Institute of Biomaterials (WW7): News 2015

December 2015

Prof. Boccaccini, invited lecturer at Waldkrankenhaus Erlangen on 21st December 2015
Prof. Boccaccini presented an invited lecture entitled: "Materials for Orthopedic Applications" at Waldkrankenhaus St. Marien Erlangen, following an invitation of Dr. med. Stefan M. Sesselmann, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, pictured with Prof. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)

End of Year Meeting and Summary of 2015 activities and achievements
2015 was a busy and productive year for our Institute. At the end-of-the-year gathering of the Institute of Biomaterials on 14th December 2015, Prof. Boccaccini, Head of the Institute, summarized the achievements by the members of our Institute in the year 2015, which included completion of six doctoral thesis (with two more submitted to be defenced in early 2016), publication of more than 40 scientific papers, more than 20 presentations at national and international conferences, and the award of materials science prizes and recognition by students, young and senior researchers. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted also the acquisition of several new major research grants, mainly from national (DFG) and European (EC) funding. During this year we also welcomed ten new staff members, both PhD students and post-docs, and hosted numerous international visitors in our laboratories (students, young researchers and visiting academics). More than 30 Bachelor and Master theses of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanotechnolgy, Life Science and Engineering and Medical Engineering were completed during 2015 in our Institute. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini visits Imperial College London
On 1-2 and 16-18 December 2015, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the Department of Materials at Imperial College London (ICL), where he has an appointment as visiting professor. Prof. Boccaccini is also a visiting lecturer at the ICL Composites Centre. Currently we collaborate with the Department of Materials of ICL in the framework of the EU ITN project BioBone and with the ICL Department of Chemistry in the project NanoHeal. In the photo Prof. F. Bresme (collaborator in project NanoHeal) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)

ABIEST Scientific Wokshop in Erlangen
The 2nd Scientific Workshop of the Argentinean-Bavarian Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation in Environmental Science and Technology (ABIEST) was held on 7-8 December 2015 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, coordinated by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Rita Hilliges (Augsburg University of Applied Sciences). The 2nd ABIEST workshop was held with the support of the Bavarian University Centre for Latin America (BAYLAT). Prof. Andrea Pagni, director of BAYLAT opened the meeting. Participants of different Bavarian Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences with interest in the field of Environmental Science and Technology and a representative of UmweltCluster Bavaria attended the meeting, as well as two representatives of ABIEST in Argentina, Dr. Alicia Ronco, Environmental Research Centre CIMA, National University of La Plata and Dr. Teodoro Stadler, Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina. ABIEST was established in April 2013 under leadership of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, as the instrument of interaction between Argentinean and Bavarian researchers in the field of environmental science and technology. ABIEST is supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production (MinCyT) of Argentina and the Bavaria State Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts. Prof. Boccaccini's presentation was entitled: "New Functional and Structural Materials from Industrial Residues". The full program of the Workshop is available here. In the pictures, Prof. R. Hilliges, Prof. A. Pagni, Dr. A. Ronco, Dr. T. Stadler, Prof. A. R. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

PhD Success in Lyon
Ms Marta Gallo successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled: "In vitro degradation of calcium phosphate bone substitutes: coupled monitoring of the evolution of mechanical, microstructural and physico-chemical properties of DCPD and b-TCP samples " on 26th November 2015. She carried out her project at INSA Lyon, Laboratory of Materials Science (MATEIS) under supervision of Prof. Jerome Chevalier and co-supervision of Dr. Solene Tadier and Dr. Sylvain Meille. The research project was part of the ITN EU Marie Curie Network BioBONE. Marta conducted part of her experimental work, particularly the cell biology investigation, at the Institute of Biomaterials at FAU under supervision of Dr. R. Detsch and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (pictured with Marta Gallo and Prof. J. Chevalier). (Click image to enlarge)

Visits from Argentina
Dr. Alicia Ronco, Environmental Research Centre CIMA, National University of La Plata and Dr. Teodoro Stadler, Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina, visited Erlangen on 7-8 December 2015 to participate at the 2nd Scientific Workshop of the Argentinean-Bavarian Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation in Environmental Science and Technology (ABIEST), which was held at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, coordinated by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Rita Hilliges (Augsburg University of Applied Sciences). The 2nd ABIEST workshop was held with the support of the Bavarian University Centre for Latin America (BAYLAT). (Click image to enlarge)

Visit from Latvia
During 30.11 - 4.12.2015 we received the visit of Ms Inga Narkevica and Ms Līga Stīpniece PhD students at "Rudolfs Cimdins Riga Biomaterials Innovations and Development Centre", Riga Technical University, Institute of General Chemical Engineering, Latvia. We have been collaborating with researchers at "Rudolfs Cimdins Riga Biomaterials Innovations and Development Centre" in the field of composite scaffolds for tissue engineering for several years. Our last joint work has been recently published [1]. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] Locs, J., Li, W., Sokolova, M., Roether, J. A., Loca, D., Boccaccini, A. R., Zoledronic acid impregnated and poly(L-lacticacid) coated 45S5 Bioglass-based scaffolds, Materials Letters 156 (2015) 180–182.

Publication of Frontiers Research Topic "Inorganic Biomaterials"
The Frontiers Research Topic "Inorganic Biomaterials", co-edited by Prof. W. Hoeland (Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Liechtenstein) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, has been published in Frontiers, section Biomaterials, a section appearing in three journals: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Frontiers in Materials and Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences.
The Frontiers Research Topic "Inorganic Biomaterials" includes 10 research papers written by leading authors in the field of inorganic biomedical materials with focus on bioceramics, glass-ceramics bioactive glasses and composites for a variety of applications. The Research Topic includes two papers of our Institute [1, 2].

[1] E. Boccardi, et al., Uniform Surface Modification of 3D Bioglass®-Based Scaffolds with Mesoporous Silica Particles (MCM-41) for Enhancing Drug Delivery Capability, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 3:177.

[2] M. Miola, et al., Electrophoretic Deposition of Chitosan/45S5 Bioactive Glass Composite Coatings Doped with Zn and Sr, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 3:159.

Society of Glass Technology Centenary Conference 2016 in Sheffield, UK
The Society of Glass Technology Centenary Conference and European Society of Glass Science and Technology 2016 Conference "Glass – Back to the Future!" will be held in Sheffield, UK, on 4–8 September 2016. This event represents a special landmark in the history of glass science and technology, namely the Centenary of the Society of Glass Technology (UK), marking its 100th year. This conference is organised under the auspices of both the European Society of Glass and the Society of Glass Technology, and it will bring together researchers, technologists, practitioners, artists and students with interests in all aspects of glass. Prof. A. R. Boccaccini serves as member of the International Advisory Board of the Centenary Conference. The Call for Abstracts has been announced.

Kick -Off meeting of new EU project "MOZART" in Turin, Italy
The kick-off meeting of the new EU (Horizon 2020) project: "Mesoporous matrices for localized pH-triggered release of therapeutic ions and drugs" (MOZART) was held in Turin, Italy, on 19-20 November 2015. The project has received total funding of 4.65 million €. The MOZART project involves 8 different countries and 11 partners, 5 high tech SMEs and 6 top European Universities. The FAU Institute of Biomaterials under direction of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is one of the academic partners involved in MOZART. The researchers in Erlangen will lead the effort in fabricating nanoscale mesoporous silicate matrices tailored for the controlled release of biologically active ions and bioactive molecules.
More information (in German) is available here.
In the photo Prof. Chiara Vitale-Brovarone, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, project coordinator, Prof. Maria Vallet Regi, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, academic partner, with Prof. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit from Italy
We currently receive the visit of Mr Gioacchino Conoscenti, PhD student working under supervision of Prof. Vincenzo La Carrubba, Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace, Materials Engineering, Bio and Tissue Engineering Lab., University of Palermo, Italy. The application of organic-inorganic composites for bone tissue engineering, as reviewed previously [1], continues to attract significant research interest. In this project, we collaborate with Prof. La Carrubba's group in the field of bioactive glass containing biodegradable composites obtained by thermally induced phase separation technology. The project involves also collaboration with the group of Prof. Gundula Schulze-Tanzil Institute for Anatomy, Klinikum Nuremberg Medical School, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität Nuremberg. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] Rezwan, K., et al., Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Biomaterials 27 (2006) 3413–3431.

Visits from Belgrade
Dr. Magdalena Stevanovic and young researchers (Dr Miodrag Lukic and MSc Nenad Filipovic) from the Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Centre for Fine Particles Processing and Nanotechnologie, in Belgrade, Serbia, visited our Institute in the week 23-27 November 2015. We are currently collaborating with the group of Dr. Stevanovic in the framework of a project funded by DAAD entitled: Development and Evaluation of Bioactive Glass Based Therapeutics for Tissue Engineering and Controlled Delivery of Medicaments. The first results from this joint research project have been published recently [1]. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] M. Stevanović et al., 45S5Bioglass®-based scaffolds coated with selenium nanoparticles or with poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/selenium particles: Processing, evaluation and antibacterial activity, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 132, 2015, 208–215.

November 2015

NEW HORIZON 2020 EU PROJECT AT THE INSTITUTE OF BIOMATERIALS
The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme seeks to introduce nanomaterials for medical applications. In response to this challenge, on 1st November 2015, the project “MOZART- Mesoporous matrices for localized pH-triggered release of therapeutic ions and drugs", with total funding of 4.65 million €, was launched. The MOZART project involves 8 different countries and 11 partners, 5 high tech SMEs and 6 top European Universities. The FAU Institute of Biomaterials under direction of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is one of the academic partners involved in MOZART. The researchers in Erlangen will lead the effort in fabricating nanoscale mesoporous silicate matrices tailored for the controlled release of biologically active ions and bioactive molecules. The overall objective of this four-year highly multidisciplinary project is to develop a library of novel and smart inorganic nanomatrices as a versatile platform for targeted therapies to promote bone and wound healing. MOZART aims to translate these new and innovative medical products into the clinic and market for the benefit of the patients and the industrial healthcare sector in Europe. The potential impact of MOZART is enormous as in the EU alone, 350,000 patients per year suffer delayed or non-union bone fractures and 2.2 million patients suffer from chronic non-healing wounds.

3rd TRANSFORMAS meeting in Ludwigshafen
The 3rd scientific meeting of the TRANSFORMAS research group took place on 25th November 2015 in the Andreas Wentzensen Research Institute of the BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen. TRANSFORMAS ("Translational Applications for Material Science") is a research initiative between the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Head: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini) and the Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen (Plastic and Hand Surgery, Head: Prof. Ulrich Kneser). The main collaborative projects include the development of bioactive glass based scaffolds and implants for bone regeneration and wound healing applications [1]. The extension of applications of bioactive glasses to soft tissue repair, as recently reviewed [2], is also in the interest of the current research activities within TRANSFORMAS. The members of TRANSFORMAS research group pictured: Dr. Matthias Schulte, Samira Tansaz, Dr. Rainer Detsch, PD Dr. Leila Harhaus, Gina Mackert, Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Julian Ernst, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kneser, Dr. Kathrin Käppler, Valentina Miguez Pacheco, Dr. Ahmad Eweida. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] E. C. Scheithauer, et al., Preparation and characterization of electrosprayed daidzein–loaded PHBV microspheres, Materials Letters 158 (2015) 66-69.

[2] V. Miguez-Pacheco, et al., Bioactive glasses beyond bone and teeth: Emerging applications in contact with soft tissues. Acta Biomater.13 (2015) 1–15.

