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December 2018

• Prof. Boccaccini visits University of Rennes I, France

  
  On 21-22 December 2018, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the UFR Science and Properties of Matter, Institut de Physique de Rennes at University of Rennes I, France, hosted by Prof. Tanguy Rouxel. Prof. Boccaccini participated in a doctoral thesis defense and visited the laboratories of Prof. Rouxel's research group, discussing possible future research collaborations in the field of glass matrix nanocomposites.

• End of the Year Meeting at the Institute of Biomaterials The end-of-the-year meeting at the Institute of Biomaterials took place on 17th December 2018 in our building in Erlangen-West. Professor Boccaccini summarized the achievements of our Institute in the year 2018, including 5 doctoral (Dr.-Ing.) theses, more than 40 Master, Bachelor and Project students, more than 20 international visitors, including Erasmus exchange students and more than 30 academic visitors from 24 countries (!). We gave more than 30 presentations at conferences around the world, many of them invited or keynote presentations. Our publication activity was excellent, members of the Institute published more than 75 papers in scientific journals during 2018 and many undergraduate and PhD students received national and international awards. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! (Prof. Boccaccini's Christmas greetings to the Department)

• Department of Materials Science and Engineering: Last Board (KL) Meeting 2018
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Head, Institute of Biomaterials) chaired the last meeting of the Management Board of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering on 19th December 2018, in which representatives of the 9 Institutes of the Department were present. Prof. Boccaccini acknowledged the many achievements of members of the Department during the year in terms of teaching and research outputs and publications, project acquisition, awards and prizes, including several awards received by Department's undergraduate and graduate (doctoral) students.

• Doctoral thesis success: Barbara Myszka
  Ms Barbara Myszka defended successfully her doctoral thesis on 19th December 2018. She carried out her doctoral researcher at the Institute of Biomaterials under academic supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. Her thesis entitled: “INTERFACIAL INTERACTIONS IN CALCIUM CARBONATE MATERIALS IN THE CONTEXT OF BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS” was carried out in the framework of the Marie Sklodowska Curie European Training Network (Horizon 2020) "Nano-tailoring organo-mineral materials - Controlling strength and healing with organic molecules in mineral interfaces - NanoHeal". Barbara collaborated also strongly with the research group of Prof. Stephan Wolf, FAU. Prof. Stephan Wolf, Prof. Martin Hartmann (Department of Chemical and Bioengineering, FAU), Prof. Dominique De Ligny (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) and Prof. Boccaccini were the members of the examination board. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the outstanding research work carried out by Barbara, this was the first research project related to calcium carbonate based biomaterials carried out in our Institute. He mentioned also the extraordinary training opportunities that the NanoHeal Network (coordinated by Prof. Dag Kristian Dysthe, University of Oslo, Norway) provided during the project. He also acknowledged the close collaboration with Prof. Stephan Wolf and his team (The Wolf Group), who have contributed to the progress of the research project and the developments of Barbara's project. The work of Barbara led to basic understanding of the behaviour of different crystalline forms of Ca carbonate in contact with simulated biological fluids. Several papers from Barbara's thesis are in advanced stage of preparation and will be submitted for publication in 2019. We congratulate Barbara for this achievement and wish her all the best in her future career.

• Prof. Ifty Ahmed, University of Nottingham, UK, visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  On 17th Dec. 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Ifty Ahmed, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK. We collaborate with the research group of Prof. Ahmed in the field of phosphate glasses for biomedical applications, including phosphate glass fibres. Recently, the results of a research project in collaboration with Prof. Ahmed, led by Dr. Qiang Chen, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China, alumni of our Institute, has been published [1].
  
  [1] Chen, Q., et al., Electric Field-Assisted Orientation of Short Phosphate Glass Fibers on Stainless Steel for Biomedical Applications: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. 10 (2018) 11529-11538.

• Doctoral thesis success: Agata Lapa
  Ms Agata Lapa, who carried out her doctoral thesis at our Institute, under academic supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, and in collaboration with industrial partner Lucideon Ltd, UK, successfully defended her thesis on 17th December 2018. Her thesis entitled: “Bioactive Phosphate Glasses” was carried out in the framework of the Horizon 2020 EU MSCA-ITN-2014-EID - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network "Drug-Free Antibacterial Hybrid Biopolymers for Medical Applications - HyMedPoly", in collaboration with Dr. Mark Cresswell and Dr. Phil Jackson (Lucideon Ltd, UK). Prof. Ifty Ahmed (University of Nottingham, UK), Prof. Uwe Gbureck (University of Würzburg, Germany), Prof. Nicolas Vogel (CBI Department, FAU), Prof. Stephan Wolf (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) and Prof. Boccaccini were the members of the examination board. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the outstanding research work carried out by Agata, in particular considering the challenge of the HyMedPoly Engineering Doctorate program, involving spending half of the time (18 month) in the industrial partner (Lucideon Ltd). He mentioned that Agata is the first candidate in the context of the EU Training Network HyMedPoly to obtain her doctoral degree, and remarked the excellent collaboration with the industrial partner, Lucideon Ltd. (Stoke-on-Trent,UK). The work of Agata led to the development and characterization of new families of phosphate glasses incorporating metallic ions with antibacterial capability with focus on the development of phosphate glass fibres for wound healing applications. Four papers from Agata's thesis are in advanced stage of preparation and will be submitted for publication in early 2019. We congratulate Agata for her doctorate degree and wish her all the best in her future career.

• Doctoral thesis success: Svenja Heise
  Ms Svenja Heise successfully defended her doctoral thesis on 12th December 2018. She carried out her project at our Institute under supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, and in collaboration with Prof. Sanna Virtanen, FAU Chair for Surface Science and Corrosion, and the group of Prof. Frank Witte, Charite, Berlin, in the context of the DFG funded project "Bio-adaptive Coatings on Mg alloys". The doctoral thesis is entitled: “Development of advanced chitosan-based biodegradable coatings for Mg alloys with potential applications in orthopedic implants” . Prof. Sanna Virtanen, Prof. Bernhard Hensel (Max Schaldach-Endowed Professorship für Biomedical Technology, FAU), Prof. Kyle Webber (FAU Institute for Glass and Ceramics), Prof. Andreas Burkovski (Biology Department, FAU), and Prof. Boccaccini were the members of the examination board. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the challenging research project of Svenja, who pioneered in our Institute the development of the electrophoretic deposition method for obtaining composite coatings on Mg alloy substrates, leading to many successful results. Several scientific papers have resulted from Svenja’s thesis, including a comprehensive review paper (for example: [1, 2]). We congratulate Svenja for her achievements and wish her all the best in her future career.

  [1] S. Heise, et al., Tackling Mg alloy corrosion by natural polymer coatings—A review, J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 104 (2016) 2628-2641.

  [2] S. Heise, et al., Electrophoretic deposition and characterization of chitosan/bioactive glass composite coatings on Mg alloy substrates, Electrochimica Acta, 232 (2017) 456-464.

• Visit of Prof. Sandra Van Vlierberghe, University of Ghent
  On 10-11 December 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Sandra Van Vlierberghe, Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Faculty of Sciences, University of Gent, Belgium. Prof. Van Vlierberghe was an invited speaker at the Institute of Biomaterials hosted by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The title of Prof. Van Vlierberghe's presentation was: "Hydrogel-based platforms tailored towards bioafabrication". The presentation was scheduled in the series of invited seminars of the SFB/Transregio TRR 225 („From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models“). Prof. Sandra Van Vlierberghe visited the laboratories of the Institute of Biomaterials and conducted discussions with different members of the Institute for planing collaborative research activities in future.

• Second Closed Meeting of SFB TRR 225: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models"
  The second Closed Meeting of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) TRR 225: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models" took place on 3-5 December 2018 in Kloster Banz, Germany. The PhD students in the project based at the Institute of Biomaterials; Susanne Heid, Jonas Hazur and Emine Karakaya attended the meeting as well as Dr. Rainer Detsch and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (principal investigators). In SFB TRR 225, Prof. Boccaccini is the spokesperson for the site Erlangen, which includes principal investigators of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the University Hospital Erlangen (UKER). The group of Erlangen principal investigators attending the Kloster Banz meeting are also pictured.

• Establishment of the "DGM Regional Forum" Erlangen
  The German Materials Society (DGM) approved, in the framework of its Annual General Assembly on 22nd September 2018, the establishment of the DGM Regional Forum Erlangen following an initiative of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Chair of the WW Department), Prof. Mathias Goeken and Prof. Carolin Koerner (pictured) are the founding members of the Forum, which will offer a communication platform with main goal to connect and facilitate the exchange between the different sectors involved in "materials science and engineering" in the Erlangen and Northern Bavaria region, with strong emphasis in developing networks between industry, universities and other research institutions involved in materials research. The Regional Forum Erlangen also intends to inspire and strengthen the interactions of the different regional actors with the DGM. The Forum will start its activities officially in 2019.

November 2018

• ESB 2017 Special Issue in J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Med. published
  The "ESB 2017" Special Issue" has been published in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, co-edited by Prof. Maria Chatzinikolaidou, University of Crete, and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (pictured). The special issue includes 22 contributions covering natural, synthetic and composite biomaterials, hierarchically structured and multifunctional biomaterials, with applications in a broad range of sectors, such as regeneration of bone, dental, cardiovascular tissues and nanomedicine. One paper from our Institute is included in this special issue [1]. [1] Q. Nawaz, et al., Synthesis and characterization of manganese containing mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles for biomedical applications, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 29 (2018) 64.

• Dr. Fredrik Olilla, BonAlive Biomaterials, Finland, visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  In the framework of the Conference "Biomaterials to combat infections",held on 28th November in our Institute, we received the visit of Dr. Fredrik Olilla, Chief Executive Officer and Director, BonAlive Biomaterials Ltd., who was one of the invited speakers at the conference. Dr. Olilla presented the lecture: "Combating antimicrobial resistance with smart healing solutions". The technology presented is based on silicate bioactive glass of specific composition (S53P4) to target infection and for osteostimulative approaches.

• Successful "Biomaterials to combat infections" conference at the Institute of Biomaterials
  The conference "Biomaterials to combat infections" was held on 28th November 2018, at the Institute of Biomaterials, Erlangen, organized by the Forum MedTech Pharma and hosted by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The conference included a compact program of oral presentations given by representatives from academia, industry and the medical profession. In addition, a round table discussion was organized at the end of the conference, with key contributions from Dr. Jochen Salber (Ruhr University Bochum), Prof. Michael Doser (German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research, Denkendorf) and Dr. Gerhard Kappelt (Peter Brehm GmbH).

