interest for the regenerative medicine of bones and teeth. The aim of NAMABIO is to coordinate research efforts of several actors belonging to different discilines necessary to obtain a real breakthrough in these areas.
Prof. Boccaccini: ERASMUS lecturer at the Polymer Institute, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin (Poland)
In the framework of an ERASMUS lecturership, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini visited in May the Polymer Institute, West Pomeranian University of Technology (ZUT) in Szczecin (Poland) to deliver lectures on "Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering". Prof. Boccaccini discussed with Prof. Mirka El Fray, Director of the West Pomeranian Center of Advanced Technologies, about continuing research collaborations and student exchanges between our Institute and the Polymer Institute at ZUT.

April 2011

Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker in Argentina
On 19^th April 2011, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini presented the lecture "Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials in Biomedical Applications" at the National University of Cuyo, Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCAI) in San Rafael, Argentina.
More than 200 guests including students and faculty members attended the lecture (link).
Prof. Boccaccini is external advisor of the Materials Research Group at FCAI, where researchers are currently working in the field of electrophoretic deposition of nanostructured biomaterial coatings.

March 2011

Student Success

Congratulations to Deborah Desimone e Silva who recently passed her PhD oral examination at Imperial College London.
The titel of her PhD thesis is: "Fabrication and Characterisation of oxide fibre-reinforced glass matrix composites for optomechanical applications". She was supervised by Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Bill Lee (Imperial College). Deborah will join our Institute as post-doctoral researcher in April 2011.
Congratulations to Ms Fatemehsadat Pishbin, PhD student based in the Department of Materials (Imperial College London, UK), supervised by Prof. Boccaccini and Dr. M. Ryan. She won the second prize for the Best Public Speaker category of the Post-graduate Research Day.
Thisevent was held on 21^st March in the Materials Department of Imperial College.
The title of her talk was: “Bioactive Orthopaedic coatings by Electrochemical Means: Development and characterisation".

Prof. Boccaccini: editorial board member of the new journal: Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials
Prof. Boccaccini has been elected member of the International Editorial Board of the new journal Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials (BBN - ICE Publishing). This new bimonthly journal brings together research from a broad range of disciplines and focuses on materials inspired by nature for a wide range of applications from medicine to construction.
Visit of Prof. H. Jain, Director of the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass (USA)

Prof. Himanshu Jain, T.L. Diamond Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Applied Science and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University, USA visited our Institute on Friday, 18^th March. Prof. Jain is also Director of the NSF's International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass . We discussed collaborations in the field of bioactive glasses for biomedical applications and the participation of our Institute in the research and exchange activities of the Int. Mater. Institute for New Functionality in Glass.
Visit of scientists and students from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan

In the framework of the international collaboration between the Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITECH) and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, we received the visit of a large delegation of academics and students from NITECH on 10^th - 11^_th March. Their visit was part of the exchange and research activities involving the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Erlangen, with involvement also of Prof. P. Greil, Prof. A. Roosen and Prof. C. Brabec. In addition a memorandum of understanding between NITECH and our University was signed. 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. For more information please follow this link.
Visit of scientists from McGill University in Montreal, Canada

In the framework of the Quebec-Bavaria Collaboration on "Nanocomposite biomaterials for bone regeneration" Prof. S. Nazhat and PhD students Benedetto Marelli and Chiara Ghezzi from the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University in Montreal (Canada), visited our Institute on 8^th - 10^th March. This collaboration started earlier this year between both research groups and the objective is the development and characterisation of a new family of nanostructured collagen-bioactive glass composites following results presented in our previous joint paper

Three-dimensional mineralization of dense nano fibrillar collagen-Bioglass® hybrid scaffolds
B. Marelli, C. E, Ghezzi, J. E. Barralet, A. R. Boccaccini, S. N. Nazhat, Biomacromolecules, 2010. 11(6): p. 1470-1479.

Alexander Hoppe and Jasmin Hum of our Institute will visit McGill later this year.

Prof. Boccaccini: invited international speaker at International Workshop in Brno, Czech Republic

Prof. Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers at the International Workshop Processing of Nanostructures Ceramics and Nanocomposites on 3^rd - 5^th March, held at Brno University of Technology, Brcno (Czech Rebublic). He delivered a talk on: "Electrophoretic Deposition: from traditional ceramics to nanotechnology". The workshop was organised in the framework of the EU project (FP7) RP DEMATEN.

