News 2014

• Prof. David Pye (Alfred University, USA) visits our Institute
  Professor David Pye, Emeritus Professor of Glass Science and Engineering, Inamori School of Engineering, Alfred University, NY, USA, and Distinguished Life Member of the American Ceramic Society visited our Institute on 23rd May 2014. Prof. Pye is the editor-in-chief of the journal: "International Journal of Applied Glass Science" (IJAGS). Prof. Boccaccini serves as an associate editor of IJAGS. (Click image to enlarge)

• Successful defense of doctoral thesis
  On 15th May, Nooeaid Patcharakamon (Look-Om) successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled: "Multilayered Scaffolds for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering Based on Bioactive Glass and Biodegradable Polymers" (in German: "Mehrlagige Gerüststrukturen für das Knochen-Knorpel Tissue Engineering basierend auf bioaktivem Glas und bioabbaubaren Polymeren"), carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute.
  Prof. Boccaccini highlighted that Look-Om is the first PhD student graduated from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, which is celebrating this year the 5th Anniversary of its establisment in 2009. Two of the articles published by Look-Om are listed below. We congratulate Look-Om on this achievement also on her new academic position back in Thailand! (Click images to enlarge)
  
  [1] Nooeaid, P., Roether, J. A., Weber, E., Schubert, D. W., Boccaccini, A. R., Technologies for Multilayered Scaffolds Suitable for Interface Tissue Engineering, Adv. Eng. Mater. 16 (2014) 319–327.
  [2] Nooeaid P, Salih V, Beier JP, Boccaccini, A R., Osteochondral Tissue Engineering: Scaffolds, Stem Cells and Applications., Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 16 (2012) 2247-2270.

• EU ITN BIOBONE project workshop in Davos
  The Workshop on Cell-Material Interactions of the EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) project BIOBONE was held in Davos (Switzerland) on 28-30 April 2014. In the picture Preethi Balasubramanian (PhD student), Valentina P. Miguez (PhD student), Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Dr. Rainer Detsch, who was an invited speaker at the Workshop. (Click image to enlarge)

• Prof. Boccaccini invited speaker in Stuttgart
  Prof. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at: Stern Forum Innovation and Biomaterials organized by "BioRegio STERN". The event was held in Stuttgart, Germany, on 29th April. He presented the scientific perspective lecture: “Biomaterials in bone tissue regeneration and biofabrication: advances and challenges". The STERN-Forum "Innovation and Biomaterials" serves as a pathfinder for industry and academy representatives leading to new contacts and collaborations. (Click image to enlarge)

• New international projects
  Two new DAAD funded projects have been awarded to the Institute of Biomaterials (Head: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini) for scientific collaboration with researchers in Poland and the Republic of Serbia. The project "New functionalised biodegradable elastomers for cardiac tissue engineering" involves collaborative research and exchange of students and young researchers between the FAU Institute of Biomaterials and the group of Prof. Mirka El Fray at the Polymer Institute of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland, while the research project "Scaffolds with therapeutic functionality" will be carried out in collaboration with the research group of Dr. Magdalena M. Stevanović, at the Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia.

• Prof. Boccaccini in organizing committee of Int. Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Systems
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini will serve as a member of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Systems (ICBES) to be held in Prague, Czech Republic on August 14th-15th, 2014. ICBES is a specialized conference covering numerous topics related to fundamentals and applications of biomedical sciences and engineering.

• Prof. Boccaccini, scientific topic co-organiser at ECERS 2015
  Prof. Boccaccini will serve in the organizing committee of the 14th Conference of the European Ceramic Society (ECERS) that will take place in Toledo, Spain, from 21st to 25th June 2015, organised under the auspices of the Spanish Ceramic and Glass Society. Prof. Boccaccini is one of the co-chairs of the organizing committee of TOPIC 3: "Ceramics and glasses for healthcare" which is chaired by Prof. J. Chevalier (INSA Lyon). The abstracts submission information will be published soon.

April 2014

• Meeting of Argentinean Scientists in Berlin
  Prof. Boccaccini attended the meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Network of Argentinian Scientists in Germany (Red de Cientificos Argentinos en Alemania, RCAA) which was held on 25th April 2014 at the Embassy of the Republic Argentina in Berlin. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of Argentina to the Federal Republic of Germany, Ambassador Mr. Daniel Polski (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and the other members of the Advisory Committee). Prof. Boccaccini represents the area "Engineering" in the Advisory Committee of RCAA. (Click image to enlarge)

• Prof. Boccaccini invited speaker in the Netherlands
  Prof. A. R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the 13th European Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery (ESCDD2014) which was held in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 16-18 April 2014. Prof. Boccaccini presented one of the invited lectures in the “Bioactive Delivery for Tissue Engineering” session. The title of the presentation was: "Bioactive scaffolds with drug delivery capability: progress and challenges". (Click image to enlarge)