• Annual Meeting of the Network of Argentinian Scientists (RCAA) in Germany
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Network of Argentinian Scientists in Germany (Red de Cientificos Argentinos en Alemania, RCAA), <http://raices.mincyt.gob.ar/RCAA/index.php> which was held on 23th November 2018 at the Embassy of Argentina in Berlin. Prof. Boccaccini represents the area "Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Materials Science" at the Advisory Committee <http://raices.mincyt.gob.ar/RCAA/comite_asesor.php> of RCAA and he is currently the scientific coordinator of RCAA. The RCAA was established in Nov. 2009 and Prof. Boccaccini has been a member of the Advisory Committee since then. At this important meeting in Berlin, the bylaws of the Network were approved and signed by Prof. Boccaccini as scientific coordinator (photo). The network focuses on research collaborations and scientific interactions between Germany and Argentina and is part of the RAICES <http://www.raices.mincyt.gov.ar/> program of the Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina. In the photo Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. Daniel Zimmermann, director of the German-Argentine University Centre (CUAA-DAHZ) Bonn, one of the invited speakers at the meeting.

• Prof. Boccaccini in the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2018
  Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini has been listed in the prestigious Highly Cited Researchers 2018 (https://hcr.clarivate.com/) list, published by Clarivate Analytics. The list contains the world’s most influential researchers across 21 scientific disciplines. The 2018 list includes 6000 researchers list recognizing world-class researchers selected for their exceptional research performance, demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science. Worldwide 208 researchers are included in the materials science category. The methodology used to produce the 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list is available on the website of Clarivate Analytics (https://hcr.clarivate.com/methodology/) Prof. Boccaccini is one of only 9 academics from our University included in the list.

• Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini elected Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology (UK)
  Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Institute of Biomaterials, Department WW) has been elected Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology (SGT), based in the United Kingdom. Fellowship recognition is given to individual achievement and is awarded for recognized contributions to the science and technology of glass. The Society of Glass Technology has a more than 100 years history of serving the glass community and the objectives are to encourage and advance the study of the history, art, science, design, manufacture, treatment, distribution and end use of glass of any and every kind. Prof. Boccaccini is also a member of the Basic Science Technical Committee (BSCT) of SGT.

• Research stay in Queensland, Australia
  In November 2018, Laura Ramos Rivera and Marcela Arango Ospina, PhD students at the Institute of Biomaterials, visited Prof. Peter Pivonka, Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Spinal Disorders, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, in the framework of the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme of DAAD and Universities Australia (Principal Investigator in Erlangen: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini). The project involves exchange of early career researchers and professors between both institutions. Laura and Marcela visited the laboratories of the Centre for Children's Health Research (CCHR), biomechanical performance and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI). The current collaboration between both groups includes the characterisation of bioactive glass based scaffolds with and without polymer coatings for bone tissue engineering applications. In the photo Prof. Peter Pivonka, Dr. David Holmes, Laura Ramos Rivera and Marcela Arango Ospina.

• Prof. Boccaccini at West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland
  On 21-23 November 2018 Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the Division of Functional Materials and Biomaterials, Polymer Institute, at West Pomeranian University of Technology (ZUT), Szczecin, Poland. The visit was hosted by Prof. Mirosława El Fray, Head of Division, Director of Polymer Institute and Director of the Nanotechnology Centre at ZUT. We collaborate with Prof. El Fray's research group in the framework of the DAAD-PPP funded project "Fabrication and mechanical characterization of electrospun mats for cardiac tissue engineering". Prof. Boccaccini presented the seminar "Bioinks containing reactive fillers in biofabrication approaches". Our collaboration with Prof. El Fray started in 2005 [1], when Prof. El Fray was a recipient of a Royal Society fellowship at Imperial College London (UK) and Prof. Boccaccini was based at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London. From that time, several collaborative activities, joint research projects and students/staff exchanges have been performed. The results of the collaborative research have been published in several papers and presented at numerous international conferences. In the photo: Prof. El Fray, Prof. Boccaccini, Dr. Agnieszka Piegat (ZUT) and Dr. Agata Niemczyk (ZUT). [1] El Fray, M., Boccaccini, A. R., “Novel hybrid PET/DFA-TiO2 nanocomposites by in situ polycondensation”, Materials Letters, 59 (2005) 2300-2304.

• Prof. Boccaccini: Invited speaker at University of Rostock
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the Scientific Workshop 2018 of the Rostock University Medicine (Universitätsmedizin Rostock), University of Rostock, Germany, on 16th November 2018. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Bioactive Materials and Biofabrication for Biomedical Applications: Progress and Challenges". Prof. Boccaccini met Rostock based colleagues with whom our Institute is collaborating in the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) (SFB) "Electrically Active Implants – ELAINE", including Prof. Rainer Bader, Biomechanics and Implant Technology Research Laboratory (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) and Prof. Barbara Nebe, Cell Biology Department.

• Visit from Argentina
  In the week of 20th November we received the visit of Dr. Diego Bustos, senior researcher at CONICET Laboratory of Integration of Cellular Signals at the Institute for Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO), Mendoza, Argentina. He also visited our cell biology and materials characterisation laboratories. The visit was in the framework of the MinCyT-DAAD funded project entitled: "Topographic and compositional effects of nanofibrous matrices during in situ differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells", in which also colleagues of National University of Mar del Plata (INTEMA, Dr. G. Abraham) participate. PhD students of our Institute, Florian Ruther and Jonas Hazur, will travel to the partner institutes in Argentina in December (Photo: Dr. Bustos, Prof. Boccaccini and PhD students Jonas Hazur and Florian Ruther).

• Visit from Indonesia
  In the week of 20th November we received the visit of Prof. Dr. Eng. Gunawarman, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Andalas University, Pedang, Indonesia (pictured with Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini). We collaborate with the group of Prof. Gunawarman in the field of bioactive coatings for biomedical applications. Currently Ms Dian Juliadmi (PhD student at Andalas University) is visiting our Institute carrying out a project on "Novel hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium alloy substrates using electrophoretic deposition".

• Visiting researchers from Mexico and Iraq finish their research visit to our Institute
  Visiting PhD students from Cinvestav Querétaro (Mexico), Jennifer Hermann Muñoz and July Andrea Rincón López (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), have finished their research stay in our Institute. Jennifer and Andrea worked on the cell biology characterisation of bioceramic composites, as part of our collaboration with the group of Prof. Juan Muñoz Saldaña (Cinvestav Querétaro). Mr. Ayad Naseef Jasim, PhD student, Department of Production Engineering and Metallurgy, Univ. of Technology , Baghdad (Iraq) (supervisor: Prof. Mohammed Jasim Kadhim Al-Tameemi) also concluded his visit to our Institute. He carried out research activities in the field of electrophoretic deposition of chitosan based coatings for applications in orthopedics. (Mr Jasim pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and Mr Muhammad Asim Akhtar, PhD student at the Institute of Biomaterials).

• Visit from Colombia
  In November 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Carlos Julio Cortes-Rodriguez, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, National University of Colombia, Bogota, in the framework of a DAAD funded short-term visit. We have started research collaborations with the group of Prof. Cortes-Rodriguez in the field of 3D printing combining mechatronics expertise in his group and our know-how in the field of biofabrication, with focus on novel hydrogels.

• Poster presentation at the "Day of the Faculty of Engineering" in Erlangen
  On 16th November 2018, Dr. Rainer Detsch and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini presented a poster about our Biofabrication activities entitled "Advances in Biomaterials for Biofabrication: 3D Printing with Bioinks" at the "Day of the Faculty of Engineering"("TAG der Technischen Fakultät") at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Our Institute has significant research activities in the field of "Biofabrication" as key partner in the Collaborative Research Centre SFB/TRR 225 "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models_".

• Best PhD thesis award for Dr. Harald Unterweger
  The "Freundeskreis im Alumni Technische Fakultät Erlangen (ATE) e.V." presented one of three PhD Thesis Award 2018 to Dr. Harald Unterweger for his PhD thesis (Dr.-Ing.) completed in 2017 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Biomaterials, in cooperation with the Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine (SEON) of the University Hospital Erlangen, under supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Alexiou. The award was presented at the occasion of the “Tag der Technischen Fakultät” on November 16, 2018. This is now the second PhD thesis award for Dr. Unterweger, for his doctoral thesis in which he developed and characterized multimodal superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as a safe MRI contrast agent and for magnetic drug targeting. The most recent paper from his doctoral thesis has been published earlier this year [1]. [1] Unterweger, H., et al., Dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging: evaluation of size-dependent imaging properties, storage stability and safety. International Journal of Nanomedicine, 13 (2018) p. 1899-1915.

• German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM) Annual Meeting in Braunschweig
  Our Institute had a strong presence at the Annual Meeting 2018 of the German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM), held in Braunschweig on 8–10 November 2018. We contributed 7 oral and poster presentations. In the photos Dr. Raminder Singh, Ms Katharina Schuladen, Mr. Florian Ruther, Ms Lena Vogt, Mr Thomas Distler, Dr. Rainer Detsch, Ms Vera Bednarzig and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. Prof. Boccaccini is also pictured with Prof. Wilhelm Jahnen-Dechent (University Hospital RWTH Aachen, President of DGBM) and Prof. Helen Lu (invited speaker, Columbia University, USA). Prof. Boccaccini participated also at the Annual General Assembly of DGBM of which Dr. R. Detsch is the secretary. Prof. Boccaccini presented the poster contribution "Comparison of computational fluid dynamics methods for characterisation of permeability in tissue engineered ceramic scaffolds", showing results of our international collaboration with the the group of Prof. Peter Pivonka at Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Other presentations of our Institute were: * F. Ruther et al., Electrospinning of conductive gelatin-PANi for cardiac patch applications * T. Distler et al., Engineering of a 3D printable, conductive, alginate-based biopolymer-polypyrrole composite for electrically active implants * K. Schuhladen et al., Comparison of the dissolution behavior of silicate, borosilicate and borate bioactive glasses under acidic conditions * V. Bednarzig et al., 3D bioplotting of a composite material for adjusted bone healing * R. Singh et al., Application of electrospinning for vascular tissue engineering * L. Vogt et al., Gelatin-Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) blended fibrous scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

• Thomas Distler receives Best Master thesis award of the German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM)
  Thomas Distler, PhD student at the Institute of Biomaterials, supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini, was awarded this years' prize for the Best Masters Thesis in Biomaterials, which is awarded annually by the German Society for Biomaterials (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biomaterialien e.V., DGBM). The thesis with the title: "Vessel Bioplotting for Regenerative Approaches" was supervised by Prof. Boccaccini in collaboration with Dr. Rainer Detsch at the Institute of Biomaterials. The prize was awarded at the Annual Meeting of the DGBM, held in Braunschweig, Germany, on November 8-10, 2018, where Mr Distler presented the key results of the project (Photo: Prof. A. R. Boccaccini, Mr. T. Distler and Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Anke Bernstein, vice-chair, DGBM).