Visit from Belgium
On 24th November 2015 we received the visit of Dr. Annabel Braem, post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Materials Engineering (MTM), KU Leuven, Belgium. Dr. Braem is currently visiting the Institute of Surface Science and Corrosion at FAU, Prof. S. Virtanen. Dr. Braem has carried out extensive work on Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD), she is a member of the Electrophoretic Deposition community, has attended previous EPD International Conferences and has published her research results in the EPD conference proceedings series, for example in the recent volume "Electrophoretic Deposition: Fundamentals and Applications V", Key Engineering Materials (vol. 654, 2015). (Click image to enlarge)

Special issue "GLaCERCo" published in Advances in Applied Ceramics
The Special Issue "GlaCERCo: "Glass and Ceramic Composites for High Technology Applications – Marie Curie Initial Training Network" has been published in the journal Advances in Applied Ceramics vol. 114 (2015) issue S1. The special issue was co-edited by Aldo R. Boccaccini (Institute of Biomaterials, FAU), Monica Ferraris (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy), Michael J. Reece (Queen Mary University of London, UK) and Milena Salvo (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy). The GlaCERCo project, an ITN Marie Curie training network funded by the EC from 2011 to 2015, developed advanced knowledge in glasses, ceramics and composites. Seventeen early stage researchers and six experienced researchers were trained within this innovative training programme.
This special issue of Advances in Applied Ceramics includes eleven invited papers, published in OPEN ACCESS mode, which reflect the broad range of research activities conducted within the framework of GlaCERCo. In particular, the following papers were co-authored by researchers of our Institute in collaboration with different GLaCERCo partners:

Processing of porous glass ceramics from highly crystallisable industrial wastes R. K. Chinnam, et al, pp. S11–S16

Waste derived glass ceramic composites prepared by low temperature sintering/sinter-crystallisation I. Ponsot, et al., pp. S17–S25

Structure optimisation and biological evaluation of bone scaffolds prepared by co-sintering of silicate and phosphate glasses G. Novajra, et al., pp. S48–S55

Characterisation of Bioglass based foams developed via replication of natural marine sponges E. Boccardi, et al., pp. S56–S62

Effect of hybrid polymer coating of Bioglass® foams on mechanical response during tensile loading L. Bertolla, et al., pp. S63–S69

Annual Meeting of the German Society for Biomaterials in Freiburg
The annual conference of the German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM) was held on 11-14 November 2015 in Freiburg. The chairman was Prof. Anke Bernstein (University Hospital Freiburg). Results of our projects on biofabrication applied to cancer research were presented by Dr. R. Detsch in the session on "Rapid Prototyping". Our research on bioactive coatings on Mg alloys was presented by Ms Svenja Heise (PhD student) (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and Dr. Detsch). Prof. Boccaccini was chairman of the session "Biocompatibility: Scaffolds for tissue replacement". (Click images to enlarge)

ReBioStent meeting in Heidelberg
The latest progress meeting of the EU project ReBioStent (Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents) took place on 5-6 November 2015 in Heidelberg, Germany, at the premises of Eurescom one of the consortium partners. Doctoral researcher Elena Boccardi (pictured with Dr. Rocio Ortiz, IK4-Tekniker, Spain, and Prof. Boccaccini) attended this project meeting together with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, who is the leader of Work Package 3 dealing with biodegradable composites. The meeting reviewed the consortium's advances in the development of biomaterials with suitable properties for the intended applications in drug eluting stents. (Click images to enlarge)

7th Int. Workshop on Advanced Ceramics (IWAC-07) in Limoges, France, 26-28 Sept., 2016
The 7th edition of the International Workshop on Advanced Ceramics (IWAC) series (IWAC-07) will be held in Limoges (France) on September 26-28, 2016 organized by SPCTS laboratory, Limoges, and under the auspices of the French Group of Ceramics. IWAC series of workshops was initiated in 2004 by Professors Pierre Abélard (Limoges) and M. Nogami (Nagoya) to promote collaboration in ceramics science and technology between laboratories in Europe and Asia. Since then, workshops have been held in Limoges, Nagoya, London and Erlangen. IWAC-06 was held in Erlangen in 2014. Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the Scientific Committee of IWAC-07.

Visit from Okayama University
On 9th November 2015 we received the visit of Dr. Bernard Chenevier, Support Unit for Strategic Programs, Okayama University, Japan. We discussed collaborations between the Institute of Biomaterials, the FAU Institute of Particle Technology (represented by Prof. R. Klupp-Taylor, Prof. N. Vogel, Dr. M. Distaso), the Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine, University Hospital Erlangen (represented by Dr. Stefan Lyer) and Okayama University. We currently collaborate with Prof. T. Yoshioka, a former academic visitor in the Institute of Biomaterials [1], and currently affiliated with the Biomaterials Laboratory, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] T. Yoshioka, et al., AC electrophoretic deposition of organic–inorganic composite coatings, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 392, 2013, 167–171.

Bioadaptive Coatings on Mg Alloys: DFG project meeting
The progress meeting of the DFG funded collaborative project "Bioadaptive Coatings on Mg Alloys" was held on 4th November 2015 at the Institute of Biomaterials. This project is a collaborative effort of the Institute of Surface Science and Corrosion of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Prof. S. Virtanen), the Julius Wolff Institute and Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Prof. F. Witte) and the FAU Institute of Biomaterials (Prof. A. R. Boccaccini) (All investigators participating at the meeting pictured). At the Institute of Biomaterials, the electrophoretic deposition technique [1] is being considered as a suitable method for the development of bioadaptive coatings on Mg substrates. First results of the project are presented at the Annual Meeting of the German Society for Biomaterials (Freiburg 12. – 14. November 2015) [2]. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] Pishbin, F., Mouriño, V., et al., "Electrophoretic deposition of gentamicin-loaded bioactive glass/chitosan composite coatings for orthopaedic implants", ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 6 (2014) 8796-806.

[2] Heise, S., Höhlinger, M., Tansaz, S., Cordero-Arias, L., Hornberger, H., Virtanen, S., and Boccaccini, A. R., Development of a biodegradable chitosan/bioactive glass coating for Mg alloys using electrophoretic deposition, Poster presentation, DGBM Annual Meeting, Freiburg, Germany, 12-14 Nov. 2015.

Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini elected member of the World Academy of Ceramics
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Chair of Biomaterials) has been elected member of the World Academy of Ceramics. The official award ceremony of induction will be during the Opening Ceremony of the Forum 2016 of the World Academy of Ceramics that will be held in Ravenna, Italy, on June 14-17, 2016. The World Academy of Ceramics is an independent international body directed to foster the progress in the field of ceramics and to favour a better understanding of the social interactions of ceramic science, technology and culture.
More information is available in the webpage of the World Academy of Ceramics.

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Prague
Following an invitation of Prof. Aleš Helebrant and Dr. Dana Rohanova, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini presented on 2nd November 2015, the guest lecture "Bioactive Materials and Biofabrication in Tissue Engineering: Progress and Challenges" at the Department of Glass and Ceramics, University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT), Prague, Czech Republic. Prof. Boccaccini also discussed further research collaborations and academic exchanges between the FAU Institute of Biomaterials and UCT in the field of bioctivity testing of bioactive glasses and ceramics, following the results of recent collaboration [1, 2] between the two research groups. In the photos, Prof. Aleš Helebrant, Dr. Dana Rohanova, Dr. Diana Horkavcová and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Rohanova, D., et al., Is non-buffered DMEM solution a suitable medium for in vitro bioactivity tests? J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 5068-5076.

[2] Rohanova, D., et al., Assessment of in vitro testing approaches for bioactive inorganic materials, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 2015, in press.

Scientific Seminar of the “North-Bavarian Biomaterials Alliance in Bayreuth
The 8th Scientific Seminar of the “North-Bavarian Biomaterials Alliance (NBBA) took place on 3rd November 2015 in Bayreuth, Germany, with participation of professors, post-docs and PhD students from the University of Bayreuth, the University of Würzburg and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. NBBA was established in 2010 for initiative of Prof. Boccaccini and colleagues at the Universities of Würzburg and Bayreuth to strengthen the collaboration in the field of biomaterials between the Universities in the region. The program of the 8th Scientific Seminar is available here. The two speakers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg were PD DR A. Arkudas (Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, University of Erlangen Medical Center) (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), who presented the talk: "AV loop model for bone tissue engineering" and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (Institute of Biomaterials), who presented the talk: "Biofabrication research activities at the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials". (Click image to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Munich
Prof. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the joint meeting "Argentina" jointly organized by the German-Argentine University Centre (DAHZ) and the Bavarian University Centre for Latinamerica (BayLat), which was held on 29th October 2015 at the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts in Munich. Opportunities for academic exchanges and research collaborations between Germany and Argentina were discussed. In his presentations, Professor Boccaccini introduced the Network of Argentinean Scientists in Germany (RCAA) and the "Argentinean-Bavarian Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation in Environmental Science and Technology” (ABIEST). Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the advisory board of RCAA and Coordinator for Bavaria of the ABIEST initiative. In the photo, Mr Ricardo Sirvent, Mr Tomas Friebe (Argentinean Centre Franconia), Mr. Daniel Polski, Ambassador of Argentina in Germany, Prof. Andrea Pagni (Director of BayLat, Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg), Mr. Dirk Schülle (Director, DAHZ), Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

The "Long Night of the Sciences" Nuremberg-Fuerth-Erlangen
Dr. Julia Will and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini participated at the "Long Night of the Sciences - Nuremberg-Fuerth-Erlangen" which took place on 24th October 2015. Dr. Julia Will presented the lecture (in German): "How to mend a broken heart " in which she introduced to a large audience present in the main lecture theater of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at FAU the latest developments in the field of biodegradable patches for cardiac tissue regeneration according to recent results achieved at the Institute of Biomaterials [1]. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Rai, R., et al., Bioactive Electrospun Fibers of Poly (glycerol sebacate) and Poly(ε-caprolactone) for Cardiac Patch Application, Adv. Healthcare Mater. 4 (2015) 2012–2025.

October 2015

KMM VIN fellowship
Ms Claudia Ramskogler, of Institute of Materials Science and Welding, Graz University of Technology, Austria, has finalized her research stay in our Institute which was carried out with a fellowship of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM.VIN). Ms Ramskogler worked in the field of electrophoretic bioactive glass-biopolymer coatings on electron beam structured titanium alloy substrates. The substrates were produced at Institute of Materials Science and Welding, Graz University of Technology under supervision of Prof. Christof Sommtisch and collaboration of Dr. Fernando Warchomicka. (Click image to enlarge)

1st NanoHeal Network Meeting and NanoHeal School in Lyon
The 1st NanoHeal Network Meeting and NanoHeal School were held on 19th - 23rd October 2015 in Lyon, France, hosted by University of Lyon in cooperation with the University of Oslo (UiO) (NanoHeal Network coordinator). The main theme of NanoHeal Network is: "Nano-tailoring organo-mineral materials - Controlling strength and healing with organic molecules in mineral interfaces". NanoHeal is a Marie Sklodowska Curie European Training Network under Horizon 2020 that started in January 2015. Ms Barbara Myszka (PhD student in this Network) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Head of Institute of Biomaterials, attended this event. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Bioactive materials and composites for tissue engineering and Ca carbonates as biomaterials". This was a 5 day meeting with a combination of plenary sessions, poster sessions, excursions, and numerous scientific discussions and networking opportunities. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker at bone-tec 2015
Prof. Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers at the International Bone Tissue Engineering Congress, bone-tec 2015, held in Stuttgart, Germany, on 8-10 October 2015. The conference was chaired by Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland (Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, IGB, and University Hospital Tübingen, Dept. of Women’s Health) and it was hosted by IGB. Prof. Boccaccini's presentation was: "Development of bioactive glasses with metal ion releasing capability for enhanced vascularisation in bone tissue engineering". bone-tec 2015 was a very successful interdisciplinary conference with participation of scientists, engineers and clinicians who presented contributions on all bone tissue engineering areas. In the photos Prof. Maria H. F. V. Fernandes (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland (bone-tec 2015 chair) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

Dr. Alexander Hoppe receives Outstanding Biomaterials Thesis Award 2014
The Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials presented the Outstanding Biomaterials Thesis Award to Dr. Alexander Hoppe for his PhD thesis (Dr.-Ing.) completed in 2014 at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute of Biomaterials, under supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The prize was presented at the occasion of the Engineering Life 2015 Conference which was held in Dresden on 29 September to 1 October 2015. In this doctoral thesis, Dr. Hoppe developed and characterised a series of novel bioactive glasses with therapeutic ion releasing capability for bone tissue engineering applications and investigated the angiogenic potential and bioactivity of the new scaffolds. The most recent paper from his doctoral thesis has been recently published [1]. A press release about the award is available here.

[1] Hoppe, A., et al., In vitro cell response to Co-containing 1393 bioactive glass, Mater. Sci. Eng. C 57 (2015) 157–163.