• Visit from Serbia
  Prof. Djordje Janackovic, Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Serbia, visited our Institute on 23rd April. We have established a collaboration with the research group of Prof. Janackovic in the field of ion doped bioactive glasses for tissue engineering. The first results of our research project were recently published [1].
  [1] Hoppe, A., Jokic, B., Janackovic, D., Fey, F., Greil, P., Romeis, S., Schmidt, J., Peukert, W., Lao, J., Jallot, E., Boccaccini, A. R., Cobalt-Releasing 1393 Bioactive Glass-Derived Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 6 (2014) 2865–2877. (Click image to enlarge)

• Prof. Boccaccini in Editorial Board of "Nanocomposites"
  Prof. Boccaccini will be serving as member of the Editorial Board of the new journal "Nanocomposites"
  This new journal is dedicated to the most recent advances in nanocomposites and it constitutes a forum to bring together academic and industrial researchers from multidisciplinary fields in the general area of polymeric and ceramic nanocomposites. Editor in Chief of the journal is Prof. Tom Peijs of Queen Mary University of London (UK) and the members of the editorial board are listed here .

• Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker in Chile
  Prof. A. R. Boccaccini was invited to visit the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Mathematical and Physic Sciences Faculty, at University of Chile (UoCh), Santiago on 14-15 April. He presented the lecture:
  "Development of bioactive glasses for tissue engineering: progress and challenges". A research collaboration in the field of ion doped bioactive glasses has started in collaboration with the group of Prof. H. Palza (at the centre of the photo with Prof. Boccaccini) and other colleagues at UoCh. (Click image to enlarge)

• Workshop at German Embassy in Buenos Aires
  Prof. Boccaccini was invited speaker at the international workshop "Challenges and Innovations in Energy Transformation and Sustainable Development" which was held at the German Embassy in Buenos Aires on 10th April, organised by the ONG "Manos Verdes" and the Institute for Renewable Energies and Environment of the Argentine Scientific Society. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Material based strategies for Waste Treatment and Recycling ". This international event was organised in the context of the visit of German experts to Buenos Aires for the ABIEST Workshop (see separate information). In the photo Ms Verena Boehme (Executive Director of ONG Manos Verdes, workshop organiser), Prof. Rita Hilliges (Augsburg University of Applied Sciences, ABIEST coordinator) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (ABIEST coordinator). (Click image to enlarge)

• Prof. Boccaccini receives RAICES Award in Buenos Aires
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini received the "Raices' Award of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production (MinCyT) of Argentina during his recent visit to Buenos Aires. The prize is awarded to outstanding Argentinean scientists living abroad who make significant contributions to science and technology in collaboration with Argentina and who have contributed to promote academic and scientific links with Argentina (see here). In the photo, Prof. Boccaccini, Dr. Lino Barano, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina, and Ing. Agueda Menvielle, Head of the National Directorate of International Relations of MinCyT. An interview with Prof. Boccaccini (in Spanish) is here. (Click image to enlarge)

• Prof. Boccaccini invited speaker in Buenos Aires
  Professor Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers at the 1st Scientific Workshop of the Argentinean-Bavarian Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation in Environmental Science and Technology (ABIEST), which was held on 8-9 April at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The ABIEST workshop was co-organised by Prof. Boccaccini and it was held with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina, the Bavarian University Centre for Latin America (BAYLAT) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bavaria.
  Prof. Boccaccini's presentation was entitled: "Materials Science Approaches to the Recovery and Recycling of Hazardous and Non-hazardous Waste". The full program of the Workshop is available here. (Click image to enlarge)

• Meeting in Buenos Aires
  Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini met Prof. Viviana Mouriño of the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, during his visit to Buenos Aires. There is a long standing collaboration with the group of Professor Mouriño. The collaborative project "Design and development of novel matrices for tissue engineering and/or drug delivery for pathologies of high social and economic impact" was successfully finalised. The project was funded by the International Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany, and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production in Argentina. The following review paper has been recently published and two new publications are in preparation:
  Mouriño, V., Cattalini, J. P., Roether, J. A., Dubey, P., Roy I., Boccaccini, A. R., Composite polymer-bioceramic scaffolds with drug delivery capability for bone tissue engineering, Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 10 (2013) 1353-1365. (Click image to enlarge)