• Visit from Thessaloniki, Greece
  In the framework of our IKYDA-DAAD funded joint research project with Greece, we received our partners from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUT), Thessaloniki, Greece on 5-9 November 2018. The project, entitled: "Biodegradable osteoinductive scaffolds based on new functionalized polyesters, calcium silicate bioceramics and mesoporous nanocarriers, for bone tissue engineering", is investigating a new family of composite materials based on biodegradable polymers combined with sol-gel derived ion doped bioactive glasses for dental and bone tissue engineering applications. Researchers from the School of Dentistry, Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry of AUT are involved in this collaboration. In the picture: Prof. Dimitrios Bikiari__s, _Prof. Eleana Kontonasaki, Dr Anastasiia Beketova, Dr Georgios Theodorou, Ms Dimitra Patsiaoura and Ms Evangelia Christodoulou (visitors from Thessaloniki), with Dr Liliana Liverani, Ms Susanne Heid and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU Institute of Biomaterials). The project follows and expands from our successful previous collaboration, which led to a number of joint publications, including, most recently [1]. [1] Nerantzaki, M., et al., A biomimetic approach for enhancing adhesion and osteogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells on poly(butylene succinate) composites with bioactive ceramics and glasses, Europ. Polym. J. 87 (2017) 159–173.

• Visit of Prof. Gregory F. Payne, Univ. of Maryland, USA
  On 7th November 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Gregory F. Payne, MEMS Sensors and Actuators Laboratory (MSAL),Fischell Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, University of Maryland, College Park, USA. Prof. Payne presented the invited lecture: "Electrobiofabrication to create complex materials systems capable of molecular communication". Prof. Payne was also hosted by the "Emerging Fields Initiative" (EFI) funded project "Molecular communication systems" (coordinator: Prof. Robert Schober, Institute for Digital Communications (IDC), FAU). We plan collaboration with Prof. Payne's group in the field of electrobiofabrication.

• Visit from Lyon, France
  Dr. Anthony Maçon is visiting the Institute of Biomaterials in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project (RESEARCH AND INNOVATION STAFF EXCHANGE - RISE) "Additive Manufacturing Initiative for Transnational Innovation in Europe" (AMITIE). This project received funding from the EU H2020 Research & Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska Curie Grant Agreement 734342. AMITIE brings together leading academic and industrial European players in the fields of materials science and processes, materials characterization, Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies and associated numerical simulation, applied to the fabrication of functional and/or structural ceramic-based materials for energy/transport, and ICTs applications, as well as biomaterials. Dr. Maçon is a Principal Investigator at Noraker -Innovative Materials, based in Lyon, France, one of the industrial partners of AMITIE.

• Ms Agata Sotniczuk (Warsaw University of Technology) completes KMM-VIN fellowship
  Ms Agata Sotniczuk from Warsaw University of Technology, Poland (supervisor: Prof. Halina Garbacz), has completed her research stay at the Institute of Biomaterials in the framework of the Research Fellowships programme of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials AISBL (KMM-VIN). The main objective of her stay at our Institute was to design and produce chitosan (CS) - bioactive glass (BG) composite coatings on nanocrystalline pure titanium in order to increase opportunities for application in dental implantology. Electrophoretic deposition was the technique of choice to develop such coatings considering that this technique offers several advantages, being a cost effective, room temperature process. Further collaboration between the two groups will focus on investigating the bioactivity and antibacterial properties provided by the coatings.

• International Society for Biofabrication (ISBF) conference in Würzburg
  The 2018 International Conference of the International Society for Biofabrication (ISBF) was held on October 28-31 in Würzburg, Germany, chaired by Prof. J. Groll (University of Würzburg). Our Institute had a strong participation at the conference. Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker in the session "Biofabrication in Germany", where he presented the talk "Development of composite bioinks incorporating bioreactive inorganic particles". Dr. R. Detsch presented the oral contribution: "Engineering of vessel grafts using alginate di-aldehyde–gelatin bioinks", while there were also 5 poster presentations involving researchers of the Institute of Biomaterials. The Collaborative Research Centre SFB/TRR 225 "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models" was also highly visible at the conference, with a dedicated symposium and numerous oral contributions and posters presented by TRR225 researchers. In the photos, Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. J. Groll and Prof. J. Salber (University Medical Center Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum), and with the group of researchers from the Institute of Biomaterials (Susane Heid, Emine Karakaya, Jonas Hazur, PhD students, and Dr. R. Detsch), FAU (Dr. Annika Weigand, Dr. Ingo Thievessen) and with Dr. Jennifer Ritzer (University Hospital Würzburg), all members of TRR225.

• Prof. Boccaccini: invited speaker at University of Seville, Spain
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the Polytechnic School (Escuela Politecnica Superior, EPS), University of Seville, Spain, where he delivered the inaugural lecture at the opening ceremony of the doctoral program on Facilities and Industrial Systems, held on 31st October 2018. The title of his presentation was: BIOACTIVE MATERIALS AND BIOFABRICATION FOR TISSUE ENGINEERING: ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES. Prof. Boccaccini was hosted by Prof. Yadir Torres, Department of Engineering and Materials Science and Transportation. In the photo, Prof. Boccaccini with members of EPS and symposium participants.

October 2018

• Visit from Baghdad
  Researches from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq, are currently visiting the Institute of Biomaterials. We welcome Prof. Dr. Mohammed Jasim Kadhim Al-Tameemi, Director of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Center, and Mr. Ayad Naseef Jasim, PhD student, Department of Production Engineering and Metallurgy, Univ. of Technology, Baghdad. We plan collaboration with the group of Prof. Mohammed Jasim Kadhim Al-Tameemi in the field of bioactive nanostructured coatings on metallic materials.

• Visit from Prague
  On 15-22 October 2018 we received the visit of Ms. Ing. Kristyna Svagrova, PhD student at University of Chemistry and Technology, VSCHT, Department of Glass and Ceramics, Prague, Czech Republic, working with Ass. Prof. Dana Rohanova, This visit was funded by the Technical Committee 04 (Bioglasses) of the International Commission on Glass (ICG), chaired by Professor Delia Brauer (Univ. of Jena). We collaborate with the research group of Prof. Rohanova in the field of characterisation of bioactivity of highly reactive bioactive glasses.

• Our new article on Boron containing bioactive glasses published in JNCS
  Our paper "Dissolution of borate and borosilicate bioactive glasses and the influence of ion (Zn, Cu) doping in different solutions" [1], co-authored by Ms K. Schuladen, Dr. X. Wang, Prof. L. Hupa and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, has been published in J. Non_-Cryst. Solids. The paper reports a comprehensive study on the dissolution behaviour of different silicate, borate and borosilicate glasses doped with Zn and/or Cu. The dissolution kinetics was found to depend strongly on glass composition and dissolution media. For instance, Zn could be released under acidic conditions, not during dissolution in SBF or TRIS. The results are relevant for the applications of this class of bioactive glasses in tissue engineering and wound healing. The study is part of our on-going collaboration with the bioactive glass research group of Prof Leena Hupa at the Johan Gadolin Process Chemistry Centre at Åbo Akademi University, Finland, and resulted from the visit of Ms Schuhladen to the Johan Gadolin Process Chemistry Centre// underthe Johan Gadolin Scholarship Programme. [1] K. Schuhladen, et al., Dissolution of borate and borosilicate bioactive glasses and the influence of ion (Zn, Cu) doping in different solutions, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 502 (2018) 22-34.

• Master students from Mar del Plata, Argentina: I.DEAR program
  We welcome the visiting Master students from National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Argentina, Camila A. Aranda, Martin Melucci, and Rocío Sabbatella, who will carry out academic activities in our Institute in the framework of the student exchange I.DEAR program ("Ingenieure Deutschland - Argentina") in Materials Science and Engineering. The I.DEAR program is an international collaboration funded by the German-Argentine University Centre (CUAA-DAHZ) involving UNMdP, University of Saarland and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The program focuses on the exchange of Master students and scientific personnel in the field of materials science and engineering between UNMdP and the German universities.

• Darmstadt-Erlangen collaboration on bioactive glasses: DFG project meeting in Erlangen
  The latest progress meeting of the DFG funded project on ion-doped bioactive glasses with outstanding high temperature crystallization resistance took place on 22nd October 2018 at the Institute of Biomaterials. The project involves collaboration between researchers from TU Darmstadt, Institute for Materials Science, Dispersive Solids (Head: Prof. R. Riedel) and from the FAU Institute of Biomaterials. Mr Fangtong Xie (PhD student, TU Darmstadt), Ms Marcela Arango Ospina (PhD student, FAU Institute of Biomaterials, via skype connection) and principal investigators Dr. Emanuel Ionescu (TU Darmstadt) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU Institute of Biomaterials) (pictured) attended the meeting. This 3-year project is developing novel bioactive glasses containing biologically active ions for tissue engineering applications. The glasses are synthesized at TU Darmstadt and they are characterized for their intrinsic bioactive behavior and cytocompatibility at the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen.

• Strategy meeting 2018 of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
  Prof. Boccaccini chaired the strategy meeting of the Department of the Materials Science and Engineering held on 18-19 October 2018. The Department is the largest materials science/engineering university department of its type in Germany, formed by nine Institutes with 18 full-time professors and approximately 170 research staff, providing outstanding technical breadth across all aspects of materials science in both research and teaching. In the group photo some of the participants at the meeting, also pictured: Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. Virtanen, Dr. J. Will, Prof. Webber, Prof. De Ligny, Prof. Wolf, Prof. Schubert.

• We welcome our international guests, visiting researchers and students, in winter term 18/19
  Numerous researchers and students have selected the Institute of Biomaterals carry out their research projects during the winter term 18/19. We welcome Camila A. Aranda, Martin Melucci, and Rocío Sabbatella, visiting students, Univ. of Mar del Plata, Argentina, Dr. Miguel Fuentes Chandia, visiting researcher, Chile, Jennifer Hermann Muñoz and July Andrea Rincón López, visiting PhD students from Cinvestav Querétaro, Mexico, Diana Mireya Ayala Valderrama, visiting PhD student, Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, Lucia Brunetti, vsiting student, University of Bologna, Italy, Dian Juliadmi, visiting PhD student, Andalas University, Indonesia, Dr. Zuzana Neščáková and Dr. Jozef Prachár, visiting researchers, Alexander-Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, Agata Sotniczuk, visiting PhD student, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, Karolina Stepien, visiting student from West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland, Eyerusalem Adefrs, PhD student, Wollo University, Ethiopia. They are working on topics as varied as bioactive glass scaffolds, electrophoretic deposition of bioactive coatings on Mg alloys, mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles, electrospinning of biopolymers and composites, geopolymers, biofabrication and 3D printing of hydrogels as well as cell biology characterisation of a variety of biomaterials. Welcome to Erlangen !

• Prof. Emilio Alarcon (University of Ottawa, Canada) visits our Institute
  Prof. Emilio Alarcon, Principal Investigator and Laboratory Director, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 15-16 October 2018. He presented the invited seminar "Nanoengineered Materials for Tissue Engineering". We plan collaboration with the group of Prof. Alarcon in the field of biomaterials for soft tissue repair.