We welcome Master students from Argentina
In the framework of the I.DEAR program we are hosting three Master students from University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Argentina. Agustina Massone, Luciano Fissore and Joan Gagliardo (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) will work on research projects in the field of electrospun biopolymer fibres, bioactive coatings and tissue engineering scaffolds in collaboration with colleagues at "Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales" (INTEMA), UNMDP. I.DEAR is an international exchange program in materials science and engineering in which the University of Saarland, Universidad de Mar del Plata and our University (FAU) are participating. The program is supported by the German-Argentinean University Centre (DAHZ). I.DEAR enables also FAU Master students of materials science and engineering to spend one year in Argentina at UNMDP. (Click image to enlarge)

September 2015

EUROMAT 2015 in Warsaw
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes (EUROMAT 2015) in Warsaw, Poland, September 20 – 24, 2015. He was the coordinator of topic F2: Tissue Engineering; Regenerative Medicine; Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery within Area F (Biomaterials and Healthcare) together with Prof. Joao Mano, University of Minho, Portugal, and Prof. Elisabeth Engel, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain. Prof. Boccaccini chaired two sessions in symposium: Materials in Regenerative Medicine, Nanomedicine and for Drug Delivery. He presented two talks:
1) Advanced alginate-based hydrogels with improved cytocompatibility for tissue engineering
2) ALP functionalization of boron-containing silicate, borosilicate and borate bioactive glass scaffolds
In the photos, Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. F. Witte (Charite, Berlin), Prof. M. El Fray and Ms A. Niemczyk (West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland ) and with Prof. E. Engel (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia), topic F2 co-organiser. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini at Materials Weekend in Warsaw
Professor A. R. Boccaccini participated at the Materials Weekend in Warsaw, Poland, on 19-20 September 2015, which was organised filling the gap between two major week-long European materials events: E-MRS Fall Meeting 2015 and FEMS EUROMAT 2015. The Materials Weekend took place at Warsaw University of Technology. During the Materials Weekend Tutorials were offered to young participants of both conferences. The Tutorials covered different topics of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Boccaccini chaired the TUTORIAL on Biomaterials. The other lecturers of the Biomaterials tutorials were Prof. J. Mano (University of Minho, Portugal) and Prof. W. Swieszkowski (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland), pictured with Prof. Boccaccini. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit from Darmstadt
We received the visit of Dr. Jurij Koruza, Dr. Matias Acosta and Mr Jan Schultheiss from the Materials Science Ceramics Group, (Head: Prof. J. Roedel), Technische Universität Darmstadt (TUD). We discussed topics for establishing a new research collaboration between our research groups focusing on assessing the biocompatibility of ceramic materials fabricated at TUD. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini receives DGM Materials Science Award (DGM Preis) in Dresden
Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini received the DGM Award (DGM Preis 2015) from the German Materials Society (DGM) on 16th September 2015 at the Conference and Exhibition "Materialsweek" in Dresden. The award recognizes materials scientists for excellent scientific or technological contributions in the general field of materials science and engineering. (Click image to enlarge)

Doctoral thesis success (Marwa Tallawi)
On 11th September 2015 Marwa Tallawi successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled: "Biomimetic PGS based scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition to Prof. Boccaccini, Dr. Ipsita Roy (Department of Molecular and Applied Biology, University of Westminster, London, UK), Prof. Felix Engel (Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen) and Prof. Erik Bitzek (Institute for General Materials Properties, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Marwa is the eighth PhD student graduating from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, since its establishment in 2009. Professor Boccaccini highlighted Marwa's important contributions to establishing the technology for production and characterisation of poly (glycerol sebacate) (PGS) in our Institute and her participation in the European Project Bioscent collaborating with Dr. Ranjana Rai. Two of the several articles published by Marwa Tallawi resulting from her research activities at the Institute of Biomaterials are listed below. We congratulate Marwa on this achievement and wish her good luck in her future career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Tallawi, M., et al., Poly (glycerol sebacate)/poly(butylene succinate-butylene dilinoleate) fibrous scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering, Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods 21 (2015) 585 -596.

[2] Tallawi, M., et al., Strategies for the chemical and biological functionalization of scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering: a review. J. R. Soc. Interface 12 (2015) 20150254.

Prof. Boccaccini elected to ESB Council
"Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at FAU) has been elected member of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB). The Council members of ESB (eight members in total) are elected for periods of four years by the direct vote of society members. ESB is a non-profit organization at the forefront of the scientific community in the broad field of advanced materials for medical devices and regenerative medicine. ESB is the most important professional organization in the field of Biomaterials in Europe and one of the largest professional organizations in the world dedicated to the advancement of the science, technology and applications of biomedical materials."

EU project "RESLAG": kick-off meeting
The kick-off meeting of the EU (Horizon 2020) funded project RESLAG (Turning waste from steel industry into valuable low cost feedstock for energy intensive industry) took place on 7th September 2015 at CIC Energigune, Miñano (Spain). RESLAG is a large EU project involving 18 partners (including 10 research institutes, 5 large companies, 2 SME, 1 association) representing 8 countries (Spain, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Finland, Morocco). The main goal of the project is to transform residues from the steel industry into valuable low cost feedstock for applications in energy intensive industry. Our institute participates with its expertise in the field of characterization and applications of silicate waste materials.

Visit from London
Dr Ipsita Roy, Head of Applied Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Molecular and Applied Biology, University of Westminster, London, UK, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 10-11 September 2015. We have an extensive collaboration with the group of Dr Roy, which started with research on bioactive glass/P(3HB) composites while Prof. Boccaccini was at Imperial College London [1]. More recent research collaboration takes place in the framework of the EU project "Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents" (ReBioStent). Prof. Boccaccini currently co-supervises 2 PhD students based in the group of Dr. Roy, Ms Prachi Dubey and Ms Christy Thomas working on biopolymers and composites for cardiac and bone tissue engineering, respectively. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] SK Misra et al., Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)/inorganic phase composites for tissue engineering applications, Biomacromolecules 7 (8), 2249-2258.

FunGLASS meeting: visit from Slovakia
On 10th September we received the visit of Prof. Dusan Galusek and Dr. Dagmar Galuskova, Centre of Excellence for Ceramics, Glass and Silicate Materials, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, in the framework of the EU funded project (H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-1) "Functional and surface-functionalized glasses" (FunGLASS) coordinated by Prof. Galusek in Trenčín. The project is a joined effort of five european institutions, including the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen, to establish a new research centre specialized on cutting edge research in the area of glasses with special functional properties and on functionalization of conventional glasses with the aim of modification of their properties and adding new functionalities. During the visit the progress of the project was discussed which includes defining research topics in areas such as materials for personalized health care and energy-related issues, utilization of waste materials for production of new materials with high added value and application of glass-based coatings in automotive and machinery industries. A press release about FunGLASS in Ceramic-Tech-Today is available. (Click images to enlarge)

Most cited Biomaterials article
Our review paper "Hoppe, A., et al., A review of the biological response to ionic dissolution products from bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics, Biomaterials 32 (2011) 2757-2774" is listed as the most cited article published in the journal Biomaterials since 2010, based on citation data extracted from the database SCOPUS.

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Nancy, France
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the 3rd Scientific Conference "Biomimetics and Biomaterials", organised at the lnstitute Jean Lamour, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France, on 8th September 2015, coordinated by Prof. Alain Celzard (ENSTIB, University of Lorraine). Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Bioactive materials and biofabrication approaches in regenerative medicine: progresses and challenges". The program of the conference is available. (Click image to enlarge)

European Society of Biomaterials (ESB) conference in Krakow
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Ms Elena Boccardi (PhD student) attended the 27th European Conference on Biomaterials (ESB2015) held in Krakow, Poland from 30th August to 3rd September 2015. They gave oral presentations at the Satellite Session "Science for Industry" entitled: "Bioresorbable Materials for Medical Applications", organised by the EU consortium "Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents" (ReBioStent). In this session, Prof. Boccaccini also moderated the panel discussion and overview of proceedings with all speakers from the session. Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the International Advisory Committee of ESB 2015 and he also presented the talk: "Influence of calcium salt addition on bioactive glass nanospheres" in the session "Bioactive Materials" and co-chaired the session "Bone tissue engineering V". At ESB 2015 it was announced that Prof. Boccaccini has been elected a member of the ESB Council for a period of 4 years. In the photos, Prof. Boccaccini, Ms Elena Boccardi (FAU) and Ms Christy Thomas, PhD student based at University of Westminster, UK, supervised by Dr. Ipsita Roy and co-supervised by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. Ms Thomas won a prize in the rapid fire presentations competition held at ESB 2015. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini visits AGH Krakow, Poland
On 1st September 2015, Prof. Boccaccini visited the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, Department of Silicate Chemistry and Macromolecular Compounds at AGH University of Science and Technology, in Krakow, Poland, in particular the FTIR spectroscopy laboratory, which is led by Prof. Marciej Sitarz. There are common areas of research interests between the laboratory and the Institute of Biomaterials at FAU, specifically in the field of bioactive glasses and their characterization. A research collaboration and the exchange of researchers and students are planned. (Click image to enlarge)

Focus Issue published in Journal of the Electrochemical Society
The Journal of the Electrochemical Society (JES) Focus Issue on Electrophoretic Deposition, co-edited by Prof. Jay H. Dickerson (Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, USA) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, has been recently published. This focus issue of JES was inspired by the research reported during presentations at the Fifth International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition: Fundamentals and Applications (EPD-2014) held in Schloss Hernstein, Austria, October 5-10, 2014, and chaired by Prof. Boccaccini, with additional contributions from prominent researchers involved in different aspects of the fundamentals and applications of EPD worldwide. Included in this Focus Issue is the paper "Understanding Bioactive Glass Powder Suspensions for Electrophoretic Deposition of Bioactive Glass-Polymer Coatings ", co-authored by Dr. Sandra Cabanas-Polo and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini [1].

[1] S. Cabañas-Polo and A. R. Boccaccini, Understanding Bioactive Glass Powder Suspensions for Electrophoretic Deposition of Bioactive Glass-Polymer Coatings, J. Electrochem. Soc. 2015 162(11): D3077-D3083.

Society of Glass Technology "Oldfield Award" for Teresa Buettner
Ms Teresa Buettner, who graduated last year from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at FAU, has won the first place of the Oldfield Award 2015 of the Society of Glass Technology (SGT) for her Master thesis entitled "Analysis of Lithium containing Bioglass and comparison with 45S5 Hench Bioglass" carried out at the Institute of Biomaterials under supervision of Ms. V. Miguez-Pacheco and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini. In the framework of an ERASMUS exchange program during her period as master student, she spent a few months in the Department of Materials, Imperial College London, under supervision of Prof. J. Jones. Part of the results of the thesis of Teresa have been published [1]. The Oldfield award is bestowed by the SGT for research project reports by either Undergraduate or taught Masters students. Ms Teresa Buettner is now doing research at Leibniz Institut für Polymerforschung/Max Bergmann Zentrum in Dresden. She will present the results of her Master thesis at the 2015 Annual Conference of SGT, "Glass reflections", which will be held at Cambridge University, 7-9th September, 2015. We congratulate Teresa on this success!

[1] V. Miguez-Pacheco, et al., Development and characterization of lithium-releasing silicate bioactive glasses and their scaffolds for bone repair, J. Non-Cryst. Solids (2015) in press.

August 2015

Doctoral thesis success
On 28th August 2015 Yaping Ding successfully defended her doctoral thesis that she carried out in the field of electrospun polymer-inorganic hybrid and composite scaffolds for tissue engineering. Yaping was supervised by Dr. Judith A. Roether and Professor Dirk W. Schubert at the Institute of Polymer Materials, and co-supervised by Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition to Prof. Boccaccini and Prof. Schubert, also Prof. N. Vogel (Institute of Particle Technology, FAU) and Prof. S. Wolf (Institute for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Yaping was the recipient of a fellowship of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) during her doctoral studies. Two of the research articles published by Yaping Ding resulting from her research activities are listed below. We congratulate Yaping on her achievement and wish her good luck in her future career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Y. Ding, et al., Fabrication of electrospun poly (3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly (ε-caprolactone)/silica hybrid fibermats with and without calcium addition, European Polymer Journal 55 (2014), 222-234.

[2] Y. Ding, et al., The evaluation of physical properties and in vitro cell behavior of PHB/PCL/sol-gel derived silica hybrid scaffolds and PHB/PCL/fumed silica composite scaffolds, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces (2015) in press.

Doctoral thesis success
On 28th August 2015 Luis Cordero-Arias successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: "Electrophoretic deposition of organic/inorganic composite coatings on metallic substrates for bone replacement applications: mechanisms and development of new bioactive materials based on polysaccharides", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition to Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. S. Virtanen (Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion, FAU), Prof. N. Vogel (Institute of Particle Technology, FAU) and Prof. P. Greil (Institute for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Luis was the recipient of a fellowship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) during his doctoral studies. He is the seventh PhD student graduating from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, since its establishment in 2009. Professor Boccaccini highlighted Luis's outstanding efforts during his doctoral studies, which have notably contributed to our research activities in the field of electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Luis had also strong participation in setting the International Network on Electrophoretic Deposition. Two of the several articles published by Luis Cordero-Arias resulting from his research activities at the Institute of Biomaterials are listed below. We congratulate Luis on this achievement and wish him good luck in his future career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Luis Cordero-Arias et al., Electrochemical behavior of nanostructured TiO2/alginate composite coating on magnesium alloy AZ91D via electrophoretic deposition, Surface and Coatings Technology 265 (2015) 212–217.

[2] Luis Cordero-Arias et al., Electrophoretic deposition of nanostructured-TiO2/chitosan composite coatings on stainless steel, RSC Adv., 3 (2013) 11247-11254.