• Student success in London
  Pippa Newby has successfully passed the oral defense of her PhD thesis in the field of "Multifunctional Bioglass®-based composite scaffolds with therapeutic ion release capability". Pippa was based at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London, the thesis supervisors were Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Prof. E. Saiz. The project investigated the introduction of therapeutic metal ions, such as silver, into bioactive glass-ceramic scaffolds produced using the foam replication technique. A molten salt ion exchange method was developed for ion incorporation in the silicate network. In addition, to improve the mechanical properties of the scaffolds, polymer coatings based on gelatin were investigated. Several publications were generated from Pippa's thesis, for example:
  
  [1] El-Gendy R; Yang XB; Newby PJ; Boccaccini AR; Kirkham J (2013) Osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stromal cells on 45S5 Bioglass® based scaffolds in vitro and in vivo. Tissue Eng Part A, 19 (5-6), pp. 707-715.
  [2] Newby PJ; El-Gendy R; Kirkham J; Yang XB; Thompson ID; Boccaccini AR (2011) Ag-doped 45S5 Bioglass (R)-based bone scaffolds by molten salt ion exchange: processing and characterisation. J MATER SCI-MATER MED, 22 (3), pp. 557-569. (Click image to enlarge)

• PhD thesis completed in London
  Ms Andrea Bagdadi (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) completed successfully her PhD project at the University of Westminster, London, UK, under supervision of Dr. Ipsita Roy (Head of Applied Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Molecular and Applied Biosciences, University of Westminster) and with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (visiting professor at Imperial College London, UK) as co-supervisor.
  Andrea carried out a project in the field of development and applications of biopolymers for cardiac tissue engineering. (Click image to enlarge)

• Meeting of the North-Bavaria Biomaterials Alliance in Erlangen
  The 7th scientific meeting of the North-Bavaria Biomaterials Alliance (NBBA) took place on 2nd April 2014 in Erlangen hosted at the Institute of Biomaterials by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. NBBA is an initiative of the Biomaterial Institutes of the Universities of Bayreuth, Würzburg and Erlangen-Nuremberg, founded in October 2011 by initiative of Prof. J. Groll (Würzburg), Prof. T. Scheibel (Bayreuth) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (Erlangen-Nuremberg). The format of the 7th Meeting was of a "speed dating" meeting in which 18 PhD students from the 3 universities developed collaborative research ideas for joint research collaborations involving at least two different universities. The next NBBA scientific meeting will be held in July at the University of Würzburg (date to be announced). (Click images to enlarge)

March 2014

• Visit from CIDETEC, Spain
  Dr. Josemari Munoz, Head of the Ceramic Surfaces Unit at IK4-CIDETEC , San Sebastian, Spain, visited our Institute on 28th March. CIDETEC, a Technology Centre belonging to the IK4 Research Alliance, specialises in generating and transferring knowledge and technology in the areas of materials, surfaces and energy. CIDETEC is a member of The European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN). Prof. Boccaccini is one of the coordinators of the Working Group "Biomaterials" in KMM-VIN. We are collaborating with Dr Munoz in the field of electrophoretic deposition of novel bioactive coatings which follows from our previous joint projects on EPD of carbon nanotubes [1]. In the photo Dr S. Cabanas-Polo (Institute of Biomaterials, Erlangen), Dr J. Munoz and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini.
  
  [1] Cho, J., et al., Characterisation of carbon nanotube films deposited by electrophoretic deposition, Carbon 47 (2009) 58-67.

• Emerging Fields Initiative: 10th "TOPbiomat" Seminar
  Prof. Maria Vallet-Regi, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Head of the Research Group Smart Biomaterials in the Department of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), was the invited speaker at the 10th Scientific Seminar of the Emerging Fields Initiative (EFI) project "TOPbiomat". The seminar was held in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, it was moderated by Prof. Boccaccini.Prof. Vallet-Regi presented the talk "Biomaterials design: from implants to regenerative medicine”. We collaborate with Prof. Vallet-Regi in the framework of the European Network of Excellence for the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporotic Fractures, “Ageing”. (Click images to enlarge)

• Topping-out ceremony of our new building
  The truss of our new laboratory building at the Erlangen Bioresearch Centre is in place. The topping-out ceremony, which took place on March 21st 2014, was attended by several well-known public figures such as Joachim Herrmann, the Bavarian Minister of Interior Affairs. The completion of the new construction under the direction of the State Building Authority Erlangen-Nuremberg is scheduled for August 2015. The Bavarian State is investing a total of 13.4 mil. Euros for the new building and refurbishment of the existing buildings. The new laboratory complex will be a fundamental component of the interdisciplinary Biotechnology campus on the 9,000 m² site in Ulrich-Schalk-Str. and thus complements the existing buildings, which are going to house offices and seminar rooms for the scientific personnel.
  