• Researchers from Centre for Functional and Surface Functionalized Glass (FunGlass), Trencin, Slovakia, start training period in the Institute of Biomaterials
  We are hosting 4 senior researchers from the Centre for Functional and Surface Functionalized Glass (FunGlass) at Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, in the framework of our international collaboration in the field of bioactive glasses and biomedical materials. Currently Dr. Martin Michalek, acting Head of the FunGlass Department of Biomaterials and other 2 senior researchers, Dr. Jozef Prachar and Dr. Si Chen, are carrying out a research training period at the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen in different areas of bioactive glass and technology, developing novel bioactive glasses and composites for regenerative medicine, wound healing and drug delivery. In addition, Dr. Zuzana Neščáková is concluding her 1-year training in the general field of sol-gel bioactive glasses (all pictured with Dr. Liliana Liverani and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini). Our Institute leads the training of personnel (PhD students, Post-docs) of the FunGlass Centre in the field of Biomaterials and Prof. Boccaccini is a partner project co-director and member of the Centre's scientific board.

• 2nd BioMaH conference "Biomaterials and Novel Technologies for Healthcare" in Frascati, Italy
  The _2nd International Biennal Conference BioMaH:"Biomaterials and Novel Technologies for Healthcare" was held in Frascati, Italy, on October 8-11, 2018. Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was one of the Conference presidents, together with Dr. Mauro Alini (AO Foundation, Switzerland), while Dr. Julietta Rau (CNR, Italy) was the Conference Chair. Prof. Boccacccini chaired scientific sessions and presented two oral contributions: "Doping bioactive glasses with biologically active ions for emerging tissue engineering applications" and "Biofabrication with alginate Di-Aldehyde/Gelatine (ADA/GEL) hydrogels: Progress, Applications and Challenges". Our Institute was represented also by Ms Vera Bednarzig (PhD student) and Mr Lukas Gritsch (PhD student) who gave the oral presentations: "3D Bioplotting of the recovery of cranial bone defects on the basis of titanium and hydrogel composites" and "New ways to fight bacteria: towards the application of therapeutic ion release and polyester based biomaterials for antibiotic-free antibacterial devices", respectively. In the photos, Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. M. Alini, Dr. J. Rau, and invited speakers Prof. M. Vallet-Regi, Prof. F. Rustichelli, Prof. L. Ambrosio, Prof. P. Netti, Prof. N. Tirelli, Dr. A. Tampieri, Dr. M. Montazerian. The 3rd BioMaH conference is planned for 2020 in a city in Italy to be determined.
  
  

• EU ITN project CoACH Industrial Workshop "Advanced Materials for High Growth Industries", in Turin, Italy
  The Industrial Workshop "Advanced Materials for High Growth Industries: From the PhD to Industrial Innovation" of the European Training Network (ETN) "Advanced glasses, Composites And Ceramics for High growth Industries European" (CoACH) was held at Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, on 3-4 October 2018. CoACH provides career development and training opportunities for researchers who are in their first 4 years of research career in both the public and private sectors. The project is funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks action (MSCA-ITNs). Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is the leader of CoACH Work Package dealing with biomaterials and he chaired the "Materials for Healthcare" session at the meeting. In the photos Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. Federico Smeacetto (Polytechnic of Turin) and Dr. Dino Boccaccini (Tecno Italia S.r.l., invited speaker), Prof. Monica Ferrari (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy), Prof. Milena Salvo (Polytechnic of Turin and project coordinator) and with Ms Rocio Tejido-Rastrilla, Ms Nicoletta Toniolo and Ms Francesca Ciraldo, PhD students supervised by Prof. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini celebrates 20 years of membership of the UK Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3)
  Prof. Boccaccini joined the London based Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in 1998. At the time Boccaccini was research associate at Ilmenau University of Technology. After moving to Imperial College London, Department of Materials (2000), he was elevated to Fellow of IOM3 in 2004. Prof. Boccaccini has been very active as IOM3 member/fellow, particularly serving in the Council of the London Materials Society (LMS), the London chapter of IOM3, since 2002. Prof. Boccaccini was Chair of LMS Council in 2005-2006. Boccaccini has received several awards of IOM3, including the Verulam Medal and Prize (2003), the Ivor Jenkins Medal (2010) and the Pfeil Award (2016). Prof. Boccaccini said: "I am very proud of my long association with IOM3, specially my Fellowship and participation in the LMS. The Institute has been very important during different stages in my career, obviously very relevant during my 10 years at Imperial College London, but also later, since I moved to Erlangen".
  
  

• Materials Science and Engineering Congress (MSE 2018) in Darmstadt
  The Materials Science and Engineering (MSE 2018) congress was held in Darmstadt, Germany on 26-28 Sept. 2018 (chair: Prof. Frank Mücklich, Univ. of Saarland). Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the scientific commitee of MSE 2018 and coordinator of the program related to the participation of Argentina as partner country in MSE 2018. collaborating with Dr. Flavio Soldera (Univ. Saarland), Prof. Andres Lasagni (TU Dresden), Dr. Fernando Lasagni (Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies, Materials and Processes, Spain) and Prof. Guillermo Requena (DLR, Cologne). More than 60 researchers from Argentina attended the conference, including professors, researchers and students. Prof. Boccaccini was also a co-organiser of the Symposium: "Argentinean-German collaboration in Materials Science and Engineering" together with Prof. Sonia Bruehl, National Univ. of Technology (UTN), Argentina, and Prof. Roberto Arce (president of SAM, Argentine Materials Society). In this symposium Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Engineering Li-delivering bioactive glass-ceramic scaffolds for regenerative medicine". Boccaccini was also co-organiser of the Topic "Biomaterials", and chaired the symposium "Biomaterials Applications". Here he delivered the oral contribution "Novel Multifunctional NanocompositeScaffolds As Matrices for Drug Delivery and Bone Tissue Engineering". Prof. Boccaccini chaired also the plenary session in which Prof. Mirta I. Aranguren (Univ. of Mar del Plata, Argentina) gave a plenary talk. The participation of our Institute at MSE 2018 was strong, with oral contributions of Ms Vera Bednarzig (PhD student), and a poster presentations of Ms Diana Ayala (visiting PhD student). Other joint contributions with participation of our Institute were the presentations of Prof. Josefina Ballarre (visiting professor), Prof. Gustavo Abraham (INTEMA, Argentina) and Ms Laura Dittler (former visiting PhD student). A poster was also presented in collaboration with Prof. Viviana Mourino (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina). In addition, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini delivered the invited talk "Benefits and challenges of researching in an international context: the globalized professor" to students and young researchers participating at the Networking Symposium "International Opportunities for Young Researchers".
  
  

• I.DEAR project meeting in Darmstadt
  In the framework of the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE 2018) congress, held in Darmstadt, Germany on 26-28 Sept. 2018, a meeting of principal investigators of the I.DEAR program ("Ingenieure Deutschland - Argentina") in Materials Science Engineering took place. This I.DEAR program is an international collaboration involving the National Institute for Materials Technology (INTEMA) National University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Argentina, University of Saarland and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The program focuses on the exchange of Master students and scientific personnel in the field of materials science and engineering between UNMDP and the German universities. Prof. Silvia Simieson (INTEMA, UNMDP), Prof. Gustavo Abraham (INTEMA, UNMDP), Prof. María Andrea Camerucci (INTEMA, UNMDP), Dr. Flavio Soldera (Univ. of Saarland) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU) attended the meeting in which the progress of the I.DEAR program was discussed.
  
  

• Prof Gustavo Abraham (INTEMA, Argentina) visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  In the framework of the I.DEAR program ("Ingenieure Deutschland - Argentina") http://www.cuaa-dahz.org/foerderprogramme/foerderung-im-idear-programm-ingenieure-deutschland-argentina/ in Materials Science Engineering between National University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP) http://www.mdp.edu.ar/index.php/en/ and FAU, involving the exchange of Master students and scientific personnel between the two institutions, Prof. Gustavo Abraham, National Institute for Materials Technology (INTEMA), Faculty of Engineering (UNMDP), leader of the Biomedical Polymers Division visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 30 Sept. - 2nd October 2018. The successful I.DEAR program in Materials Science and Engineering is funded by the German-Argentinean University Centre (DAHZ) , http://www.cuaa-dahz.org/ueber-das-dahz/unsere-ziele/ and it is in its 4th year, involving also University of Saarland. We collaborate with the group of Prof. Abraham in several projects in the field of biopolymers and electrospinning for tissue engineering scaffolds. Prof. Abraham presented the invited seminar "Polymer-based matrices for biomedical applications".
  
  

September 2018

• EU project RESLAG progress meeting in London, UK
  The 6th Follow-up project meeting of the EU Horizon 2020 funded https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/196819_en.html project RESLAG ("Turning waste from steel industry into a valuable low cost feedstock for energy intensive industry") http://www.reslag.eu/ took place at Imperial College London (UK) on 24-25 September 2018. The project has received funding from H2020-EU. Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini represented our Institute in this meeting. Our participation involves the thermal characterization of waste derived materials being produced by academic and industrial partners of the consortium and we collaborate closely with the group of Dr. Marjaana Karhu, at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd in Tampere, Finland. RESLAG is coordinated by CIC Energigune ,http://www.cicenergigune.com/en/sobre-energigune/ the energy research centre with headquarters in the Basque Country (Spain). In the picture Dr. Karhu and Prof. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Most cited paper in Acta Biomaterialia
  Our review paper "Bioactive glasses beyond bone and teeth: Emerging applications in contact with soft tissues", authors: Valentina Miguez-Pacheco, Larry L. Hench, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Acta Biomat. 13 (2015) 1-15, is the most cited paper published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia considering papers published since 2015, according to SCOPUS. This is a review paper which comprehensively covers the applications of bioactive glasses in soft tissue engineering, including wound healing, skin regeneration and nerve repair among others. Prof. Boccaccini, corresponding author, says: we are very proud of this review article and the impact is having in the biomaterials community. It captures an original idea of the inventor of bioactive glass, Prof. Larry Hench, in that this class of materials, in certain compositions, can interact also positively with soft tissues, e.g. by releasing biologically active ions, which opens applications in several areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This paper has a special signficance for us, as it is our last collaboration with Prof. Larry Hench, who sadly passed away in Dec. 2015, shortly after the article was published.
  