Prof. Boccaccini interviewed in Argentina
Marking the German Materials Society award (DGM Award) that Prof. Boccaccini will receive in September, he was interviewed in the San Rafael Newspaper on 19th August and on 23rd August and in LV4 Radio San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina. A note has been also published in the Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society. Prof. Boccaccini will receive the DGM Award 2015 at the International Conference Werkstoffwoche 2015 (Materials Week 2015) in Dresden on 16th September 2015.

Prof. Boccaccini visits universities in San Rafael, Argentina
Prof. Boccaccini visited several institutions during his stay in San Rafael, Argentina. He visited the Regional Faculty of Universidad Tecnologica Nacional where he talked to undergraduate engineering students about his research activities in the field of biomaterials. He also held meetings with colleagues at Faculty of Applied Industrial Sciences (FCAI) of National University of Cuyo . Prof. Boccaccini collaborates with the research group led by Dr. M. J. Santillan and Eng. F. Membrive at FCAI in the in the field of bioactive coatings for biomedical applications [1], co-supervising also the doctoral thesis of Eng. Silvia Clavijo. Prof. Boccaccini also gave an invited talk about "Nanotechnology and Bioactive Materials" at Rotary Club San Rafael Este. In the photos, with Prof. Boccaccini, Eng. F. Genovese (UTN FR San Rafael), Dr. A. Ordonez (Dean, FCAI), Dr. M. J. Santillan (FCAI), and Ms S. Clavijo (PhD student, FCAI). (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Clavijo, S., et al., Characterization of polyetheretherketone particle suspensions for electrophoretic deposition, Journal of Applied Polymer Science 131, 2014 40953.

Top Materials Award for Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini
Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini, Head of the Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, will receive this year the DGM Award (DGM Preis 2015) from the German Materials Society (DGM). This award recognizes outstanding materials scientists for excellent scientific or technological contributions in the general field of materials science and engineering. The award will be presented at the DGM Awards ceremony to take place in the context of the Conference and Exhibition "Materialsweek" in Dresden on 16th September 2015.

New Journal BIOMEDICAL GLASSES: Inaugural Volume

The first series of papers belonging to the inaugural volume (Vol. 1, 2015) of the Open Access-Only journal BIOMEDICAL GLASSES has been published. The inaugural volume will contain 20x papers and it is expected to be published in full before the end of the year. The editor in chief of Biomedical Glasses is Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The journal published by De Gruyter Open covers the broad field of glasses for biomedical applications providing a peer-reviewed forum for the publication of original research reports and authoritative review articles related to the development of biomedical glasses and their use in clinical applications. Biomedical Glasses is thus the only peer-reviewed journal entirely focused on biomedical glasses. The first paper published in the journal is "Opening paper 2015- Some comments on Bioglass: Four Eras of Discovery and Development", which is an invited manuscript written by the inventor of bioactive glass, Prof. Larry L. Hench, representing the most authoritative account of the developments in the science, technology and applications in the field of bioactive glasses since the invention of bioglass in the late 1960s. An interview with Prof. Larry Hench marking the publication of the first papers of the journal has been recently published.
The list of papers published to date and free to download is:

Opening paper 2015- Some comments on Bioglass: Four Eras of Discovery and Development
Larry L. Hench

Influence of textural properties on biomineralization behavior of mesoporous bioactive glasses
Kumar, Anil / Murugavel, Sevi

Trabecular coating on curved alumina substrates using a novel bioactive and strong glass-ceramic
Baino, Francesco / Vitale-Brovarone, Chiara

Core/Clad Phosphate Glass Fibres Containing Iron and/or Titanium
Ahmed, Ifty / Shaharuddin, S. S. / Sharmin, N. / Furniss, D. / Rudd, C.

Bioactivity of toothpaste containing bioactive glass in remineralizing media: effect of fluoride release from the enzymatic cleavage of monofluorophosphate.
Maçon, Anthony L. B. / Valliant, Esther M. / Earl, Jonathan S. / Jones, Julian R.

Zinc-containing bioactive glasses for bone regeneration, dental and orthopedic applications
Balasubramanian, Preethi / Strobel, Leonie A. / Kneser, Ulrich / Boccaccini, Aldo R.

The journal is continuously receiving submissions of manuscripts in the field of biomedical glasses, both reporting new research results and also authoritative reviews. Authors willing to submit papers to Biomedical Glasses should use the online platform of the journal.

Satellite Session "Science for Industry" at ESB Conference in Krakow, Poland
A Satellite Session "Science for Industry" entitled: "Bioresorbable Materials for Medical Applications", organised by the EU consortium "Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents" (ReBioStent) has been scheduled at the 27th European Conference on Biomaterials (ESB), which will be held in Krakow, Poland from 30th August to 3rd September 2015. Prof. Boccaccini will deliver the invited talk: “Bioresorbable Systems: The Role of Inorganic Fillers in Composites”.

Visit from University of Saarland
In the framework of our collaborations with the Advanced Materials Engineering Laboratory and the Chair for Functional Materials at the University of Saarland, led by Prof. Frank Mücklich, Mr Federico Lasserre (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) visited our Institute on 3-4 August 2015. The collaboration involves new applications of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) in the field of nanomaterials. The book co-edited by Prof. Boccaccini and Prof. J. H. Dickerson (Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA) describes the fundamentals and applications of EPD in the field of nanotechnology: "Electrophoretic Deposition of Nanomaterials", Editors: James H. Dickerson, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Springer (2012). (Click image to enlarge)

New Journal: Biomanufacturing Reviews
Prof. Boccaccini will serve in the editorial board of the new international journal Biomanufacturing Reviews. The journal is published by Springer in the Biomedical Engineering section and the editor-in-chief is Prof. Paulo J.d. Silva Bartolo (Univ. of Manchester, UK). Biomanufacturing Reviews will provide a peer-reviewed forum for the publication of comprehensive state-of-the-art review papers in the field of biomanufacturing, including applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The journal welcomes review articles on science, technology and clinical applications of biomanufacturing.

July 2015

Doctoral thesis success
On 29th July 2015 Wei Li successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: "45S5 Bioactive Glass-Based Composite Scaffolds with Polymer Coatings for Bone Tissue Engineering Therapeutics", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition to Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. I. Cacciotti (University Niccolo Cusano, Rome, Italy), Prof. N. Vogel (Institute of Particle Technology, FAU) and Prof. D. W. Schubert (Institute for Polymer Materials, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Wei was the recipient of a fellowship of the China Scholarship Council (CSC). He is the sixth PhD student graduating from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, since its establishment in 2009. Professor Boccaccini highlighted Wei's outstanding contribution during his doctoral studies, which have notably expanded our research activities in the field of scaffolds with therapeutic drug delivery capability. In addition, Wei has been able to establish a very effective and fruitful collaboration with researchers at the Institute of Polymer Materialsat FAU led by Prof. D. W. Schubert. Two of the seventeen articles published by Wei Li as result of his research activities at the Institute of Biomaterials are listed below. We congratulate Wei Li on this achievement and wish him good luck in his post-doctoral career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Li W, et al., Preparation and characterization of PHBV microsphere/45S5 bioactive glass composite scaffolds with vancomycin releasing function. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2014;41:320-8.

[2] Li W, et al. Antibacterial 45S5 Bioglass®-based scaffolds reinforced with genipin cross-linked gelatin for bone tissue engineering. Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 2015;3:3367-78.

Visit from Rome
Prof. Ilaria Cacciotti, of University Niccolo Cusano, Rome, Italy, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 28-29 July 2015. Prof. Cacciotti conducts research in the field of biomaterials, including bioactive glasses. Prof. Boccaccini has initiated an ERASMUS exchange program between the Engineering Faculty of Universtiy Niccolo Cusano and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at FAU. (Click image to enlarge)

Doctoral thesis success
On 28th July 2015 Qiang Chen successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: "Electrophoretic Deposition of Composite Coatings with Bioactive Character and Drug Delivery Capability", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition of Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. S. Virtanen (Chair of Corrosion and Surface Science, FAU), Dr. B. Ferrari (Institute of Ceramics and Glass, Madrid, Spain), Prof. R. Klupp-Taylor (Nanostructured Particles Research Group, FAU) and Prof. D. De Ligny (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Qiang was the recipient of a fellowship of the China Scholarship Council (CSC). He is the fifth PhD student graduating from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, since its establishment in 2009. Professor Boccaccini highlighted Qiang's outstanding contribution to the establishment of expanding research activities in the field of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) in our Institute and his active participation at the last International Conference on EPD held in Hernstein, Austria in 2014. Two of the seven articles published by Qiang Chen as result of his research activities at the Institute of Biomaterials are listed below. We congratulate Qiang on this achievement and wish him good luck in his post-doctoral career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Q. Chen, et al., Electrophoretic deposition of cellulose nanocrystals (CNs) and CNs/alginate nanocomposite coatings and free standing membranes, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 118 (2014) 41–48.

[2] Q. Chen, et al., Electrophoretic deposition of antibiotic loaded PHBV microsphere-alginate composite coating with controlled delivery potential, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 130 (2015) 199–206.

Visit from Tübingen
On 23rd July 2015 we received the visit of J. Mater. Chem. B 2 (2014) 1470PD Dr. Bernd Rolauffs Deputy Director of the Siegfried Weller Institute for Trauma Research and Director of the Laboratory for Biomechanics at the Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Tuebingen, University of Tuebingen, and Ms Katja Obri, who carried out a research project co-supervised by Prof. Boccaccini and Dr. Rolauffs in the field of scaffolds for cartilage regeneration. We collaborate with the group of Dr. Rolauffs in the field of biomaterials for cartilage repair using different combination of hydrogels and composite materials. A new project for Master students in the framework of this collaboration has been announced. (Click image to enlarge)

DFG project meeting
In the context of the DFG funded project "Development of endothelialised small diameter tissue-engineered grafts for cardiovascular surgery", Dr. Raminder Singh (PI) and collaborators Prof. Christoph Alexiou and PD Dr. Iwona Cicha (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and Dr. R. Detsch), Section for Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine (SEON), University Hospital Erlangen, visited our Institute on 28th July 2015. This collaboration has evolved from the project TOPbiomat, which was funded by the Emerging Fields Initiative of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The participation of our Institute, including Dr Bapi Sarker, Dr Rainer Detsch and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, involves the development of biofabrication approaches for producing suitable 3D scaffolds using novel combinations of biodegradable polymers, following our recent successful results using gelatin modified alginate [1, 2]. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] Sarker B., et al., 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.

[2] Zehnder T., et al., Evaluation of an alginate–gelatine crosslinked hydrogel for bioplotting, Biofabrication 7 (2015) 025001.

Visit from Madrid
Dr. Begoña Ferrari, Tenured Scientist at Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio (ICV), CSIC, Madrid, Spain, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 27-29 July 2015. Dr. Ferrari leads a research program on Colloidal Processing at ICV, including broad research activities in the field of electrophoretic deposition. She was one of the co-editors of the Key Engineering Materials volume on Electrophoretic Deposition recently published (vol. 654, 2015) containing papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition. Dr. Ferrari also co-edited with Prof. Boccaccini the special issue on Electrophoretic Deposition published in Advances in Applied Ceramics in 2014. (Click image to enlarge)

Doctoral thesis success
On 22nd July 2015 Bapi Sarker successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: "Advanced Hydrogels Concepts Based on Combinations of Alginate, Gelatin and Bioactive Glasses for Tissue Engineering", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini at our Institute. In addition of Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. T. Scheibel (Chair of Biomaterials, Univ. of Bayreuth), Prof. O. Friedrich (Chair of Medical Biotechnology, FAU) and Prof. P. Wellmann (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, FAU) were the members of the doctoral defense committee. Bapi was the recipient of a DAAD doctoral fellowship. He is the fourth PhD student graduating from the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials, since its establishment in 2009. Professor Boccaccini highlighted Bapi's contribution to the initiation of the research field "Biofabrication" in our Institute under mentorship of Dr. R. Detsch and with funding from the Emerging Fields Initiative (EFI) of the University in the context of the project TOPbiomat coordinated by Prof. Boccaccini. Two of the 11 articles published by Bapi as result of his research activities at the Institute of Biomaterials are listed below. We congratulate Bapi on this achievement and wish him good luck in his post-doctoral career. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Bapi Sarker, et al. Fabrication of alginate-gelatin crosslinked hydrogel microcapsules and evaluation of the microstructure and physico-chemical properties. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2(11), 1470-1482, 2014.

[2] Bapi Sarker, et al. Evaluation of fibroblasts adhesion and proliferation on alginate-gelatin crosslinked hydrogel. PLoS One; 9(9), e107952, 2014.