  The new building with 860 m² of usable space provides room for interdisciplinary bioresearch of the technical and natural sciences
  faculties of the FAU. Three Institutes are going to perform research under the same roof there, namely, our Institute (the Institute of Biomaterials), the Institute of Medical biotechnology and geoscientists of the Institute of Endogeneous Geodynamics.
  
  The centrepiece of the research centre is constituted by a state-of-the-art mass spectrometry
  laboratory and four cleanroom laboratories, which are furnished completely free of metal, which enables sample analysis with highly concentrated acids. This feature makes the research centre the first of its kind in Bavaria on this scale. Laboratories for materials science and biotechnology as well as genetic engineering laboratories with safety levels S1 and S2 - complete the laboratory space. (Click images to enlarge)

• Visit of Prof. Maria Vallet-Regi
  On 23-25 March we received the visit of Prof. Maria Vallet-Regi, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Head of the Research Group Smart Biomaterials in the Department of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Prof. Vallet-Regi is an international leading scientist in the field of bioceramics, in particular in the area of silica based ordered mesoporous materials for gene therapy and transfection and tissue engineering. Prof. Vallet-Regi is also the head of the European Network of Excellence for the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporotic Fractures, “Ageing” in which Prof. A. R. Boccaccini is one of the members for Germany. On 25th March Prof. Vallet-Regi presented the lecture:“Biomaterials design: from implants to regenerative medicine” in the context of the program of Invited Seminars to mark the 5th Anniversary of the Institute of Biomaterials and in the framework of the 10th TOPbiomat Seminar . (Click image to enlarge)

• Biomaterials to prevent and combat osteoporosis
  The relevance of biomaterials in strategies to prevent and treat osteoporosis is the theme of a review article written by a group of European scientists which is to be published in the journal ACTA BIOMATERIALIA [D. Arcos, A.R. Boccaccini, M. Bohner, A. Díez-Pérez, M. Epple, E. Gómez-Barrena, A. Herrera, J.A. Planell, L. Rodríguez-Mañas, M. Vallet-Regí. THE RELEVANCE OF BIOMATERIALS TO THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OSTEOPOROSIS. Acta Biomaterialia. DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.01.004. (2014)].
  Written by researchers representing the three relevant communities, e.g. clinicians, materials scientists and industrial advisors, the review discusses currently available biomaterials used to treat osteoporotic bone fractures and guides the reader through the expanding field of novel multifunctional and bioactive materials, in particular drug- and cell-loaded biomaterials, which are still at laboratory scale but reveal great promise for clinical applications. The review paper originates in thoughts, proposals and conclusions obtained within the Spanish and European Network of Excellence for the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporotic Fractures, “Ageing”, an effort led by Prof. Maria Vallet -Regi (Uní. Complutense de Madrid, Spain), and as a result of intensive interdisciplinary discussions that followed a one day International Symposium "Ageing and osteoporosis: current situation and future perspectives " held in Madrid in April 2013.

• Scientific symposium in Nagoya
  The Kickoff Symposium to mark the establishment of the "Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITech) Europe Liaison Office" takes place on 20th March at NITech.
  Invited speakers from NITech and from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg will participate. The program of the symposium is available.

• Top 25 Hottest Articles
  Several papers of our group and from Prof. Boccaccini's previous group at Imperial College London are listed in the "TOP 25 most dowloaded (hottest)" articles of the respective journals where they were published (period October-December 2013). These include:
  
  1. Chinnam, R. K., et al., Review. Functional glasses and glass-ceramics derived from iron rich waste and combination of industrial residues, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Volume 365, April 2013, Pages 63-74
  TOP25 in J. Non-Cryst. Solids (7)
  
  2. Rezwan et al., Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Biomaterials, Volume 27, Issue 18, June 2006, Pages 3413-3431
  TOP25 in Biomaterials (5)
  
  3. Corni, et al., Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 28, Issue 7, January 2008, Pages 1353-1367
  TOP25 in J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. (3)
  
  4. Hornberger et al., Biomedical coatings on magnesium alloys, Acta Biomaterialia, Volume 8, Issue 7, July 2012, Pages 2442-2455
  TOP25 in Acta Biomaterialia (23)
  
  

• Visit from Bremen
  Dr. Michael Maas, senior scientist at the Advanced Ceramics Group, University of Bremen, visited our institute on 10th March 2014. Earlier this year, Dr. Maas was a visiting lecturer at the Elite Master's Programme in Advanced Materials and Processes (MAP) of our University. We are currently collaborating with Dr. Maas on a project involving electrophoretic deposition of functional nanoparticles for bioactive coating applications. (Click image to enlarge)