  

• Visit of a delegation of engineering students from Argentina
  On 19-20 September 2018 Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini (Head, Institute of Biomaterials, and Chair, FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering), hosted a delegation of engineering students from Argentina, with sponsorship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Sixteen students of materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering of different Argentinean universities took part in this study trip, coordinated by Prof. Agustín Sisamon, from National University of Mar del Plata(UNMDP). The students attended presentations of academic staff members of the different Chairs of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering and visited laboratories of all Institutes. The program included also presentations of Ms L. Freitag of the Bavarian University Centre for Latinamerica (BayLat) and by Ms C. Barnickel from the FAU course Medical Engineering. From our Institute, Dr. Aldo Leal-Egana, Dr. Liliana Liverani, Prof. Josefina Ballarre (UNMDP) and Ms Lena Vogt (PhD student), in addition to Prof. Boccaccini, gave presentations about the latest research projects in the Institute. Further stations of the study trip includes visits to the University of Saarland and to the Technical University of Dresden. Moreover the visiting students will attend the Congress Materials Science and Engineering (MSE 2018) in Darmstadt, on 26-28 September 2018, of which Argentina is partner country, this part of the MSE 2018 program includes the organisation of the symposium: "Argentine-German collaboration in Materials Science and Engineering", coordinated by Prof. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Visit from KU Leuven
  Prof. dr. ir. Annabel Braem from KU Leuven, Department of Materials Engineering, Belgium, is visiting our Institute. We are collaborating with Prof. Braem in the field of alternating current electrophoretic deposition (AC-EPD) of biomolecules. Specifically Prof. Braem is developing a design of experiments approach for the AC-EPD of biological molecules on titanium surfaces to enhance the functionalities of metallic implants.
  
  

• Marcela Arango Ospina wins Society of Glass Technology (UK) Oldfield Award 2018
  Ms Marcela Arango Ospina, currently PhD student in our Institute, who graduated from the FAU Elite Master program Advanced Materials and Processes (MAP), has won the Society of Glass Technology (UK) Oldfield Award 2018 (1st prize) for her Master thesis: "Design and development of Ag-doped mesoporous bioactive glass based scaffolds derived from natural marine sponges". The thesis was carried out at the Institute of Biomaterials (LS Biomaterialien, WW7), under supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The award is open to students worldwide who have carried a final research project related to any experimental, theoretical or practical work in the field of amorphous solids, glasses, glass-ceramics or sol-gel materials, glass history and archaeology or glass arts, technology or design. The award consists of a cash prize, one year’s membership to the Society and the invitation to present the results at the Annual Conference of the Society, held in Cambridge, UK. We congratulate Marcela on this wonderful achievement!
  
  

• EU Network "HyMedPoly" Special Symposium at ESB 2018
  The special symposium "Drug-free antibacterial hybrid biopolymers for medical applications" (LINK: https://hymedpoly.eu/2018/05/18/hymedpoly-presents-special-symposium-at-esb2018/ ) of the EU ETN Network HyMedPoly ("Drug-Free Antibacterial Hybrid Biopolymers for Medical Applications") (LINK: https://hymedpoly.eu/ ) took place on 11 September 2018 in the framework of the 29th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), (LINK: http://www.esb2018maastricht.org/ ) held in Maastricht, Netherlands. The symposium was chaired by the Network coordinators Prof. Ipsita Roy (University of Westminster, UK) and Prof. Xiang Zhang (Lucideon, UK). Prof. Boccaccini was one of the keynote speakers of the symposium, he presented the lecture: "Antibacterial Inorganic Biomaterials". All doctoral students in the project presented posters summarizing their latest results. HyMedPoly aims to develop new therapies based on biomedical drug-free antibacterial polymers and inorganic materials for drug-free antibacterial hybrid biopolymers for treating infections.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini: Keynote speaker at ESB 2018
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was a keynote speaker in two special symposia at the 29th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), held in Maastricht, Netherlands, on 9 - 13 September 2018. He presented the keynote entitled "Bioactive glass nanoparticles with enhanced functionalities: progress and opportunities in biomedical applications" at the symposium "Biomaterials based on colloidal building blocks", sponsored by the Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, and chaired by Prof. Sander Leeuwenburgh. His other keynote presentation was in the symposium "Drug-free antibacterial hybrid biopolymers for medical applications", a special symposium of the EU ETN project "HyMedPoly".The title of this presentation was: "Antibacterial Inorganic Biomaterials". Professor Boccaccini is a member of the ESB Council http://www.esbiomaterials.eu/Cms/Content/5.
  
  

• 29th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB 2018) in Maastricht
  Our Institute had a large representation and visibility at the 29th Annual Conference of the _European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) , held in Maastricht, Netherlands, on 9 - 13 September 2018, chaired by Prof. Pamela Habibovic, University of Maastricht. Prof. Boccaccini was a member of the International Advisory Committee of the conference and he was involved as keynote speaker in two special symposia, namely "Biomaterials based on colloidal building blocks", sponsored by the Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering and hosted by Prof. Sander Leeuwenburgh, Radboud University Medical Center, and "Drug-free antibacterial hybrid biopolymers for medical applications", a special symposium of the EU ETN project "HyMedPoly". Prof. Boccaccini also co-chaired the session "Jean Leray Award 2018 " together with Prof. L. Ambrosio (former ESB president (pictured) (award winner: Prof. Amir Zadpoor, Delft University of Technology). Dr. Liliana Liverani presented the lecture: "Future trends in the electrospinning technique: The importance of using benign solvents" in the session "Electrospinning techniques and applications". Moreover five PhD students of the Institute of Biomaterials, namely Lukas Gritsch, Agata Lapa, Maqbool Muhammad, Binh Phan (Hana) and Seray Kaya (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) presented posters with the latest results of their projects in the framework of the HyMedPoly EU network. Other posters were presented by Dr. Kai Zheng (senior researcher) and Ms Jingjing Wu, Ms Jennifer Hermann and Ms Andrea Rincon (visiting PhD students in our Institute) (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini). Professor Boccaccini is a member of the ESB Council http://www.esbiomaterials.eu/Cms/Content/5 and in this capacity he is the liaison officer for the ESB journal "Biomaterials Science" and with the Young Scientists Forum (YSF).
  
  

• Symposium on Electrophoretic Deposition at ISE 2018 in Bologna
  Prof. Boccaccini coordinated the symposium "Electrophoretic Deposition of Functional Coatings: from Materials Science to Biotechnology", which was organised in the framework of the 69th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE 2018), held in Bologna, Italy, on 2-7 September 2018. The symposium co-organsires were Prof. Begona Ferraris (Institute of Ceramics and Glasses, Madrid, Spain) (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) and Dr. Carmen Galassi (Italian National Research Council, Italy). Ms Svenja Heise (PhD student, pictured) presented the oral contribution from our Institute: "Electrophoretic deposition of gelatin/chitosan coatings with drug release capabilities". Moreover the poster "Fabrication and Characterization of Electrophoretically Deposited Chitosan-Hydroxyapatite CompositeCoatings on Anodic Titanium Dioxide Layers" by Anna Pawlik el al., with Prof. Boccaccini as co-author, was presented.
  
  

August 2018

• PR activities of Prof. Boccaccini in Argentina
  Prof. Boccaccini was interviewed by the local newspaper in San Rafael, Argentina, where he highlighted the I.DEAR student exchange program between Argentina and Germany of which the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering is a partner in collaboration with National University of Mar del Plata (Argentina) and University of Saarland. Prof. Boccaccini was also invited to attend a meeting of Rotary Club San Rafael Este (picture).
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini visits National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO), Mendoza, Argentina
  On 27th August 2018, Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the CONICET Laboratory of Integration of Cellular Signals at the Institute for Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO), Mendoza, Argentina, led by Dr. Diego Bustos. We collaborate with the group of Dr. Bustos in the field of: "Topographic and compositional effects of nanofibrous matrices during in situ differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells" in the framework of a MinCyT-DAAD funded project in which also colleagues of National University of Mar del Plata (INTEMA, Dr. G. Abraham) participate. Prof. Boccaccini presented the invited seminar: "Bioactive materials and biofabrication for tissue engineering applications". (Photo: Dr. Bustos, Prof. Boccaccini and members of the research group).
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini visits FCAI, National University of Cuyo, San Rafael, Argentina
  Prof. Boccaccini visited the Faculty of Applied Sciences in Industry (FCAI), National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO), San Rafael, Argentina, where he met Ms Silvia Clavijo and Dr. Maria Jose Santillan (UNCUYO). Ms Clavijo is carrying out her doctoral thesis in the field of electrophoretic deposition of composite coatings for orthopedic applications, under the supervision of Dr. Santillan and co-supervised by Prof. Boccaccini. Prof. Boccaccini met also Dr. Ing. Daniel Alfredo Castro, Dean of FCAI and Dr. Alicia Ordonez de Yapur, former Dean of FCAI.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini visited National Univ. of Technology (UTN) FR San Rafael, Argentina
  On 22nd August 2018, Prof. Boccaccini visited research laboratories at National University of Technology (UTN) FR San Rafael, in San Rafael, Argentina, where he met research collaborators. He visited the research group on Complex Systems (SICO) led by Prof. Dr. Fabricio O. Sanchez Varretti. Prof. Boccaccini also visited the research group led by Dr. Claudio F. Narambuena, with whom we collaborate in the field of modeling of colloidal biomaterials. In the photos: Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. Sanchez Varretti, Dr. Claudio Narambuena, and graduate and post-graduate students (research group members).
  
  

• PLOS ONE - Call for Papers “Open Biomaterials Research”.
  Guest Editors: Aldo R. Boccaccini, Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, Michael McAlpine, Jie Song,
  We invite submissions on research about the design and fabrication of biomaterials as well as applications of biomaterials in biomedicine that promote the principles of Open Science. Deadline for Submission: November 15, 2018

• Visit from East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai
  In the framework of our academic exchange program "Synergistic effects of bioactive implanted materials, trace elements and small molecules promoting bone regeneration and osseointegration under osteoporotic conditions" with the Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Materials of Ministry of Education inEast China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China, we received the visit of Prof. Jie Wei, Professor at School of Materials Science and Engineering, ECUST. He presented the invited seminar: "Bioactive biomaterials for bone repair".
  We are currently collaborating with the group of Prof. Wei in the development and characterization of bioactive composite materials for improved bone repair strategies. Two PhD students of ECUST are visiting our Institute: Mr Liang Cai and Mr Xinglong Hu (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and Prof. Wei). The project is supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Our latest paper with the group of Prof. Wei has been recently published [1].

  [1] J. Zhang, et al., Highly dispersed lithium doped mesoporous silica nanospheres regulating adhesion, proliferation, morphology, ALP activity and osteogenesis related gene expressions of BMSCs, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 170 (2018) 563-571.

  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini in the BAYLAT's Board of Directors for the period 2018-2021
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini has been confirmed by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (StMWK) as member of the Board of Directors (deputy chair) of the Bavarian University Centre for Latin America (BAYLAT) for a new period (2018-2021). BAYLAT is a service centre established by StMWK to support and promote the international collaboration and academic networking among Bavarian and Latin American universities. The Head Office of BAYLAT is situated at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the president of BAYLAT's board of directors is Prof. Andrea Pagni, Institute for Romance Studies, FAU.

• Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini interviewed by German Materials Society (DGM)
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was interviewed by the German Materials Society (DGM) as Chair of the Argentina-Germany Organizing Committee of Materials Science and Engineering Congress 2018 (MSE 2018), to be held in Darmstadt, Germany on 26th-28th September 2018. Argentina is the partner country of MSE 2018 and Prof. Boccaccini chairs the committee in charge of coordinating the participation of Argentinean researchers in MSE 2018. The activities will include a number of seminars for young researchers, the organisation of a Symposium to showcase the strong collaboration in materials science and engineering between Germany and Argentina and the co-organisation of several technical symposia at MSE 2018. The SAM (Asociacion Argentina de Materiales) is the partner institution in Argentina for MSE 2018. More than 80 materials scientists from Argentina, including 20 Master students of Materials Science and Engineering, will attend MSE 2018, with support of DGM and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Prof. Boccaccini is an advisor to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina, and Scientific Coordinator of the Network of Argentinean Scientists in Germany. The interview is available in English and German.
  
  

• Visit from China
  We received the visit of researchers from the _School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China, in the framework of the DAAD/CSC funded project in the field of nanostructured bioactive coatings for orthopedic applications. Ms Hongfei Qi (PhD student) and Prof. Liting Lu are visiting the Institute of Biomaterials, pictured with Ms Svenja Heise and Mr Juncen Zhou (FAU investigators in the project), and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The project, which is in its second year, involves the development of novel organic-inorganic coatings by electrophoretic deposition and dip-coating methods, also in collaboration with the group of Prof. Virtanen in the FAU Chair for Surface Science and Corrosion.
  
  

• Dr. Agnieszka Witecka, Polish Academy of Sciences, finalizes KMM VIN fellowship in the Institute of Biomaterials
  Dr. Agnieszka Witecka, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT), Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, was recipient of a research fellowship of the European Virtual Institute KMM-VIN AISBL Mobility Programme to carry out research in the Institute of Biomaterials. Dr. Witecka investigated the development and characterization of novel electrophoretically deposited chitosan (CS) - bioactive glass (BG) composite coatings on WE43 magnesium alloy substrates for biomedical applications. The CS+BG coatings were evaluated in terms of their ability to induce surface hydroxyapatite formation in biological fluids while controlling the substrate degradation. The collaboration with IPPT and Dr. Witecka will continue in this field with focus on the biological response to the developed CS-BG coatings.
  
  

• Doctoral thesis success: Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman
  On 31st July 2018 Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: "Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of bioactive (nano) structured composite coatings on metallic substrates and their corrosion, degradation, biological and wear resistance", carried out under supervision of Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini in our Institute. Members of the examination board were, in addition to Prof. Boccaccini, Prof. Tomasz Moskalewicz (AGH University, Krakow, Poland), Prof. Sanna Virtanen (Chair for Surface Science and Corrosion, FAU), Prof. Nicolas Vogel (Department CBI, FAU) and Prof. Peter Greil (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) (pictured). Professor Boccaccini highlighted the important work carried out by Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman during the last years, contributing strongly to the electrophoretic deposition activities in our institute, having been involved in numerous projects beyond his own doctoral thesis project, and contributing to host numerous visiting students and researchers that have come to our Institute to carry out research on EPD. Several publications have resulted from the research results of Muhammad Atiq (for example [1, 2]) and some other papers are in preparation. We congratulate Muhammad Atiq on this achievement and wish him good luck in his post-doctoral career.
  
  [1] MA Ur Rehman, et al., Antibacterial and Bioactive Coatings Based on Radio Frequency Co-Sputtering of Silver Nanocluster-Silica Coatings on PEEK/Bioactive Glass Layers Obtained by Electrophoretic Deposition, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 9 (2017), 32489-32497.
  
  [2] MA Ur Rehman, et al., Electrophoretic deposition of PEEK/bioactive glass composite coatings for orthopedic implants: A design of experiments (DoE) study, Materials & Design 130 (2017) 223-230.
  
  

• First Periodical Reviewing Meeting of FunGlass project in Trencin, Slovakia
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Dr. Liliana Liverani attended the First periodical meeting of FunGlass (Centre for Functional and Surface Functionalized Glass), which took place at Alexander Dubček University of Trencin, Trencin, Slovakia, on July 25-26, 2018, with the presence of auditing reviewers and representatives of the European Commission and hosted by the Centre's director Prof. Dusan Galusek (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini and Dr. Liverani). The progress of the FunGlass project during its first reporting period was evaluated. The project achievements, accomplished objectives and milestones for the period were presented and discussed. Our Institute leads the training of personnel (PhD students, Post-docs) of the Centre in the field of Biomaterials and Prof. Boccaccini is a partner project co-director and member of the Centre's scientific board. A complete review of the positive outcomes of the reviewing meeting is available.
  
  

July 2018

• Doctoral thesis success: Nicoletta Toniolo
  Nicoletta Toniolo, who carried out her doctoral thesis at our Institute, under academic of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, successfully defended her thesis on 27th July 2018. Her thesis entitled: “Novel geopolymers incorporating silicate waste” was carried out in the framework of the Horizon 2020 ETN EU project "Advanced glasses, Composites And Ceramics for High growth Industries - CoACH", in collaboration with Prof. E. Bernardo (University of Padova, Italy), Prof. Ivo Dlouhy (IPM, Brno, Czech Republic) and the industrial partner SASIL S.p.A., Italy. Prof. Cristina Leonelli (Univ. of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, Italy), Prof. Enrico Bernardo (University of Padova, Italy), Prof. Martin Hartmann (CBI Department, FAU), Prof. Kyle Webber (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) and Prof. Boccaccini were the members of the examination board. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the outstanding research work carried out by Nicoletta, who effectively established the geopolymers laboratory in our Institute which has opened new opportunities for experimental research projects in this exciting and relevant research field. Several scientific papers have resulted from Nicoletta’s thesis, including a comprehensive review paper [1, 2], which appears as the highest downloaded paper of the journal Ceramics International during the last months. We congratulate Nicoletta for her achievements and wish her all the best in her future career.
  
  [1] Toniolo, N., et al., Fly-ash-based geopolymers: How the addition of recycled glass or red mud waste influences the structural and mechanical properties, J. Ceram. Sci. Technol. 8 (2017) 411-420.
  
  [2] Toniolo, N., Boccaccini, A. R., Fly ash-based geopolymers containing added silicate waste. A review, Ceramics International 43 (2017) 14545-14551.
  
  

• End of Summer Term 2018
  The end of the summer term 2018 was marked by the traditional Summer BBQ of the Institute of Biomaterials which took place on 18th July 2018. In his speech Prof. Boccaccini remarked the highly international character of our Institute, which is maintained over the years: people from seventeen nationalities were present at this meeting, including our visiting students and academic visitors.
  
  

• Most cited paper award: J. Non-Crystalline Solids
  On occasion of the 15th International Conference on the Physics of Non-Crystalline Solids and 14th Conference European Society of Glass, held in July 2018 in Saint Malo, France, the highly cited papers published in the J. of Non-Crystalline Solids were announced. In this category our paper entitled: "Bioactive glasses: Special applications outside the skeletal system", co-authored with colleagues of Polytechnic of Turin (F. Baino, G. Novajra and C. Vitale-Brovarone) and Ms V. Miguez-Pacheco (PhD student in our Institute) [1], received the 2017 Top Cited Article Award. The paper has been cited 69 times, according to Scopus.
  
  [1] F. Baino, et al., Bioactive glasses: Special applications outside the skeletal system, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 432, Part A (2016) 15-30.
  
  

• Visits from Italy
  On 26-27 July 2018 we received the visits of Prof. Cristina Leonelli, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, and of Prof. Enrico Bernardo, University of Padova, Italy. We have collaborated with Prof. Leonelli for more than 15 years, in the field of glass-ceramics and composites (for example our paper in [1]). Prof. Leonelli is also co-chair with Prof. Boccaccini of the International conference series on Geopolymers. With Prof. Bernardo our current collaboration is in the framework of two EC (Horizon 2020) projects, namely EU ETN CoACH "Advanced glasses, Composites And Ceramics for High growth Industries European Training Network" [2] and Teaming project "Centre for Functional and Surface-functionalized Glasses (FunGlass)".
  
  [1] V. Cannillo, et al., Numerical models for thermal residual stresses in Al2O3 platelets/borosilicate glass matrix composites, Materials Science and Engineering A 323 (2002) 246-250.
  
  [2] N. Toniolo, et al., Novel geopolymers incorporating red mud and waste glass cullet, Mater. Lett. 219 (2018) 152-154.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini: Invited speaker at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
  On 19th July 2018, Prof. Boccaccini was a guest speaker at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Medical School, in the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre Transregio 79 (SFB/TRR 79): "Materials for tissue regeneration within systemically altered bone“, hosted by Prof. Christian Heiss, Director of the Clinic for Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery and Spokesperson of TRR 79. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Bioactive materials and biofabrication for bone and soft tissue engineering". We plan collaboration with the research group led by Prof. Heiss (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) in the field of novel bioactive materials for bone repair.
  
  

• Junior Euromat Conference in Budapest
  The Junior EUROMAT 2018 Conference took place in Budapest, Hungary on 8-12 July, 2018. Over 250 young materials researchers from 32 countries attended the conference, which is one of the main events of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS). Prof. Boccaccini was one of the plenary speakers at the conference. He presented the lecture: "Bioactive materials and biofabrication for tissue engineering: progress and challenges". Our Institute was also represented by Ms Katharina Schuhladen (PhD student, pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) who presented the oral contribution: "Comparison of the dissolution behavior of silicate, borosilicate and borate bioactive glasses under static and dynamic condition". Prof. Boccaccini attended also the meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of FEMS, of which he is a member since 2017. He attended the FEMS General Assembly in which he was elected to serve for another two years in FEMS EC, representing the German Materials Society (DGM). Prof. Boccaccini pictured with Prof. Nikolaos Michailidis (chair of the scientific committee of EUROMAT 2019), Prof. Paloma Fernández Sánchez (FEMS president), Ms Monika Furko (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, and former visitor of our Institute), Dr. Stefan Klein (German Materials Society, DGM) and Ms Katharina Schuhladen (FAU Institute of Biomaterials).
  
  

• Dr. Harald Unterweger receives PhD Thesis Award
  The Ferrofluid Verein Deutschland e.V. presented the PhD Thesis Award 2018 to Dr. Harald Unterweger for his PhD thesis (Dr.-Ing.) completed in 2017 at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute of Biomaterials, in cooperation with the Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine (SEON) of the University Hospital Erlangen, under supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Alexiou. The award was presented at the occasion of the 17th German Ferrofluid Workshop which was held in Braunschweig on 18 July to 20 July 2018. In his doctoral thesis, Dr. Unterweger developed and characterized multimodal superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as a safe MRI contrast agent and for magnetic drug targeting. The most recent paper from his doctoral thesis has been recently published [1].
  
  1. Unterweger, H., et al., Dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging: evaluation of size-dependent imaging properties, storage stability and safety. International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2018. 13: p. 1899-1915.
  