February 2011

Prof. Boccaccini gives invited talk in Italy
On 25^th Feb. 2011, Prof. Boccaccini visited the University of Rome "Tor Vergata", invited by the Department of Chemical Science and Technologies, Italy. He presented a lecture on: "Advances in the development of bone tissue scaffolds based on bioactive glass and polymer/bioactive glass composites".
Start of Initial Training Network (ITN) (GLACERCO): Glass and Ceramic Composites for High Technology Applications
A new Initial Training Network (ITN) funded by the EU has been awarded in the field of Glass and Ceramic Composites for High Technology Applications (GLACERCO) to a consortium with participation of our Institute. The total Funding awarded is: 3 890 000 €.
The coordinating institution is Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. The kick-off meeting was held in Torino, Italy, on 15th February. The project has a 4 year duration.
The aim of the project is to offer multidisciplinary research training in the field of high-tech glasses and composites, in collaboration with industry and universities The scientific goals are to develop advanced knowledge on glass based materials and to create innovative, cost-competitive, and environmentally acceptable materials and processing technologies. The inter/multi-disciplinary characteristic is guaranteed by the presence, within this consortium, of five academic partners and five companies, from six countries (Italy, Germany, France, UK, Czech Republic, Finland), having top class expertise in glass science and technology, modelling, design, characterization and commercialization of glass and composite based products.

High-tech glass-based materials (glass-ceramics, glass- and glass-ceramic composites and fibres) bring competitiveness in strategic fields as medicine (bioactive glasses as bone replacement and drug delivery systems), telecommunications (glass devices for broad-band applications), photonics (glass based photonic sensors), clean energy (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells glass sealants), waste management (vitrification and re-use of wastes), Recruited researchers will benefit from a complete set of equipments and expertise able to develop advanced knowledge in highly strategic fields for EU, such as medicine, telecommunications, photonics, clean energy production and waste management.

The Institute of Biomaterials (Prof. Boccaccini) will lead the Work package related to the Design, preparation and characterisation of new glasses suitable for medical applications. The research includes glass-based biomaterials for oncology (i.e. ferrimagnetic glass-ceramics for hyperthermia), drug release (bioactive glasses and microcellular ceramics) and bone substitution (i.e. glass-ceramic macroporous scaffolds) and arthroprosthesis (i.e. glass and composite bioactive coatings).An integrated approach to the application of bioactive glasses in the biomedical field, from materials development to in vitro tests, will be pursued, including also a comprehensive comparison with available biomaterials to highlight the advantages of bioactive glasses in the different selected applications.

More details on the project are available here.

January 2011

First diploma thesis at the Institute of Biomaterials (WW7)
Friederike Gebhardt, a student of Materials Science and Engineering in our Department has completed her Diplomarbeit (engineering thesis) on: “Abscheidung von Chitosanschichten auf Magnesiumlegierungen” ("Deposition of Chitosan coatings on Magnesium alloys"). The research project was supervised by Prof. S.Virtanen (Chair for Surface Science and Corrosion, WW4) and Prof. Boccaccini at the Institute of Biomaterials (WW7), in collaboration with Ms Sigrid Keim (WW7). The research carried out is a part of a wider scientific collaboration between our Institute and the Chair for Surface Science and Corrosion.

35^th International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites
Members of our group participated at the 35th International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (link) organised by the American Ceramic Society in Daytona Beach (FL), USA, on Jan. 23-28, 2011. Prof. Boccaccini organised the joint session of symposia 5 (Next Generation Bioceramics) and 9 (Porous Ceramics). In addition he presented the invited talk "Bottom ash-based geopolymer materials: mechanical and environmental properties" in the Session "Geopolymers and Other Inorganic Polymers", which is a collaboration with the group of Prof. A. Polettini and Ms Roberta Onori (University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy). Tayyab Subhani, PhD student based at Imperial College London, UK (Co-supervised by Profs. Milo Shaffer and Bill Lee at Imperial), presented the poster entitled: "Glass Composites Containing Carbon Nanotubes: Processing, Characterisation and Properties", in the framework of a collaboration with the UK Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics (CASC) (link).