• Visit from Japan
  Prof. Hiroyuki Muto, of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan, visited our Institute on 12th March. We plan a collaboration with Prof. H. Muto and Prof. A. Matsuda (head of group) in the field of colloidal processing and electrophoretic depositon. Prof. Matsuda will be one of the invited speakers at the 5th International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition to be held in Hernstein, Austria, on 5-10 October, 2014, which will be chaired by Prof. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)

• Visit from Latvia
  Prof. Janis Locs, senior researcher at the Rudolfs Cimdins Riga Biomaterials Innovations and Development Centre, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia visited our Institute in March in the framework of a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) of the COST Action: "From NAno to MAcro BIOmaterials (design, processing, characterization, modeling) and applications to stem cells regenerative orthopedic and dental medicine (NAMABIO)". We are currently collaborating with Dr Locs in the field of polymer coated bioactive glass based scaffolds with drug delivery capability. Prof. Boccaccini is a member as representative for Germany of the Management Committee of NAMABIO. (Click image to enlarge)

• Interview in "Alexander" Magazine
  An interview with Prof. A. R. Boccaccini has been published in the last issue of the University magazine Alexander, pg. 11. Prof. Boccaccini discusses about the research progress in the framework of TOPbiomat project funded by the Emerging Fields Initiative of FAU, in particular the development of novel alginate-gelatin matrices for cell encapsulation and biofabrication. The first results have been recently published [1].
  [1] Sarker, B., et al., Fabrication of alginate–gelatin crosslinked hydrogel microcapsules and evaluation of the microstructure and physico-chemical properties, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2 (2014) 1470-1482.

• Visit from Argentina
  Dr. Pablo A. Castro, Department Manager, R&D Surfaces and Coatings, TENARIS , Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Dr. D. Espin, Technical Director, Neotechnology, Saarbruecken, Germany visited our Institute on 6th March. We discussed collaborations in the field of electrophoretic deposition of coatings also with Prof. S. Virtanen (Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion). In the photo Mr Micael Frank (PhD student), the visitors and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)
  
  

• Meeting of the Committee for Glassy and Crystalline Multi-Functional Materials, Erlangen, 27-28 February 2014.
  The meeting of the Committee for Glassy and Crystalline Multi-Functional Materials (AK-GKM) was held at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, on 27-28 February 2014. The meeting was organised jointly by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Delia Brauer (University of Jena). The AK-GKM is a joint committee of the German Society for Glass Technology, DGG, and the German Ceramic Society, DKG. The scientific meeting held in Erlangen focused on biomaterials. The program included 10 presentations of experts in the field and attracted more than 70 participants including numerous PhD students, young investigators and established scientists, which made this meeting the largest of this series of meetings which started in 2002. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Progress and challenges in the development of bioactive glass scaffolds for bone engineering". The program of the meeting is available here. (Click images to enlarge)
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini keynote speaker in Ludwigshafen
  Prof. Boccaccini was one of the keynote speakers at the Research Symposium "Fracture repair and bone regeneration" held at BG Hospital Ludwigshafen, held on 4th March 2014 in Ludwigshafen, Germany, organised by Prof. U. Kneser, Head, Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Heidelberg and Prof. A. Grützner, Director of BG Hospital. The title of the lecture presented by Prof. Boccaccini was: "Bioactive Materials for Bone Regeneration: Advances and Challenges". (Click image to enlarge)
  
  

• Visit of Professor Leena Hupa
  Professor Leena Hupa, affiliated with the Process Chemistry Centre, Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo Finland, visited our Institute on 27-28 February 2014. We are currently collaborating with the research group of Prof. Hupa in the field of silicate bioactive glasses with novel compositions for bone tissue scaffolds and drug delivery applications. This research follows from our previous investigation on Boron containing scaffolds, published in Acta Biomaterialia:
  M.M. Erol, et al., Copper-releasing, boron-containing bioactive glass-based scaffolds coated with alginate for bone tissue engineering, Acta Biomaterialia, Volume 8, Issue 2, February 2012, Pages 792-801. (Click image to enlarge)
  

• Ceramic Transactions co-edited by Prof. Boccaccini published
  The volume "Ceramics for Environmental and Energy Applications II", co-edited by: Dogan, F., Tritt, T. M., Sekino, T., Katoh, Y., Pyzik, A. J., Belharouak, I., Boccaccini, A. R., Marra, J., has been published as: Ceramic Transactions Vol. 246, American Ceramic Society and J. Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ (2014).
  The volume contains a collection of papers presented at the 10th Pacific Rim Conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology, June 2-6, 2013, held in Coronado, CA, USA, where Prof. Boccaccini co-chaired symposium 22: Glasses and Ceramics for Nuclear and Hazardous Waste Treatment
  In this volume the following paper of our group is published:
  R.K. Chinnam, Silvia Molinaro, Enrico Bernardo, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Borosilicate Glass Foams from Glass Packaging Residues, Ceramics for Environmental and Energy Applications II: Ceram. Trans. Volume 246 (2014) 203–210.