  

• Visit from Colombia
  On 17-18 July 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Carlos Julio Cortes-Rodriguez, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, National University of Colombia, Bogota. We plan research collaborations with the group of Prof. Cortes-Rodriguez in the field of 3D printing combining mechatronics expertise in his group and our know-how in the field of hydrogels and biopolymers for biofabrication.
  
  

• Dr. Dana Rohanova, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  On 16th July 2018, Dr. Dana Rohanova, Assistant Professor, University of Chemistry and Technology, VSCHT, Department of Glass and Ceramics, Prague, Czech Republic, visited the Institute of Biomaterials and presented the invited seminar: "In vitro testing (with SBF) of inorganic biomaterials". Dr. Rohanova toured also our laboratories in Erlangen-West. We have been collaborating with Dr. Rohanova's group for 10 years, since the time Prof. Boccaccini's group was based at Imperial College London [1]. The interest of the collaboration is in the development of novel testing methods to characterize the biactivity of highly reactive biomaterials such as bioactive glass-ceramics [2, 3].
  
  [1] Rohanova, D., et al., TRIS buffer in simulated body fluid distorts the assessment of glass–ceramic scaffold bioactivity, Acta Biomat. 7, 2011, 2623-2630.
  
  [2] 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.
  
  [3] Rohanova, D., et al., Assessment of in vitro testing approaches for bioactive inorganic materials, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 432, Part A, 2016, 53-59.
  
  

• Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini to serve a second period as FEMS Executive Committee member representing DGM
  At the last General Assembly of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS), held in Budapest, Hungary, on 12th July 2018, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) was elected unanimously to serve a second period as member of the FEMS Executive Committee representing the German Materials Society (DGM) for the period 2019-2020. Commenting on his election, Prof. Boccaccini said:
  "It is a great honour to be able to represent the German Materials Society (DGM) at the Executive Committee (EC) of FEMS for a second period and I thank the trust of the DGM board. Indeed DGM is one of the largest Materials Science and Technology organizations in Europe and its active participation within the EC of FEMS has a significant impact on all future developments initiated or supported by FEMS."
  The corresponding press release of the German Materials Society (DGM) is available on their webpage.
  
  

• Summer Colloquium / Party of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini chaired the Summer Colloquium and Summer Party of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering that took place on 5th July 2018 with more than 100 participants. In his introduction Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the great achievements of our Department during the last year, which included several awards and prizes collected by students and researchers of the different Department's Institutes, the acquisition of substantial research funding and the achievement of high positions in national and international rankings (all documented in the Department webpage. The Colloquium included two invited speakers. Prof. Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Kiel University, described in her talk the synthesis and characterisation of a variety of nanostructured materials with multifunctionalities with focus on material-biology interactions while Prof. Wolfgang Peukert (Head, FAU Institute for Particle Technology) covered comprehensively the extensive field of particle science and technology highlighting also the strong interactions between Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, as one of the characteristic strengths of FAU, manisfested by the excellent collaboration between our Departments for example in the framework of the Cluster of Excellence EAM. Moreover prizes were awarded to outstanding students in Materials Science and Engineering and Nanotechnology, namely the awards of the company Semikron (represented by Mr Clemens Vennebusch), and the prizes of the Fa. Brose (represented by Prof. Dr. Peter Weidinger). One the Brose prizes was awarded to Ms Stefanie Klostermeier, who carried out her Bachelor thesis under supervision of Prof. Boccaccini in our Institute, in collaboration with Prof. Karl Meßlinger (Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine). Prof. Boccaccini acknowledged also the representatives of the Department's student committee (Fachschaft) for their great effort in the organisation of the Summer Party. The Department's webpage informs about further details of the event.
  
  

• Prof. Dr. Christine Selhuber-Unkel (Kiel University) visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  On 4-5 July 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Dr. Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Biocompatible Nanomaterials, Institute for Materials Science, Kiel University. Prof. Selhuber-Unkel was an invited speaker at the Colloquium/Summer Fest 2018 of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where she presented the lecture: "Dynamically responsive materials: from the nanoscale to biomaterials". We are collaborating with the group of Prof. Selhuber-Unkel in the field of porous inorganic nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
  
  

• 10th ICG Glass Summer School in Montpellier, France
  The 10th edition of the ICG (International Commission on Glass) Summer School "Glass formation, structure and properties" and "Bioglass / pharma glass" (LINK: please link the attached PDF here) was held in Montpellier, France, on 2-6 July 2018. Prof. Boccaccini and Ms Marcela Arango (PhD student) (pictured) attended the School. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lectures "Bioactive glass in composites" and "Bioactive glasses and angiogenesis". Prof. Boccaccini met also researchers and PhD students (Jozef Prachar, PhD, Fatih Kurtuldu, Petr Chrást, Susanta Sengupta), of the Centre for Functional and Surface Functionalized Glass (FunGlass), established in Trenčín, Slovakia, within a Horizon 2020 "Spreading the excellence and widening participation" (H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017). Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the scientific board of FunGlass (pictured).
  
  

• Highly cited paper in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
  Our paper "Chitosan membranes containing micro or nano-size bioactive glass particles: Evolution of biomineralization followed by in situ dynamic mechanical analysis" [1], which presents results of a collaborative research led by Prof. Joao Mano, University of Aveiro, Portugal, on chitosan-bioactive glass composites is listed as one of the most cited articles published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials since 2013, according to Scopus
  
  [1] S. G. Caridade et al., Chitosan membranes containing micro or nano-size bioactive glass particles: Evolution of biomineralization followed by in situ dynamic mechanical analysis, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials 20 (2013) 173-183.
  

• Visit from Portugal
  In the framework of our DAAD funded project on borosilicate sol-gel derived biomaterials with University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal, Jose Carlos Almeida and Soraia Coelho, Department Materials & Ceramic Engineering and CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 5-6 July 2018. The project involves the development and characterization of a new family of borosilicate bioactive glasses for applications including wound healing and bone regeneration. The bioactivity and cytotoxicity of the new materials, developed at CICECO, are being tested in our Institute. Before the end of the year researchers from our Institute will visit the partner institute in Portugal. In the picture Ms Soraia Coelho (Master student, UA), Ms Irem Uenalan (PhD student, FAU), Jose Almeida (UA) and Prof. A. R. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Visit from Mar del Plata, Argentina
  Dr. Agustina Aldana from "Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales" (INTEMA), National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina, visited the Institute of Biomaterials in June/July 2018 in the framework of the MinCyT-DAAD funded collaboration in the field of functional biopolymers for tissue engineering applications. In this project also the research group of Dr. Diego Bustos at IHEM-CONICET, National University of Cuyo, Argentina. We collaborate with the group of Dr. A. Aldana and Prof. Gustavo Abraham (Division of Bioimedical Polymers) at INTEMA in the field of biopolymer processing techniques, specifically electrospinning and 3D printing, for biomedical applications.
  
  

• Highly cited paper in International Journal of Applied Glass Science
  Our review paper entitled "Magnesium‐Containing Bioactive Glasses for Biomedical Applications" [1], co-authors: Mani Diba, Felipe Tapia, Leonie A. Strobel and Aldo R. Boccaccini, is listed as one of the three most cited articles in the International Journal of Applied Glass Science (IJAGS), based on citations published in the last three years (according to CrossRef). IJAGS is one of the 4 journals of the American Ceramic Society. This review covers comprehensively the expanding field of Mg containing bioactive glasses highlighting the distinct effects of Mg in areas such as bioactivity and cell response, with focus on applications as bone cements, bioactive coatings and scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
  
  [1] Diba. M., Magnesium‐Containing Bioactive Glasses for Biomedical Applications, Int. J. Appl. Glass Sci. 3 (2012) 221-253.
  

• Halle-Jena-Erlangen collaboration on bioactive glass-ceramics: DFG project meeting in Jena
  On 27th June 2018 Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Qaisar Nawaz (PhD student) attended the DFG project meeting at University of Jena, Otto Schott Institute of Materials Research, which was hosted by Professor Delia Brauer. This collaborative research effort in the field of advanced microstructural characterisation of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics involves researchers from Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS), Nanomaterials and Nanoanalytics (GNN) group (Head: Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche), the Institute of Biomaterials at FAU and the group of Prof. Delia Brauer. In the photo Prof. Delia Brauer (University of Jena), Dr. Altair Contreras (University of Jena), Dr. Christian Patzig (IMWS), Mr Qaisar Nawaz (Biomaterials Erlangen) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Pre-conditioning protocols for bioactive glasses: review paper in Acta Biomaterialia
  Our review paper: F. E. Ciraldo et al., "Tackling bioactive glass excessive in vitro bioreactivity: Preconditioning approaches for cell culture tests" has been recently published in Acta Biomaterialia [1]. The paper was written in collaboration by researchers of our Institute (Francesca Ciraldo, Dr. Elena Boccardi, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini) with Dr. Virginia Melli (Polytechnic of Milan, Italy) and Dr. Fabian Westhauser (University of Heidelberg and visiting researcher in our Institute). The paper reviews the large number of surface preconditioning treatments that have been proposed for bioactive glasses (BGs) prior to cell culture tests, discussing also criteria that can be used for the determination of the optimal pre-treatment conditions depending on composition and morphology of BGs.
  
  [1] F. E. Ciraldo, et al., Tackling bioactive glass excessive in vitro bioreactivity: Preconditioning approaches for cell culture tests, Acta Biomaterialia 75 (2018) 3–10.
  

June 2018

• EU project meeting HyMedPoly in Dublin
  The plenary project meeting of the EU Horizon 2020 project "HyMedPoly" (Drug-Free Antibacterial Hybrid Biopolymers for Medical Applications) (Marie Sklodowska‐Curie grant agreement No 643050) was held on 21-22 June 2018 at University College Dublin, Charles Institute of Dermatology, Dublin, Ireland, in conjunction with the Open Workshop "From Science to Products". The meeting was hosted by Irish partners Blafar. Principal investigators Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Dr. Jochen Salber (University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Germany), Prof. Ipsita Roy (Univ. of Westminster, UK), Prof. Atul Bhaskar (Univ. of Southampton, UK) and Prof. Gianluca Ciardelli (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy) attended the meeting. PhD students co-supervised by Prof. Boccaccini and researchers at industrial partner Lucideon, UK, Lukas Gritsch, Seray Kaya, Binh Phan, Muhammad Maqbool and Agata Lapa (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) attended the meeting and gave oral and poster presentations. A complete report of the meeting is available in the HyMedPoly project webpage.
  
  

• Visit from Spain: Prof. Jose Antonio Sanz-Herrera, University of Seville
  On 28th June 2018, we received the visit of Prof. Jose Antonio Sanz-Herrera, School of Engineering, University of Seville, Spain. Prof. Sanz-Herrera presented the invited talk: "Modeling of biomaterials: The use of computational simulation as a tool for research and design". We have been collaborating with Prof. Sanz-Herrera for almost 10 years in the field of computational modeling of biomaterials in contact with physiological fluids, initiated by a research visit of Prof. Sanz-Herrera to the group of Prof. Boccaccini at Imperial College London (UK) in 2009 [1]. In our last papers, computational models to investigate the dissolution of biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery [2] and for characterizing the degradation of Mg implants [3] have been proposed.
  