End of Summer Term 2015
The end of the summer term 2015 was marked by the traditional Summer BBQ of the Institute of Biomaterials which took place in a glorious summer day in Erlangen (see photos). Early in the week the Student's Seminar "Biomaterials for Medical Engineers" was held at the Institute, as the final teaching activity of the summer term. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit from The Netherlands
Dr. Chris Arts and Ms Nicole A. P. van Gestel, MSc (PhD student) from Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maastricht UMC+ and Prof. Sandra Hofmann-Boss from Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, pictured with Dr. R. Detsch and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, visited our Institute on 20th July 2015. We discussed common research interests in the field of bioactive glasses as antibacterial and angiogenic materials following previous results of our Institute on bioactive glass S53P4 [1].

[1] Detsch, R., et al., Increase in VEGF secretion from human fibroblast cells by bioactive glass S53P4 to stimulate angiogenesis in bone, J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 102 (2014) 4055–4061. (Click image to enlarge)

ReBioStent EU project meeting in Brussels
The first review meeting of the EU project ReBioStent (Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents) took place on 15th July 2015 in Brussels, Belgium. Doctoral researcher Elena Boccardi and Prof. Boccaccini attended the meeting (pictured with ReBioStent scientific coordinator, Dr Ipsita Roy (University of Westminster, UK) and Dr Rocío Ortiz from Tekniker, Spain, project partner). The meeting successfully reviewed the consortium's advances in the development of biomaterials with suitable properties for the intended applications in drug eluting stents. A Special Session "Science for Industry" entitled: "Bioresorbable Materials for Medical Applications", organised by the ReBioStent consortium, has been scheduled at the 27th European Conference on Biomaterials (ESB), which will be held in Krakow, Poland from 30th August to 3rd September 2015. (Click images to enlarge)

Professor Boccaccini at first FAU's Brown Bag Break
The first Brown Bag Break (BBB) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), under the heading "Networking for hungry researchers", was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering on 10th July 2015. BBB has been recently established at FAU with the aim to stimulate the exchange between young researchers up to the doctorate level enabling networking, information about assistance by the university and sharing of experiences with senior academics in an informal atmosphere. The activity was opened by Prof. Peter Greil (Deputy Dean for Research and International Relations of the Faculty of Engineering) and it was attended by international and German young researchers based at FAU. Prof. Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers together with Prof. Sanna Virtanen (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) and Prof. Kyle G. Webber (both at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering) and Prof. Nicolas Vogel (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering). Prof. Boccaccini reported on his career, highlighting his experiences and emphasizing the importance of networking and of interdisciplinary and international contacts in research activities. He has also referred to some these topics in a previous video interview. (Click images to enlarge)

We welcome our international visiting students
A new group of international undergraduate and graduate students has arrived to carry out internships and short-term research projects at the Institute of Biomaterials. We welcome: Amanda Maria Almeida Coco, Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais, Brazil, Ayeska M. P. Barbosa, Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais, Brazil, Jue Zhang, East China University of Science and Technology, Chnia, Jiankang Song, Radboud University Medical Centre, Department of Biomateirals, Netherlands, Zhaoying Wu, East China University of Science and Technology, China, Agata Niemczyk, Polymer Institute of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland, Emre Akdogan, Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey, Zuzanna Palczewska; West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland; Dominika Kozon; Warsaw University of Technology, Poland; Carlos Romero, University of Sevilla, Laine Paidere, Riga University of Technology, Latvia, Alice Lemarquand, Phelma, Grenoble INP, France, Balázs Tóth, Budapest University of Technology and Economics; Hungary. (Click image to enlarge)

Visit from University of Paderborn
On 7th July 2015 we received the visit of Prof. Guido Grundmeier and Dr. Adrian Keller of the Department of Chemistry at University of Paderborn. We have discussed research collaborations in the field of characterization of bioactive coatings for biomedical applications which involve also research activities with Prof. Sanna Virtannen of the Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion at FAU, which follows from our current work on electrophoretic deposition of composite coatings for biomedical applications [1]. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] L. Cordero-Arias, et al., Electrophoretic deposition of ZnO/alginate and ZnO-bioactive glass/alginate composite coatings for antimicrobial applications, Materials Science and Engineering: C 55 (2015) 137-144.

I.DEAR program: visits from Argentina
On 2-3 July 2015 we received the visit of Prof. Silvia N. Simison, Department of Electrochemistry and Corrosion, University of Mar del Plata, Argentina, Dr. Ing. Flavio Soldera, Department of Functional Materials, University of Saarland, principal investigators, together with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini of the I.DEAR (Ingenieure Deutschland-Argentinien) exchange program. Also Prof. Sonia P. Brühl, National Technological University (UTN), Argentina, visited our Institute and Mr Micael Frank, PhD student at FAU participated at the meetings. The group visited also Dr B. Perlick, Central Office for International Affairs at FAU and Dipl.-Pol. Luise Freitag at University Centre of Baviera for Latin America (BayLat). Prof. Simison presented the lecture: "Corrosion of nitrided stainless steels" in the framework of our "Advances in Biomaterials" seminar. I.DEAR is an international exchange program in materials science and engineering in which the University of Saarland, Universidad de Mar del Plata (Argentina) and our University are participating. The program is supported by the German-Argentinean University Centre (DAHZ). I.DEAR enables Master students of materials science and engineering to spend one year in Argentina. Students from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) spend the first 6 months at University of Mar del Plata taking courses and in the last 6 months they carry out a research project in a research institute or industry in Argentina and write their Master thesis. The same offer is valid for argentinian Master students from Mar del Plata. The year abroad is completely funded by the program. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit from Szczecin, Poland
Dr. Agnieszka Piegat and Ms Agata Niemczyk (PhD student), researchers from the Polymer Institute of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland, (Head: Prof. Mirka El Fray) are visiting our Institute these days in the framework of our DAAD funded international project "New functionalised biodegradable elastomers for cardiac tissue engineering". The project involves collaborative research and exchange of students and young researchers between the FAU Institute of Biomaterials and the Polish partner. The researchers are working on the development of electrospun biopolymer matrices for cardiac path applications following our previous investigations [1]. In the picture also Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Dr. Liliana Liverani. (Click image to enlarge)

[1] M. Tallawi, et al., Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. 2015, 21(6): 585-596.

Prof. Boccaccini at "Verbundwerkstoffe"-Symposium in Vienna
Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture "Bioactive and Biodegradable Composites for Regenerative Medicine: Challenges and Perspectives" at the 20th Symposium on Composite Materials, held in Vienna, Austria on 1-3 July 2015. The symposium was organised under the auspices of the German Materials Society (DGM) Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the organising committee of the symposium and chaired the session dedicated to biocomposites. (Click image to enlarge)

June 2015

European Ceramic Society Conference in Toledo, Spain
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and PhD students Preethi Balasubramanian and Valentina-Miguez Pacheco (pictured) attended the 14th International Conference of the European Ceramic Society (ECERS 2015) held in Toledo, Spain, on 21-25 June 2015. Prof. Boccaccini served in the organizing committee of TOPIC 3: "Ceramics and glasses for healthcare" (coordinated by Prof. J. Chevalier, INSA Lyon, France). Prof. Boccaccini co-chaired the session dedicated to glasses and glass-ceramics for health care. Preethi Balasubramanian and Valentina Miguez-Pacheco gave oral contributions presenting results of her projects which are being carried out in the framework of EU ITN project "BIOBONE". (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini invited speaker in Limoges
Prof. A. R. Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers at the Sigma-Tech Days 2015 in Limoges, France, on 15-18 June 2015. He participated at the Summer School "Additive Manufacturing. A new way of thinking about objects design and fabrication". Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Advances in biofabrication approaches for tissue engineering applications". He also participated in the round table discussion on "New frontiers for 3D printing / additive manufacturing in the framework of Horizon 2020". In the photo Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. Fabrice Rossignol, Centre Européen de la Céramique, Limoges, organizer of the event. (Click images to enlarge)

Kick-Off meeting of new EU Horizon 2020 Project in Slovakia
Five European institutions joined the effort to establish a new research centre for functional and surface-functionalized glasses (acronym FunGLASS) in Trenčín, Slovakia, specialized on cutting edge research in the area of glasses with special functional properties and on functionalization of conventional glasses with the aim of modification of their properties and adding new functionalities. The research topics include also materials for personalized health care and energy-related issues, utilization of waste materials for production of glasses and glass ceramics with high added value and application of glass-based coatings in automotive and machinery industry. The project of the Centre coordinated by the Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, (D. Galusek) in cooperation with Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen–Nuremberg, Germany (A. R. Boccaccini), Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany (L. Wondraczek), Institute of Ceramics and Glass of Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, Spain (A. Duran) and University of Padova, Italy (E. Bernardo) as the European technology leaders in the field of glass, has gained financial support under the H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-1 - „Spreading excellence and widening participation“ scheme of the EU programme Horizon 2020. The kick-off meeting was held in Trenčín on 5th June 2015. More information is available here. A recent press release in Ceramic-Tech-Today is available.

Institute of Biomaterials awarded €900,000 EU project to train PhD researchers to develop antibacterial medical materials
As part of the €3.9m (£2.8m) HyMedPoly project the Institute of Biomaterials at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Head: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini) has been awarded a grant of € 924,782 funded by the European Commission to train PhD researchers for the development of drug-free antibacterial materials used for medical applications, such as wound care and implants. HyMedPoly will offer a joint training programme at world class academic and industrial institutes, combining technical knowledge with hands-on training in state-of-the-art research projects related to key issues that determine the future therapies of antibacterial materials. The five doctoral positions based at the Institute of Biomaterials have been advertised. For more information please read the complete press release.

Prof. Boccaccini delivered main lecture at Italian Society of Biomaterials Congress in Ancona
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini presented a main lecture at the Congress of the Italian Society of Biomaterials (SIB) held on 3-5 June 2015 in Ancona, Italy. The title of the presentation was: "Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Overview, Advances and Challenges". Prof. Boccaccini has been also invited to serve in the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials. (Click image to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini at 16th EFORT congress in Prague
Prof. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the BonAlive Biomaterials Lunch Symposium: “BonAlive® bioactive glass – new possibilities for septic bone surgery" which was held on 28th May 2015 at the 16th European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) congress held in Prague, Czech Republic. The symposium was directed to orthopedic professionals with special interest in septic bone surgery. Prof. Boccaccini presented the talk: "Attractive properties of bioactive glasses for bone regeneration". (Click images to enlarge)

Materials Weekend in Warsaw (19.20 September 2015)
Professor A. R. Boccaccini will actively participate at the Materials Weekend in Warsaw, Poland, on 19-20 September 2015, which is organised in the gap between two major week-long european materials events: E-MRS Fall Meeting 2015: 15-18 Sept 2015 and FEMS EUROMAT 2015: 21-24 Sept 2015 hosted by Warsaw University of Technology. One of the planned activities is Tutorials for young participants of both conferences which will cover different aspects of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Boccaccini will chair the TUTORIAL on Biomaterials. More details about this tutorial can be read here.

May 2015

Successful GEOPOLYMERS 2015 Conference in Austria
The International Conference "Geopolymers: The route to eliminate waste and emissions in ceramic and cement manufacturing" was held on May 24-29, 2015, in Hernstein, near Vienna, Austria. The conference was chaired by Prof. Cristina Leonelli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy) and co-chaired by Prof. Waltraud M. Kriven (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA), Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany), and Prof. Arie van Riessen (Curtin University, Australia) (pictured with Prof. J. Davidovits, Geopolymers Institute, France, invited speaker). The conference provided an international forum for scientific and technical contributions describing solutions for applications of geopolymers involving basic science and technology and a variety of applications as sustainable materials for environmental protection and in specialized sectors, e.g. as composites. The conference was organised with support of Engineering Conferences International and endorsed, among others, by the American Ceramic Society, the European Ceramic Society, and TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society). Prof. Boccaccini presented the keynote contribution: "Geopolymers using glass produced from the DC plasma treatment of air pollution control residues: overview and challenges", a collaboration with Dr. I. Kourti and Prof. C. R. Cheeseman of Imperial College London and he chaired the session on "Properties and Performance of Geopolymers". The next conference of the series is planned for 2018. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit of Prof. Gundula Schulze-Tanzil
Prof. Dr. Gundula Schulze-Tanzil of the Institut für Anatomie, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Abteilung Nürnberg, Klinikum Nürnberg-Nord (Nuremberg Hospital), Nuremberg, visited our Institute on 21st May 2015. She presented the seminar: "Tissue-engineering based experimental approaches for cartilage reconstruction". We are collaborating with Prof. Schulze-Tanzil in the field of biomaterials for cartilage regeneration. The last paper resulting from our collaboration has been recently published [1].
[1] Huang Z, et al. (2015). Chondrogenesis of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells in highly porous alginate-foams supplemented with chondroitin sulfate. Mater Sci Eng C, 50, 160-72. (Click images to enlarge)

Key Engineering Materials volume on Electrophoretic Deposition published
The volume of Key Engineering Materials (vol. 654, 2015) containing papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition (Hernstein, Austria, 5-10 October 2014) (Chairman: Aldo R. Boccaccini) has been published: Key Engineering Materials, vol. 654, Electrophoretic Deposition: Fundamentals and Applications V, Editors: A.R. Boccaccini, J.H. Dickerson, B. Ferrari, O. Van der Biest and T. Uchikoshi, 2015. The 46 papers are grouped in the following sections: I. Fundamentals of EPD; II. Novel Approaches and Modeling; III. Functional Films and Deposits; IV. EPD in Ceramic Processing; V. EPD of Biomaterials and Biological Entities; VI. Nanostructured Materials and Films; VII. Polymers and Composite Coatings; VIII. Advanced Experimental Techniques. The volume contains 8 papers co-authored by members of our Institute.