• Visit of Prof. Delia Brauer
  Prof. Delia Brauer, Junior Professor at the Otto Schott Institute of Materials Research, Department of Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany, visited our Institute on 27th February. Prof. Brauer was co-organiser with Prof. A. R. Boccaccini of the 12th Meeting of the Committee for Glassy and Crystalline Multi-Functional Materials, a joint Committee of the German Glass Society (DGG) and the German Ceramics Society (DKG). We are currently collaborating with Prof. Brauer in the field of metal ion doped silicate bioactive glasses for bone tissue engineering applications. In the photo, Prof. D. Brauer, Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dr. J. A. Roether (Institute of Polymer Materials, Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg). (Click image to enlarge)

Februar 2014

• Review Paper Award 2014
  The review paper co-authored by Dr. L.-C. Gerhardt and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini: "Bioactive Glass and Glass-Ceramic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering" Materials 2010, 3(7), 3867-3910; doi:10.3390/ma3073867 has been awarded the "Materials Best Paper Award 2014-Category Reviews", which is an annual award instituted by the journal Materials to acknowledge outstanding papers in the area of materials science and engineering published in the journal. The review was written when Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dr. L.-C. Gerhardt worked together at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London, UK. Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the editorial board of the journal Materials.

• Working groups meeting: "Biomimetic Biomaterials" and "Tissue Engineering"
  On 26th February, Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini presented the lecture "Scaffolds and Biofabrication at the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials" at the recent joint meeting of Working Groups "Biomimetic Biomaterials" and "Tissue Engineering" of the Biomaterials Section of the German Materials Society (DGM). The meeting was held at the University of Bayreuth and hosted by Prof. T. Scheibel. The theme was "Biofabrication" with Dr. K. Borchers (Fraunhofer IGB, Stuttgart), Prof. P. Kluger (Reutlingen University) and Prof. G. Tovar (Fraunhofer IGB, Stuttgart) as chairs.

• Development of biodegradable arterial stents: New EU FP7 project at the Institute of Biomaterials
  The Institute of Biomaterials at FAU has been awarded a research grant funded by the European Union in the FP7 program to develop biodegradable arterial stents for cardiovascular applications, as partner of a international and multidisciplinary consortium "ReBioStent" formed by academic institutions and industry. The ReBioStent project started in January 2014 and it has a duration of three years. The project aims to produce coronary artery stent prototypes based on biodegradable materials, with the ability to recover and maintain arterial shape and then gradually disappear. The consortium will develop stents, as small tubes which can be inserted to treat narrow or weak arteries. The participation of the Institute of Biomaterials under leadership of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini will be in the processing and characterisation of innovative biomaterials, both natural and synthetic, to produce stents with tailored properties and degradability, which should be ready for clinical trials in December 2016. The consortium involves 13 other European members, from UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Germany.

• EU Project ReBioStent: meeting in London
  On 21st February Prof. A. R. Boccaccini met in London Dr. I. Roy (Univ. of Westminster), Dr. X. Zhang (Lucideon), and Dr. P. Jackson (Lucideon), who are research partners in the EU FP7 Project "Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents" (ReBioStent). This project addresses the FP7 work programme Theme on Biomaterials for Advanced Therapies and Medical Devices in the neurological/neuromuscular or cardiovascular fields. The aim of the project is to develop a resorbable cardiovascular stent that should replace current metallic stents. Our Institute is involved in the synthesis and characterisation of a range of suitable biodegradable functionalised composite materials for fabrication of stents.

• INNVIN Meeting on Brussels
  Professor Boccaccini attended the 2nd review meeting of the EU Project: "Innovative Materials Solutions for Transport, Energy and Biomedical Sectors by Strengthening Integration and Enhancing Research Dynamics of KMM-VIN" (INNVIN) in Brussels on 21st Feb. 2014. Our Institute is an associate member of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN). Prof. Boccaccini is one of the coordinators of the Working Group "Biomaterials". INNVIN is a CSA project within the EU 7. Framework Programme.

• KMM-VIN GA Meeting in Brussels
  Prof. Boccaccini attended the General Assembly and the Governing Council meeting of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN) held in Brussels on 18th February 2014. Prof. Boccaccini is one of the coordinators of the Working Group 3 "Biomaterials" and a member of the Governing Council of KMM-VIN. On 19th February, Prof. Boccaccini chaired the Annual Meeting of the WG Biomaterials. He will be an invited speaker at the "KMM-VIN 2nd Industrial Workshop on „Current Research and Industrial Issues in Bone Implant Development” which will be held at Fraunhofer-IFAM, Bremen, May 21-22, 2014. In the photo Prof. Boccaccini and Prof. M. Ferraris, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, coordinator of WG2 "Energy".

• Prof. Boccaccini at NAMABIO meeting in Berlin
  Prof. A. R. Boccaccini participated at the Working Groups meeting 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)" held in Berlin on 10-11 February 2013. Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the Management Committee of NAMABIO as representative for Germany and he is a member of Working Group 1 ("Processing of innovative biomaterials"). In the context of this Cost Action research collaborations with several European partners institutions have been initiated, including Josef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland and Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia.

• Visit of Prof. J. F. Mano
  Prof. Joao. F. Mano, a member of the Department of Polymer Engineering and of the 3B's Research Group at University of Minho, Portugal, visited our Institute on 7th February 2014. Prof. Mano was the invited speaker of the 9th Scientific Seminar of the Emerging Fields Initiative (EFI) project "TOPbiomat". We have collaborations with Prof. Mano in the field of bioactive glass-polymer composites, a recent joint paper has been published [1]. In addition, Prof. J. Mano together with Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Prof. Aranzazu del Campo (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany) and Prof. Enrica Verne (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy) were the guest co-editors of the special issue: "Materials for Healthcare Applications" Symposium, EUROMAT 2011, published in Biomedical Materials.
  [1] Caridade S. G., et al., "Chitosan membranes containing micro or nano-size bioactive glass particles: evolution of biomineralization followed by in-situ dynamic mechanical analysis", Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 20 (2012) 173-183

• BIOSCENT Meeting in Brussels.
  The final meeting of the EU FP7 project BIOSCENT, which investigated biomaterial based approaches to control stem cell recruitment, proliferation and differentiation for cardiovascular engineered tissues, was held on 11-13 February 2013 in Brussels. The participation of the Institute of Biomaterials (Dr. Ranjana Rai, Ms Marwa Tallawi, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini) led to the development of novel functionalised and structured polymer cardiac patches, which were characterized in vitro and in vivo by project partners at the University of Parma (Italy). In the image, Dr. Elisabetta Rosellini (project coordinator) of University of Pisa, Italy, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Ms Marwa Tallawi (PhD student). A recent publication of our research results is available (see below), other publications have been submitted.
  Rai, R., et al., Biomimetic poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) membranes for cardiac patch application, Mater. Sci. Eng. C 33 (2013) 3677–3687

• Highly cited paper in J. Biomater. Appl.
  The paper: J. J. Pratten, S. N. Nazhat, J. J. Blaker, A. R. Boccaccini, "In Vitro Attachment of Staphylococcus Epidermidis to Surgical Sutures with and without Ag-Containing Bioactive Glass Coating", J. Biomater. Appl. 19 (2004) 47-57, doi:10.1177/0885328204043200 is one of the Most-Cited Articles in the Journal of Biomaterials Applications as of February 1, 2014, as announced in the journal's webpage. This early study was a collaboration between the group of Prof. Boccaccini (at the time in the Department of Materials, Imperial College London and colleagues at University College London, and investigated the antibacterial properties of Ag-containing bioactive glass coatings.

• Kick-off meeting of "SynBio" EFI project
  The kick-off meeting of the project: "Synthetic Biology" took place on 5th February 2014. The program of the meeting is available here (Click "here" to access it).
  The project is funded by the Emerging Fields Initiative of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The project coordinator is Prof. U. Sonnewald (Department of Biology). Prof. Boccaccini is one of the principal investigators (pictured with the other PIs). The project investigates the design and construction of new biological devices for a variety of applications and constitutes an interdisciplinary research platform involving the fields of Biology, Informatics, Mathematics, Materials Science and Physics to understand biological phenomena at the nanometer scale, to explore rational metabolic engineering of living cells and to create bio-inspired nano-devices.(Click image to enlarge)

• International visiting students
  Several students from universities around the world are visiting our Institute for their Master projects or laboratory internships.
  Current visiting students are: Johannes Goldmann (University of Sydney, Australia), Camila Schroeder and Mirella Alves Leite (Federal University of Santa Caterina, Brazil), Geovane J. Rodrigues (Instituto Politécnico, PUC Minas, Brazil), Antonella Piredda and Francesca Elisa Ciraldo (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy). (Click image to enlarge)

• 1st Joint Meeting of DGG – ACerS GOMD in Aachen
  The Symposium: "Health, Medical, Biological Aspects: Fundamentals and Applications of Glasses" will be one of the symposia at the 1st Joint Meeting of the German Glass Society (DGG) and the Glass & Optical Materials Division (GOMD) of the American Ceramic Society, to be held in Aachen, Germany on May 25-30, 2014. The symposium organisers are Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Mohammed N. Rahaman (Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA). Invited speakers include: R. Brow (Missouri S&T), A. Cormack (Alfred University), W. Hoeland (Ivoclar, Lichtenstein), L. Hupa (Abo Akademy, Finland), A. Tomsia (Lawrence Berkeley Lab), E. Verne (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy).