Prof. Boccaccini at e-MRS Meeting in Lille, France
Professor Boccaccini attended the e-MRS Spring Meeting and Exhibit in Lille, France, on 11-15 May, 2015. Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the Scientific Committee of Symposium X: "Nanomedicine advancing from bench-to-bedside: the role of materials" and he presented the oral contribution "MESOPOROUS BIOACTIVE GLASS BASED SCAFFOLDS WITH DRUG DELIVERY CAPABILITY" (co-authors: Anahi Philippart, Elena Boccardi), following previous results [1]. In the photo Dr. Xiang Zhang (Lucideon, UK), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Prof. Gianluca Giardelli, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, symposium co-chair, and Dr Ipsita Roy, University of Westminster, UK.

[1] A. Philippart, et al., Development of Novel Mesoporous Silica-Based Bioactive Glass Scaffolds with Drug Delivery Capabilities, Advances in Science and Technology, Vol. 96 (2014) 54-60. (Click image to enlarge)

EU project ReBioStent meeting in the UK
An important progress meeting of the EU project ReBioStent (Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents) took place on 6-7 May 2015 in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, at the premises of LUCIDEON one of the consortium partners. Doctoral researchers Abi Sengottuvelan and Elena Boccardi are working in this project together with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, who is the leader of Work Package 3 dealing with biodegradable composites. The meeting reviewed the consortium's advances in the development of biomaterials with suitable properties for the intended applications in drug eluting stents. (Click images to enlarge)

Top-read review in tissue engineering
Our review paper:
Effect of Substrate Mechanics on Cardiomyocyte Maturation and Growth
Marwa Tallawi, Ranjana Rai, Aldo. R. Boccaccini, and Katerina E. Aifantis
Tissue Eng. Part B: Reviews 2015, 21(1): 157-165, written in collaboration with Prof. Katerina E. Aifantis, College of Engineering, University of Arizona, USA, has been listed as one of the Top-read Reviews published in the journal Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews

April 2015

Visit of Prof. Wendelin J. Stark, ETH Zurich
Prof. Wendelin J. Stark, Functional Materials Laboratory, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, visited our Institute on 28th April 2015. Invited by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Prof. Stark presented the Materials Science Colloquium SS2015 at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, with the title: "Medical applications of nanoparticles – from research to commercial use". We have been collaborating with Prof. Stark's group, including Dr Dirk Mohn, for more than 8 years [1], which started with Prof. Boccaccini's group based at Imperial College London, specifically in the field of nanoscale bioactive glasses produced in Prof. Stark laboratory. Our latest publication relates to the bioreactivity of Sr-doped bioactive glass nanoparticles [2].

[1] Misra, S. K., et al., Comparison of nanoscale and microscale bioactive glass on the properties of P(3HB)/Bioglass® composites, Biomaterials 29 (2008) 1750–1761.

[2] Hoppe, A., et al., In vitro reactivity of Sr-containing bioactive glass (type 1393) nanoparticles, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 387 (2014) 41-46. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit from Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Dr. Sander Leeuwenburgh, assistant professor at Department of Biomaterials, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and PhD students Mani Diba and Jiankang.Song visited our Institute on 27th April 2015. We have a research collaboration with the group of Dr. Leeuwenburgh in the areas of drug releasing coatings and bioactive glass-polymer composites for bone tissue engineering. (Click images to enlarge)

Euro BioMat conference in Weimar
Prof. Boccaccini presented the oral contribution: "Bioactive Glass Based Nanostructured Scaffolds for Vascularized Bone Tissue Engineering" in the session: Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the EuroBioMat 2015 conference held in Weimar, Germany, on 21-22 April 2015. Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the organising committee of EuroBioMat 2015 and he presented also the following three poster /oral/poster contributions:
"In vitro effects of Cu doped 45S5 bioactive glass and lipid peroxidation on the growth of human osteoblast-like cells", a result of our collaboration with Dr. Lidija Milkovic and Prof. Neven Zarkovic, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb (Croatia);
"Development and activity of human osteoclast cells on 45S5 bioactive glass" in collaboration with R. Detsch, A. Hoppe, A. Grünewald, and Profs. E. Strasser, P. Steiniger, University Hospital Erlangen;
"Development and evaluation of 45S5 bioactive glass based scaffolds coated with selenium nanoparticles or with poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/selenium nanoparticles", a result of our collaboration with the research group of Prof. Magdalena Stevanovic, Centre for Fine Particles Processing and Nanotechnology, Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, Belgrade (Serbia).
Two poster presentations of our collaboration with the group of Prof. Jürgen Stampfl (Institute of Materials Science and Technology, TU Wien) on additive manufacturing of bioactive glass scaffolds for bone tissue engineering were also presented:
R. Gmeiner et al., "Additive Manufacturing of High Strength Bioactive Glass Scaffolds for Load Bearing Applications", and J. A. Schönherr, et al., "Lithography-based Additive Manufacturing of High Strength Bioactive Glass and Glass Ceramics for Medical Applications"
In the picture Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. K. Rezwan, University of Bremen, at the Poster session. (Click images to enlarge)

Top 25 Articles
Several papers co-authored by members of our Institute appear in the lists of "Top 25 Hottest Articles" released by Elsevier in which the 25 most downloaded articles in each journal on ScienceDirect are published. For the full year 2014, the following papers of our group are listed:
Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science
Diba, M., et al., Magnesium-containing bioactive polycrystalline silicate-based ceramics and glass-ceramics for biomedical applications, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Volume 18, Issue 3, June 2014, Pages 147-167 Boccaccini, A. R., et al., Application of electrophoretic and electrolytic deposition techniques in ceramics processing, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Volume 6, Issue 3, June 2002, Pages 251-260
Journal of the European Ceramic Society
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
Li, W., et al., Preparation and characterization of vancomycin releasing PHBV coated 45S5 Bioglass(R)-based glass-ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 34, Issue 2, February 2014, Pages 505-514
Boccaccini, A. R., et al., Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotubeceramic nanocomposites, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 30, Issue 5, March 2010, Pages 1115-1129
Biomaterials
Rezwan, K., et al., Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Biomaterials, Volume 27, Issue 18, June 2006, Pages 3413-3431
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids
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, 2013, Pages 63-74.

Special Issue: Manufacturing meets Biofabrication
The special issue "Manufacturing meets Biofabrication", co-edited by Prof. Dietmar W. Hutmacher, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, has been published in the journal Bionanomaterials. The goal of the special issue is to present current research and development work in the field of bioprinting in a set of invited papers which provide also the perspectives for next-generation of bioprinting approaches for tissue engineering. Our published paper: [1].
[1] R. Detsch, et al., Additive manufacturing of cell-loaded alginate enriched with alkaline phosphatase for bone tissue engineering application, Bionanomaterials 15, 3-4 (2014) 79–87.

Joint Meeting of DGG - ACerS GOMD in Miami
The 2nd Joint Meeting of the Glass and Optical Materials Division (GOMD) of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and the German Glass Society (DGG) will take place in Miami, FL, USA, on May 17 - 21, 2015. Our group will participate in the Symposium S2: Glasses in Healthcare - Fundamentals and Applications, which is co-organised by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini and Prof. M. N. Rahaman (Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA).

We welcome our visiting international students
The Institute of Biomaterials will be hosting this summer term several visiting undergraduate and post-graduate students, including ERASMUS exchange students, coming from different countries, including Brazil, Italy, Latvia, France, Poland and Portugal, who have chosen our Institute to carry out research projects in different topics of biomedical materials. (Click image to enlarge)

We welcome our new students.
We welcome 30 new Bachelor, Master and visiting students who have just started (Summer Term 2015) their research projects in our Institute in a variety of topics in the field of biomedical materials. We offer research topics to students interested in the field of biomaterials coming from different courses and disciplines, including Materials Science and Engineering, Nanotechnology, Medical Engineering, Life Science and Engineering, Integrated Life Sciences, Advanced Materials and Processes, Chemical Engineering and Physics. (Click image to enlarge)

Visit from Belgium
Dr. Timothy E. L. Douglas, senior researcher at Nano and biophotonics Group, Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Gent University (Belgium), visited our Institute on 20th April 2015. We are collaborating in several projects with Dr Douglas' research team in the field of hydrogels and composites for tissue engineering applications. Our latest joint paper has been published recently [1].

[1] T. E. L. Douglas et al., Injectable self-gelling composites for bone tissue engineering based on gellan gum hydrogel enriched with different bioglasses, Biomed. Mater. 9 (2014) 045014 (Click image to enlarge)

Visit from Canada
Mr Louis-Philippe Lefebvre, Team Leader at National Research Council Canada, Boucherville (Canada), visited our Institute on 20th April 2015. Mr Lefebvre and co-workers have developed an alternative interesting foaming technique to fabricate 45S5 bioactive glass scaffolds [1] which provides scaffolds of a different pore morphology and mechanical properties to those prepared by the classical foam replica method [2] or by additive manufacturing [3], methods developed by our Institute and in collaboration with colleagues at TU Vienna, respectively.

[1] E.A. Aguilar-Reyes, et al., Bioactive Glass-Ceramic Scaffolds with High-Strength for Orthopedic Applications, Biomaterials Science: Processing, Properties and Applications IV: Ceramic Transactions, Volume 251 (2014)

[2] Q. Z. Chen, et al., 45S5 Bioglass®-derived glass–ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Biomaterials 27 (2006) 2414–2425.

[3] R. Gmeiner, et al., Stereolithographic ceramic manufacturing of high strength bioactive glass, Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol. 12 (2015) 38–45. (Click image to enlarge)

Meeting of Argentinean Scientists in Frankfurt
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 17th April 2015 at the Argentinean Consulate in Frankfurt. Prof. Boccaccini represents the area "Engineering" in the Advisory Committee of RCAA. The RCAA is part of the RAICES program, an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina, which provides a platform for the effective interaction of Argentinean scientists living abroad and the Argentinean science and technology sector. (In the photo: Dr. F. Soldera (Saarbrücken), Dr. L. Berod (Hannover), Prof. P. Esquinazi (Leipzig), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (Erlangen), Dr. M. Zurbriggen (Freiburg), Dr. C. Tomadoni, (Weimar).(Click image to enlarge)

PacRim 11 conference in Korea
Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the organizing committee of the Prof. Boccaccini is the co-organiser of Symposium 33: "Glasses and Ceramics for Nuclear and Hazardous Waste Treatment" together with Prof. Russell Hand, University of Sheffield, UK, at the 11th International Conference of Pacific Rim Ceramic Societies (PacRim 11) to be held in Jeju Island in Korea from Aug. 30th to Sept. 4th, 2015. This conference is the eleventh in the series of international conferences that provides a global forum for information exchange on the latest emerging ceramic technologies. Our research activities in the field of glass-ceramics from combination of problematic wastes will be presented. The research is a continuation of our previous work on composite glass-ceramics from industrial residues [1].

[1] Chinnam, R. K., Boccaccini, A. R., Bernardo, E., Epstein, H., Glass-Ceramic Composites From Borosilicate Glass and Alumina-Rich Residues, Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol. (2015) in press.

Sixth International Conference on Mechanics of Biomaterials and Tissues, 6-10 Dec. 2015, Hawaii, USA
Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the organizing committee of the Sixth International Conference on Mechanics of Biomaterials and Tissues (ICMOBT) to be held on 6-10 December 2015 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA. The conference is chaired by Prof. Marc A. Meyers (Univ. of California. San Diego). ICMOBT is organised every two years and it provides a unique international forum for researchers and practicing engineers from different disciplines to interact and exchange their latest results in the field, with dedicated sessions on biological materials, biomaterials and bioinspired materials. Abstracts can be submitted until 26th June 2015.