• Prof. Boccaccini - invited speaker in Stuttgart
  Prof. Boccaccini will deliver a Plenary Lecture at the STERN-Forum: „Innovation and Biomaterials“ to be held in Stuttgart, Germany, on 29th April 2013.
  The topic of the presentation to be given in the scientific plenary session of the event, will be: "Biomaterials in bone Tissue regeneration and biofabrication: advances and challenges”.
  
  

• Plenary lecture at ESCDD2014
  Prof. A. R. Boccaccini will be an invited speaker at the 13th European Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery (ESCDD2014) to be held in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 16-18 April 2014. Prof. Boccaccini will present one of the plenary lectures at the Symposium in the “Bioactive Delivery for Tissue Engineering” session.
  
  

• 1st International e-Conference on Materials
  Prof. Boccaccini has been invited to serve in the Scientific Advisory Board of the 1st International e-Conference on Materials. This is a conference to be held virtually and it is associated to the open access journal Materials of which Prof. Boccaccini is member of the Editorial Board.
  
  

• Meeting of the Committee for Glassy and Crystalline Multi-Functional Materials, Erlangen, 27-28 February 2014.
  The next meeting of the Committee for Glassy and Crystalline Multi-Functional Materials (AK-GKM) will be held at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and it will be organised jointly by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Delia Brauer (University of Jena). The AK-GKM is a joint committee of the German Society for Glass Technology, DGG and the German Ceramic Society, DKG. The scientific meeting to be held in Erlangen will focus on biomaterials.
  
  

January 2014

• Special issue on Electrophoretic Deposition
  The special issue on Electrophoretic Deposition of Ceramic Materials in the journal Advances in Applied Ceramics (vol. 113, issue 1, Jan. 2014) co-edited by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Dr. B. Ferrari (Institute of Ceramics and Glass, Madrid, Spain) has been just published. The editorial is available here. The special issue includes the paper of our group in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute of Ceramic Technology, Castellon, Spain, based on the research fellowship awarded to Mr Luis Cordero-Arias by the European Virtual Institute KMM-VIN
  Cordero-Arias, L., Cabanas-Polo, S., Gilabert, J., Goudouri, O. M., Sanchez, E., Virtanen, S., Boccaccini, A. R., Electrophoretic deposition of nanostructured TiO2/alginate and TiO2-bioactive glass/alginate composite coatings on stainless steel, Adv. Appl. Ceram. 113 (2014) 42-49.
  
  

• Visit from England
  Dr Tahera Ansari, senior scientists at the Dept. Surgical Research, Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (NPIMR), Harrow, UK visited our Institute on 20-21 January 2014. We have collaborated with Tahera's group for several years in the field of scaffolds for tissue engineering. Recent results on bioactive scaffolds for bone regeneration have been published [1]. New developments involve the investigation of decellularised scaffolds for soft tissue regeneration. (Click image to enlarge)
  
  [1] Gerhardt, L.-C., Widdows, K. L., Erol, M. M., Nandakumar, A., Roqan, I. S., Ansari, T., Boccaccini, A. R., Neocellularization and neovascularization of nanosized bioactive glass-coated decellularized trabecular bone scaffolds., J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 101A, (2013) 827–841.
  
  

• Highly cited articles
  Our review article: Hoppe, A., Güldal, N.S., Boccaccini, A.R., "A review of the biological response to ionic dissolution products from bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics", Biomaterials 32 (2011) 2757-2774 is now listed as one of the "Most Cited Articles" published in the journal BIOMATERIALS (articles published since 2009).
  Also, the review paper: Simchi, A., Tamjid, E., Pishbin, F., Boccaccini, A.R., "Recent progress in inorganic and composite coatings with bactericidal capability for orthopaedic applications", Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine 7 (2011) 22-39 is now listed as one of the "Most Cited Articles" published in the journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine (articles published since 2009).
  
  

• Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials
  Prof. Boccaccini has been named a member of the International Advisory Committee of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB 2014) to be held in Liverpool, UK, from 31 August to 3 September 2014. The International Advisory Committee has been established from the leading experts in Biomaterials Science, with a truly International constituency, and which will oversee the quality of the submitted abstracts to the ESB 2014 Conference. The call for abstracts is available.