Prof. Boccaccini visits Ansbach University of Applied Sciences
In the framework of the project of Ms Y. Schroeder, Biomedical Engineering, Ansbach University of Applied Sciences co-supervised at our Institute by Dr. R. Detsch and Prof. Boccaccini, in the field of additive manufacturing of biodegradable polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Prof. Boccaccini visited Ansbach University of Applied Sciences on 9th April 2015. The project was carried out in the framework of our research activities in the field of additive manufacturing and biofabrication which involve not only the production of cell free biopolymer 3D scaffolds, but also the biofabrication of constructs based on cell loaded hydrogels [1, 2].

[1] Zehnder, T., Sarker, B., Boccaccini, A. R., Detsch, R., Evaluation of an alginate-gelatine crosslinked hydrogel for bioplotting, Biofabrication 7 (2015) 025001.

[2] Grigore, A., Sarker, B., Fabry, B., Boccaccini, A. R., Detsch, R., Behavior of Encapsulated MG-63 Cells in RGD and Gelatine-Modified Alginate Hydrogels, Tissue Eng. Part A 20 (2014) 2140-2150.

Fellowships for Master students to study in Argentina
Fellowships are available for Master students of Materials Science and Engineering (WW) and Nanotechnology to study in Argentina in the framework of the International Exchange Program in Materials Science and Engineering in which the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (Argentina), our University and University of Saarland, are participating. The program is supported by the German-Argentinean University Centre (DAHZ) in the framework of the I.DEAR (Ingenieure Deutschland-Argentinien) program and it enables Master students of materials science and engineering to spend one year in Argentina. Students from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) spend the first 6 months at National University of Mar del Plata, e.g. at INTEMA, taking courses and in the last 6 months they carry out a research project in a research institute or industry in Argentina and write their Master thesis. The same offer is valid for argentinian Master students from Mar del Plata. The year abroad is completely funded by the program. Details in the attached PDF or contacting Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, coordinator of the program at FAU.

March 2015

REDEOR and COST-Action "NAMABIO" meeting in Venice
Prof. Boccaccini attended the Conference on "Unified scientific approaches towards regenerative orthopaedics and dentistry" (REDEOR) held on March 25-27, 2015, in Venice, Italy. The conference was a forum for presentations of new findings and perspectives in interdisciplinary research areas involving biomaterials (production, characterization and modelling), nanotechnologies, stem cells and regenerative orthopedics and dentistry. The Conference was organized in the framework of COST Action MP1005 "NAMABIO", which involves more than 200 participants belonging to 34 countries. Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the Managing Committee (MC) of NAMABIO, as representative of Germany. The MC held his final meeting on 27th March. In the photograph, Professor Boccaccini with Prof. Christian Hellmich (TU Vienna, Austria), and Prof. Franco Rustichelli (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy), vice-chair and chair, respectively, of the Cost Action. (Click image to enlarge)

Meeting of the Advisory Committee of the German Materials Society (DGM)
Prof. Boccaccini attended the meeting of the Advisory Committee of the German Materials Society (DGM) on 19th March 2015 in Frankfurt. Important aspects about the current and future activities of DGM were discussed including the preparations for the MaterialsWeek 2015 "Materials For The Future" Congress and Exhibition to be held on 14-17 September 2015 in Dresden. MaterialsWeek represents an ideal forum for the exchange of information, networking and for the transfer of new materials into applications in the fields of energy, communication, transportation, health and safety. Prof. Boccaccini has been a member of the Advisory Committee of DGM since 2011.

New collaboration with China
In the framework of the DAAD program for collaborations with China, a new research project has been awarded to the Institute of Biomaterials in collaboration with the Engineering Research Centre for Biomedical Materials of Ministry of Education in East China University of Science and Technology (Shanghai, China). The project contemplates the exchange of young and senior researchers for two years working in the field of hierarchical Mg doped mesoporous/macroporous scaffolds with enhanced vascularisation ability for bone regeneration. Previous research on the subject by our group has been published recently in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society [1].

[1] Zheng, K., et al., Aging Time and Temperature Effects on the Structure and Bioactivity of Gel-Derived 45S5 Glass-Ceramics, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 98 (1) (2015) 30–38.

Institute of Biomaterials Erlangen-BG Trauma Centre Ludwigshafen: First Joint Scientific Meeting
The first joint scientific meeting between the Institute of Biomaterials at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, BG Trauma Centre, Ludwigshafen, was held on 18th March in Erlangen organised by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. Several young researchers and PhD students from both centres participated, in addition to senior researchers including Prof. Ulrich Kneser (Director, Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen), PD Dr. Leila Harhaus (Consultant, BG Trauma Centre), and Dr Rainer Detsch (Biomaterials Erlangen). Numerous research topics were discussed for collaborative projects in the general field of biomaterials for bone and skin regeneration with emphasis on application of bioactive glasses in vascularisation and wound healing. The last publication in collaboration with Prof. Kneser has been recently published [1]. The second joint meeting will be held in Ludwigshafen next October. (Click images to enlarge)

[1] Rath, S. N., Brandl, A., Hiller, D., Hoppe, A., Gbureck, U., Horch, R. E, Boccaccini, A. R., Kneser, U., Bioactive Copper-Doped Glass Scaffolds Can Stimulate Endothelial Cells in Co-Culture in Combination with Mesenchymal Stem Cells. PLoS ONE 9(12) (2014): e113319.

Prof. Boccaccini at London Materials Society
Prof. Boccaccini was the invited speaker at the last meeting of the London Materials Society (LMS) on 12th March 2015. He presented the lecture: "Bioactive Glasses and Biofabrication Approaches in Regenerative Medicine: Advances and Challenges". LMS is the London-based local society of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). Prof. Boccaccini was chairman of the LMS Council in 2005-2006 and he is currently international member of the LMS Committee. In the photo Prof. Boccaccini with LMS Vice-Chair Dr. Priya Kalia and LMS Council Chair Dr. Chris Gourley. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker in Prague
Prof. Boccaccini will be an invited speaker at the BonAlive Biomaterials Lunch Symposium to be held in the framework of the 16th European Federation of the National Association of Orthopaedic and Trauma (EFORT) Congress in Prague, Czech Republic, 27.–29.5.2015. The main theme of the congress is "Infection". He will present the talk: "Attractive properties of bioactive glasses for bone regeneration" on Thursday May 28, 2015.

Visit of Prof. Cornelia Kasper
Professor Cornelia Kasper, affiliated with the Institute of Biotechnology at University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU, Vienna, Austria, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 5-6 March 2015 to present a seminar in the framework of our "Advances in Biomaterials" seminar series. She delivers the lecture: "Cultivating stem cells for tissue engineering and cell based therapy applications under physiological conditions using 3 D matrices in dynamic bioreactor systems" and discussed a range of areas for collaborations with the members of the Institute of Biomaterials in the field of stem cells and bioactive glasses for bone tissue engineering. Our paper in collaboration with the group of Prof. Cornelia Kasper has just been published in the March 2015 issue of JBMR-A [1].

[1] Detsch, R., Alles, S., Hum, J., Westenberger, P., Sieker, F., Heusinger, D., Kasper, C., Boccaccini, A. R., Osteogenic differentiation of umbilical cord and adipose derived stem cells onto highly porous 45S5 Bioglass®-based scaffolds, J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 103 (2015) 1029–1037. (Click images to enlarge)

Visit of Prof. Cornelia Kasper - audience

Highly cited in J. Europ. Ceram. Soc.
Our review paper: "Boccaccini, A. R., et al., Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotube-ceramic nanocomposites, J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. 30, (2010), 1115-1129" is listed as one of the Most Cited articles in the Journal of the European Ceramic Society published since 2010. The article discusses the great variety of carbon nanotube containing ceramic structures that can be fabricated by electrophoretic deposition highlighting the advantages of the technique for this type of nanocomposites.

TOPbiomat project final meeting
The final meeting of project TOPbiomat, funded by the Emerging Fields Initiative of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), was held on 2nd March at the Institute of Biomaterials, chaired by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The successful completion of the project was highlighted as well as the achievement of all goals including the establishment of several interdisciplinary working groups in the field of biofabrication and regenerative medicine and the plans to establish a new stable structure within the university that will serve as hub for the different interdisciplinary efforts in the broad area of "Biomaterials for healthcare" at FAU. The list of publications, conference presentations and other outputs that have resulted from TOPbiomat is presented here. Two recent papers from the TOPbiomat project are [1-2]. In the photograph: Prof. O. Friedrich (Engineering /Medicine), Dr. I. Cicha (Medicine), Dr. A. Arkudas (Medicine), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (Engineering), Prof. B. Fabry (Physics), Dr. R. Detsch (Engineering), Dr. S. Lyer (Medicine).

[1] Grigore, A., Sarker, B., Fabry, B., Boccaccini, A. R., Detsch, R., Behavior of Encapsulated MG-63 Cells in RGD and Gelatine-Modified Alginate Hydrogels, Tissue Eng. Part A 20 (2014) 2140-2150.
[2] Sarker, B., Singh, R., Silva, R., Roether, J. A., Kaschta, J., Detsch, R., Schubert, D. W., Cicha, I., Boccaccini, A. R., Evaluation of Fibroblasts Adhesion and Proliferation on Alginate-Gelatin Crosslinked Hydrogel, PLoS ONE 9(9): e107952. (Click image to enlarge)

EU project ReBioStent meeting in Bochum
An important progress meeting of the EU project ReBioStent (Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents) took place in Bochum, Germany, on 25-27 February 2015. Doctoral researchers Abi Sengottuvelan and Elena Boccardi are working in this project together with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, who is the leader of Work Package 3 dealing with biodegradable composites. On 25th February the consortium held a seminar to develop the best Exploitation Strategy for the project results. On the next day, the First Medical Advisory Board meeting was held followed by the 5th Project Plenary meeting on 27th February. In the picture Dr Xiang Zhang (Lucideon Ltd., project coordinator), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Dr. Ipsita Roy (University of Westminster, scientific coordinator) and Ms Abi Sengottuvelan.(Click image to enlarge)

KMM-VIN 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 24th February 2015. Prof. Boccaccini is one of the coordinators of the Working Group 3 "Biomaterials" and a member of the Governing Council of KMM-VIN. On 25th February, Prof. Boccaccini chaired the Annual Meeting of the WG Biomaterials of KMM-VIN together with Prof. C. Hellmich (Vienna University of Technology). In this meeting the future joint activities in the field of biomaterials within KMM-VIN were discussed. In the photo Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Prof. C. Hellmich and Prof. J. Eberhardsteiner (Vienna University of Technology, Austria).(Click image to enlarge)

February 2015

Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, invited speaker in London
Professor Boccaccini will be the speaker at the March 2015 meeting of the London Materials Society (LMS). On 12th March 2015, he will present the lecture: "Biomaterials and Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration". Prof. Boccaccini was chairman of LMS Council in 2005-2006 and he is currently international member of the LMS Committee. The current program of activities of LMS is available. LMS is the London-based local society of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3).

Editor's choice: J. Mater. Chem. B.
Our paper: Fabrication of alginate–gelatin crosslinked hydrogel microcapsules and evaluation of the microstructure and physico-chemical properties by Bapi Sarker, Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou, Raquel Silva, Tobias Zehnder, Farhana Gul-E-Noor, Marko Bertmer, Joachim Kaschta, Konstantinos Chrissafis, Rainer Detsch and Aldo R. Boccaccini J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 1470-1482 has been listed as one of the Editor’s Choice selection of J. Mater. Chem. B articles.

Prof. Boccaccini in the Scientific Committee of BIOFOAMS 2015
The 5th International Conference on Biofoams (BIOFOAMS 2015) will be held on 13-16 October 2015 in Sorrento, Italy. The conference will bring together experts in bio-based, sustainable and biodegradable foams, bio-inspired foams, foams in medicine and food. The conference will be a forum for scientific exchange in the themes of Biofoams properties, processing, characterization, modeling and applications. The Scientific Committee is made up of 21 internationally renowned scientists, both from Academia and Industry, representing the broadest range of scientific and technical disciplines around the Biofoams community. The deadline for abstract submission is 15th of March 2015.

EU project BioBone presentation
Ms Marta Gallo (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), visiting PhD student from Department MATEIS, INSA Lyon, France, who is carrying out her doctoral thesis in the framework of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) (FP7) "BIOBONE" presented the talk: "Degradation and cell culture studies on calcium phosphate bioceramics" at our seminars series on biomaterials. Marta spent several months in our Institute characterizing the degradation behaviour of CaP materials and the interaction with bone cells under supervision of Dr. R. Detsch and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)

Visit of Prof. S. Nazhat, McGill University
Professor Showan N. Nazhat, Associate Professor in the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, visited our Institute and presented the seminar: "Anisotropic injectable tissue equivalents". He gave an overview on the latest research results in his group in the field of collagen based structures for regenerative medicine. We have collaborated with Professor Nazhat's research group for more than 10 years. Our first joint paper, in collaboration with Dr. J. Blaker (currently at University of Manchester, UK), was published in Biomaterials in 2004: Blaker, J. J., Nazhat, S. N., Boccaccini, A. R., Development and Characterisation of Silver-Doped Bioactive Glass-Coated Sutures for Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing Applications, Biomaterials 25 (2004) 1319-1329. Our last publication, a review paper on collagen-bioactive glass composites for bone tissue engineering, has just been published in Adv. Healthcare Materials: Sarker, B., Hum, J., Nazhat, S. N., Boccaccini, A. R., Combining Collagen and Bioactive Glasses for Bone Tissue Engineering: A Review, Adv. Healthcare Mater. 4 (2015) 176–194. (Click images to enlarge)

NEW EUROPEAN (HORIZON 2020) PROJECT
A new European project in the framework of Horizon 2020 has been awarded to the Institute of Biomaterials (Head, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini). The project "Nano-tailoring organo-mineral materials. Controlling strength and healing with organic molecules in mineral interfaces" (NanoHeal) is funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks action (MSCA-ITNs) and it is coordinated by University of Oslo, Norway. NanoHeal is a joint research and training environment for 15 PhD students at 7 universities and research organizations from Norway, UK, France, Denmark, Israel and Germany, with secondments at partner organizations and at 5 partner industrial companies. The project to be carried out at the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen will focus on biomimetic precipitation of minerals for self-healing of self-assembled aggregates. The vacancy to cover this project is now advertised.

Most downloaded review articles
Our recent review paper, in collaboration with Prof. Larry Hench:
V. Miguez-Pacheco, L. L. Hench, A. R. Boccaccini, Bioactive glasses beyond bone and teeth: Emerging applications in contact with soft tissues, Acta Biomaterialia 13 (2015) 1–15 has been listed as one of the most downloaded articles published in Acta Biomaterialia in the last 90 days. The review paper co-authored by Prof. Boccaccini: K. Rezwan, et al., Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, Biomaterials 27 (2006) 3413–3431 is listed as one of the most downloaded articles published in the journal Biomaterials. This paper has been cited 1575 times, according to Google Scholar.

COST ACTION NAMABIO meeting in Davos
The Working Groups meeting of the COST Action "From NAno to MAcro BIOmaterials (design, processing, characterization, modeling) and applications to stem cells regenerative orthopedic and dental medicine (NAMABIO) was held at AO Research Institute, Davos, Switzerland, on 5-6 February 2015. Prof. Boccaccini is representative for Germany in the Management Committee of NAMABIO and a member of the Working Group (WG) 1 "Processing of innovative biomaterials". In the photo, Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. Sasa Novak (Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia) and Prof. Janis Locs (Riga Technical University, Lavtia) collaborators in WG1 in Cost Action NAMABIO. (Click images to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini in the International Scientific Committee or REDEOR conference
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the Conference on "Unified scientific approaches towards regenerative orthopaedics and dentistry" (REDEOR) to be held on March 25-27, 2015, in Venice, Italy. The conference provides a forum for presentations of new findings and perspectives in the interdisciplinary research areas involving biomaterials (production, characterization and modelling), nanotechnologies, stem cells and regenerative orthopaedics and dentistry. The Conference is organized in the framework of COST Action MP1005 (NAMABIO) and will include also results obtained during four years of collaborative research by most of the 200 members of the Action belonging to 34 countries. Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the Managing Committee of NAMABIO, as representative of Germany.

ETN-CoACH project kick-off meeting in Turin
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the kick-off meeting of the ETN project CoACH (European Training Network: Advanced glasses, Composites And Ceramics for High growth Industries) in Turin, Italy, on 2-3 February 2015. The project CoACH is funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks action (MSCA-ITNs) and it is coordinated by Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. CoACH provides career development and training opportunities for researchers who are in their first 4 years of research career. The project will promote international excellence in glass, ceramic and composite science and technology, modelling, design, characterization and commercialization of advanced glass, ceramic and composite based products. (Click images to enlarge)

Most accessed paper
Our paper: "Fabrication of alginate–gelatin crosslinked hydrogel microcapsules and evaluation of the microstructure and physico-chemical properties", Authors: Bapi Sarker, Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou, Raquel Silva, Tobias Zehnder, Farhana Gul-E-Noor, Marko Bertmer, Joachim Kaschta, Konstantinos Chrissafis, Rainer Detsch and Aldo R. Boccaccini J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014,2, 1470-1482 is listed as one of the 30 most accessed articles in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B in 2014. The paper presents the development and characterisation of alginate-gelatin based hydrogels for tissue engineering applications and reports key results from our Emerging Fields Initiative funded project TOPbiomat.

Poster Prize for Merve Demir
Merve Demir, Master student in the Elite Master's Programme in Advanced Materials and Processes (MAP) was awarded the second poster presentation prize at the MAP session held on 29th Jan. 2015 in Erlangen, in conjunction with the MAP Board Meeting and Graduation Ceremony 2015. The poster was entitled "Additive Manufacturing of Biopolymer Scaffolds'', presenting research of the "mini-project" of Ms Merve, which was carried out in our Institute and supervised by Mr T. Zenhder (PhD student), Dr. R. Detsch and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (pictured with M. Demir). (Click image to enlarge)

January 2015

Visit of Prof. Eva-Kathrin Sinner
Professor Eva-Kathrin Sinner, Head of the Institute of Synthetic Bioarchitectures, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU Vienna, Austria, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 30th Jan. 2015 to present a seminar in the framework of the Emerging Fields Initiative (EFI) funded project: Synthetic Biology). She delivers the lecture: "Synthetic Proteins in Synthetic Membrane Assemblies" and discussed a range of areas for collaborations with the members of the Erlangen Synthetic Biology initiative. (Click images to enlarge)

Professor Boccaccini: invited speaker in Stuttgart
Following an invitation of Prof. S. Schmauder, chair at the Institute for Materials Testing, Materials Science and Strength of Materials (IMWF), University of Stuttgart, Prof. Boccaccini visited IMWF on 29th Jan. 2015 and presented the seminar: "Composite Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering: Progress and Challenges" in the framework of the "Colloquium Materials Modeling" at IMWF. The presentation discussed the broad field of composite porous materials for improved scaffold mechanical performance and in particular the effect of polymer phases incorporated in highly porous brittle bioactive glass scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, reviewed in a recent publication [1], a topic on which collaborations between IMWF and our Institute are planned.

[1] Toughening and functionalization of bioactive ceramic and glass bone scaffolds by biopolymer coatings and infiltration: a review of the last 5 years Expert Review of Medical Devices 12, No.1 (2015) 93-111. (Click image to enlarge)

INNVIN Project Meeting in Brussels
Professor Boccaccini attended the final 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 23rd January 2015. 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 was a successful CSA project within the EU 7. Framework Program. In the picture Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. A. Moreno (Instituto de Tecnología Cerámica, Castellon, Spain) and Dr. P. Egizabal (Fundación Tecnalia, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain), partners in KMM-VIN. (Click image to enlarge)

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Munich
Prof. A. R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the scientific board meeting of TÜV SÜD Product Service in Munich. The title of his presentation was "Nanomaterials for medicine: progress and challenges". He also gave a seminar entitled: "The importance on biomaterials for the future of medical technology" to the product specialists and auditors at TÜV SÜD PS. In the photo Dr. B. Akra, Director Clinical Affairs at TÜV SÜD PS and Prof. Boccaccini. (Click image to enlarge)

Kick-off meeting of new DFG funded project
The kick-off meeting of the new DFG funded collaborative project "Bioadaptive Coatings on Mg Alloys" was held on 16th January at the Institute of Biomaterials. This project is a collaborative effort of the Institute of Surface Science and Corrosion of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Prof. S. Virtanen), the Julius Wolff Institute and Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Prof. F. Witte) and the Institute of Biomaterials (Prof. A. R. Boccaccini). Dr H. Hornberger, currently visiting lecturer in our Institute, will be the senior scientist in the project (all investigators pictured). (Click image to enlarge)

Kick-off meeting of ETN "NanoHeal" in Oslo
Prof. Boccaccini attended on 7-9 January in Oslo the kick-off meeting of the project "Nano-tailoring organo-mineral materials. Controlling strength and healing with organic molecules in mineral interfaces" (NanoHeal), which is a new European Training Network (ETN) established within Horizon 2020. NanoHeal is a joint research and training environment for 15 PhD students at 7 universities and research organizations from Norway, UK, France, Denmark, Israel and Germany, with secondments at partner organizations and at 5 partner industrial companies. The project to be carried out at our Institute will focus on biomimetic precipitation of minerals for self-healing of self-assembled aggregates. (Click image to enlarge)

Highly cited papers
Two papers co-authored by Prof. A. R. Boccaccini are included in the list of 50 Most-Cited Articles in the Journal of Biomaterials Applications

The papers report the development and characterisation of Ag-doped bioactive glass coated surgical sutures. The two papers cited are:

J. Pratten, et al., In Vitro Attachment of Staphylococcus Epidermidis to Surgical Sutures with and without Ag-Containing Bioactive Glass Coating, J. Biomater. Appl. 19 (2004) 47-57
J. J. Blaker, et al., Thermal Characterizations of Silver-containing Bioactive Glass-coated Sutures, J. Biomater. Appl. 20 (2005) 81-98
Another paper of our group, on PDLLA-Bioactive glass composite scaffolds, is listed as one of the most read articles of the journal: D. M. Yunos, et al., Stratified scaffolds for osteochondral tissue engineering applications: Electrospun PDLLA nanofibre coated Bioglass®-derived foams, J. Biomater. Appl. 27 (2013) 537-551.

GEOPOLYMERS Conference 2015
The International Conference "Geopolymers: The route to eliminate waste and emissions in ceramic and cement manufacturing" will be held on May 23-29, 2015, in Hernstein, near Vienna, Austria. The main aim of this conference is to provide scientific and industrial contributions describing technical solutions for applications of geopolymers thus leading progressively towards eliminating waste and minimizing emissions in ceramic and cement manufacturing. The conference will be chaired by Prof. Cristina Leonelli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy) and co-chaired by Prof. Waltraud M. Kriven (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA), Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany), and Prof. Arie van Riessen (Curtin University, Australia). The deadline for Abstract submission is 31st January 2015. The conference is sponsored by Engineering Conferences International.

New EU (HORIZON 2020) project at the Institute of Biomaterials
One of the first EU projects with presence of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in the framework of Horizon 2020 has been awarded to the Institute of Biomaterials (Head, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini). The project CoACH is funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks action (MSCA-ITNs) and it is coordinated by Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. CoACH provides career development and training opportunities for researchers who are in their first 4 years of research career. The project will promote international excellence in glass, ceramic and composite science and technology, modelling, design, characterization and commercialization of advanced glass, ceramic and composite based products. Five academic partners and ten private companies, from seven different European countries participate in CoACH. The projects to be carried out at the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen will focus on "Design, processing and characterisation of mesoporous glass containing coatings with therapeutic ion release capability" and "Novel geopolymers incorporating silicate waste".

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Italy
Prof. Boccaccini will deliver the keynote lecture at the Congress of the Italian Society of Biomaterials (SIB) to be held on 3-5 June 2015 in Ancona, Italy. The title of the presentation will be: "Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Overview, Advances and Challenges".

Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker in Spain
Prof. Boccaccini will be an invited speaker on 24th April 2015 at the Multidisciplinary Seminar Program (MSP) of the School of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain). The MSP aims at inviting leading international researchers and professionals working on areas that are of interest to the faculty and researchers of the School. Prof. Boccaccini will present a lecture on the advances and challenges of engineered scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Top downloaded papers
Four papers co-authored by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini while he was professor in the Department of Materials, Imperial College London (UK), have been listed in the "Top 100 downloaded articles by UK-based authors" in the field of Physical Sciences, published by Elsevier. The 4 top downloaded papers co-authored by A. R. Boccaccini are:

Position 2: Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering K. Rezwan, Q.Z. Chen, J.J. Blaker, Aldo Roberto Boccaccini, Biomaterials, Vol: 27, Issue: 18, Pages 3413-3431 (2006)

Position 57: Electrophoretic deposition of carbon nanotubes Aldo R. Boccaccini, Johann Cho, Judith A. Roether, Boris J.C. Thomas, E. Jane Minay, Milo S.P. Shaffer, Carbon, Vol: 44, Issue: 15, Pages 3149-3160 (2006)

Position 69: Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology Ilaria Corni, Mary P. Ryan, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol: 28, Issue: 7, Pages 1353-1367 (2008)

Position 88: 45S5 Bioglass®-derived glass–ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering Qizhi Z. Chen, Ian D. Thompson, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Biomaterials, Vol: 27, Issue: 11, Pages 2414-2425 (2006).

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