  [1] JA Sanz-Herrera, AR Boccaccini, Modelling bioactivity and degradation of bioactive glass based tissue engineering scaffolds, International Journal of Solids and Structures 48 (2), 257-268 (2011).
  
  [2] JA Sanz-Herrera, et al, Model of dissolution in the framework of tissue engineering and drug delivery, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, in press (2018).
  
  [3] JA Sanz-Herrera, et al., In silico design of magnesium implants: Macroscopic modeling, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 79, 181-188 (2018).
  
  

• Visit from Mexico: Prof. Juan Muñoz Saldaña
  On 26th June 2018, we received the visit of Prof. Juan Muñoz Saldaña, director of research, Multifunctional Ceramics, at Cinvestav Unidad Querétaro and of Centro Nacional de Proyección Térmica (CENAPROT), Mexico. We have established a collaboration agreement with Cinvestav Unidad Querétaro to enable double doctoral degrees with FAU. Our collaboration with the research group of Prof. Juan Muñoz Saldaña is in the field of ceramics and composites for bone tissue engineering applications with focus on combinations of bioactive and functional bioceramics.
  
  

• Academic visitor from Argentina: Prof. Josefina Ballarre, Georg Forster-Research Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  Dr. Josefina Ballarre, Professor of Materials Science at National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina, and staff scientist at the National Institute for Materials Technology (INTEMA), is visiting our Institute as holder of the prestigious Georg Forster-Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. We are collaborating with Prof. Ballarre in the field of bioactive coatings exhibiting enhanced osteogenic and antibacterial effects, based on sol-gel approaches, for dental and orthopedic applications.
  
  

• Visit of Dr. John Hardy, Lancaster University
  On 18-19 June 2018 we received the visit of Dr. John Hardy, Department of Chemistry and Materials Science Institute, Lancaster University, UK. John was an invited speaker at the Materials Science Colloquium of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at FAU, hosted by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The title of Dr. Hardy's presentation was: "Stimuli-responsive Polymer-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications". The presentation was also scheduled in the series of invited seminar of the SFB/Transregio TRR 225 („From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models“). We have started collaboration with the research group of Dr. Hardy in the field of functional biopolymer systems for soft tissue engineering.
  
  

• Prof. Peter Pivonka, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, visits the Institute of Biomaterials
  On 18-20 June 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Peter Pivonka, Professor and Chair, Biomedical Engineering and Spinal Disorders, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. We currently collaborate with the research group of Prof. Pivonka in the field of advanced characterisation of bioactive glass (BG) based scaffolds with and without polymer coatings for bone tissue engineering applications, particularly to assess the scaffold vascularization potential by determining the permeability of BG based scaffolds applying both modeling and experimental approaches. The project funded within the "Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme" of DAAD and Universities Australia involves exchange of early career researchers and professors between both institutions. Prof. Pivonka presented the seminar: "Microstructural characterisation of the osteocyte lacunar-canalicular network during aging using high resolution imaging – mechanobiological implications". He also visited the laboratories of the Institute of Biomaterials to plan further collaborative research between his group at QUT and our Institute.
  
  

• We welcome our international guests, visiting researchers and students in summer 2018
  Several researchers and students have chosen our Institute to carry out their research projects during this summer term. We welcome Ms Jingjing Wu, visiting PhD student from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, Ms Ines Jauregui Monasterio, Master student, University of Basque Country, Spain, Dr. Miguel Fuentes Chandia, visiting scientist, Chile, Mr Emre Yavuz, visiting PhD student, Akdeniz University, Turkey, Mr. Christian Augusto Silva Castellanos, visiting PhD student, National University of Colombia, Colombia, Mr. Alessandro Trattaro, Master student, University of Palermo, Italy, Mr. Xinglong Hu and Mr. Liang Cai, PhD students, East China University of Science and Technology, China, Ms Hyeryeon Oh, Bachelor student, Hochschule Rhein Waal Kleve, and S. Korea, Ms. Lucia Servello, Master student, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, Dr. Joana Mesquita-Guimarães, visiting post-doctoral researcher, University of Minho, Portugal and Prof. Josefina Ballarre, visiting professor, Univ. of Mar del Plata, Argentina. They are working on topics as varied as bioactive glass scaffolds, electrospinning of composite fibres, electrophoretic deposition of bioactive coatings, mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles, biofabrication and 3D printing of hydrogels as well as cell biology characterisation of bioceramics. Welcome to Erlangen !
  
  

• Visit to Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
  Ms Svenja Heise and Ms Katharina Schuladen (PhD students) visited in June 2018 the School of Life Sciences in Northwestern Polytechnical University, NPU, Xi’an, China, in the framework of the DAAD funded project "Fabrication and In vitro/In vivo osteogenesis of bioadaptive drug delivery coatings on Mg alloy implants". The program involves the exchange of PhD students and senior researchers between the two institutions, and aims at developing novel electrophoretic coatings on Mg alloy implants. From FAU side, both the Institute of Biomaterials (Head: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini) and the Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion (research group led by Prof. S. Virtanen) are involved. In the photo: Dr. Ning Cui, Ms Hongfei Qi, Dr. Kai Dong, Prof. Liting Lu (principal investigator at NPU), Svenja Heise, Katharina Schuhladen, Mr Juncen Zhou (PhD student in the FAU Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion), Dr. Qiang Chen (alumnus of the Institute of Biomaterials).
  
  

• Visit from Argentina: I.DEAR program
  In the framework of the I.DEAR program ("Ingenieure Deutschland - Argentina") in Materials Science Engineering between National University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP) and FAU, involving the exchange of Master students and scientific personnel between the two institutions, Prof. Dr. Miriam Castro, Faculty of Engineering (UNMDP) visited the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering, hosted by Prof. Kyle G. Webber, professor for Functional Ceramics. The successful I.DEAR program in Materials Science and Engineering is funded by the German-Argentinean University Centre (DAHZ), and is in its 4th year, involving also University of Saarland. In the photo, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU coordinator of the I.DEAR program and Chair of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering), Prof. Dr. Miriam Castro, Prof. Kyle Weber and Mr. Paul-Erich Öchsner (Chair for Glass and Ceramics).
  
  

• 14th Ceramics Congress CIMTEC 2018 in Perugia, Italy
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was the convener of the Focused Session CB-9 "Additive Manufacturing" at the 14th Ceramics Congress, CIMTEC 2018 held in Perugia, Italy, on June 4-8, 2018, under chairmanship of Prof. Pietro Vincenzini (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini). The oral contribution "Digital Printing of Glass-ceramic Glazes", a collaboration with University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, Italy, and other Italian partners, was presented by Dr. Maria Cannio (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini). A second presentation of our Institute was given my Ms Rocio Tejido-Rastrilla (PhD student, pictured with Prof. Boccaccini) on "Development and Characterization of Bioinspired Functional Coating on Different Substrates", presenting the latest results of her project in collaboration with Colorobbia Consulting, Italy, in the framework of ETN EU project CoACH. In the photos different colleagues pictured with Prof. Boccaccini, including Prof. S. Seal, Univ. of Central Florida, USA, Prof. Dachamir Hotza, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, Prof. N. Travitzky, FAU, Germany, Prof. Roger Narayan, UNC/NCSU, Raleigh NC, USA, Prof. Monica Ferraris, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, Prof. Jens Guenster and Dr. Andrea Zocca, BAM Berlin, Germany.
  
  

• International Conference on Alkali Activated Materials and Geopolymers in Tomar, Portugal
  Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini was a co-chair of the "2nd International conference on alkali activated materials and geopolymers", held on 27th May - 1st June 2018 in Tomar (Portugal), organised in the framework of the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) series. Conference chair was Prof. John Provis, University of Sheffield, UK, and co-chairs were Profs. Cristina Leonelli, Univ. of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, Waltraud Kriven, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Arie Van Riessen, Curtin University, Australia and Prof. Boccaccini. Ms Nicoletta Toniolo, PhD student in our Institute, presented the oral contribution: "Use of soda lime glass waste as silica supplier in fly ash based geopolymers" for which she won the 3rd prize for best oral presentation, sponsored by the Journal of the European Ceramics Society Trust (JECS Trust) of the European Ceramics Society. Nicoletta was also the recipient of a JECS Trust travel grant to attend the conference. In the photos Prof. Boccaccini with the conference co-chairs, with Dr. Juliana Calabria-Holley, University of Bath, UK (former PhD student in the group of Prof. Boccaccini at Imperial College London) and with Ms Nicoletta Toniolo.
  
  

• Nicoletta Toniolo wins oral presentation award at international conference in Portugal
  Ms Nicoletta Toniolo, doctoral student at the Institute of Biomaterials (WW7) under supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, won 3rd prize for best oral preseantation at the "2nd International conference on alkali activated materials and geopolymers", held on 27th May - 1st June 2018 in Tomar (Portugal), organised in the framework of the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) series. Prof. Boccaccini was one of the co-chairs of the conference. Nicoletta is working in the EU Horizon 2020 ETN project CoACH ("Advanced glasses, composites and ceramics for high growth industries") and presented the oral contribution entitled: "Use of soda lime glass waste as silica supplier in fly ash based geopolymers". The prize was sponsored by the Journal of the European Ceramics Society Trust (JECS Trust) of the European Ceramics Society. Nicoletta was also the recipient of a JECS Trust travel grant to attend the conference. Congratulations !
  
  

May 2018

• German Glass Society Annual Meeting in Bayreuth
  Our Institute had active participation at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Glass Technology in conjunction with the Annual Meetings of the Czech Glass Society & the Slovak Glass Society held in Bayreuth, Germany, from 28th to 30th May 2018, organiszed by the German Glass Society (DGG).
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was member of the organizing committee and the co-organizer, together with Prof. Delia Brauer (University of Jena), of the symposium "Glasses in Healthcare". In this symposium the following oral presentations were given by members of our Institute: Dr. Kai Zheng: "Strategy for synthesis of cerium-containing mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles" (within EU project MOZART)
  Ms Agata Lapa (PhD student): "Phosphate-based glasses and Phosphate glass fibres for Biomedical Application" (project within EU ITN HyMedPoly)
  In addition a poster presentation entitled "Dissolution behavior of borate bioactive glasses and the influence of doping with Zinc and Copper in different solutions" was presented by Ms Katharina Schuhladen, PhD student, a project in collaboration with Prof. Leena Hupa (Abo Academy University, Turku, Finland).
  In the photo: Ms Katharina Schuhladen, Dr. Liliana Liverani, Dr. Kai Zheng, Ms Agata Lapa.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini visits University of Aveiro, Portugal
  On 30th May 2018 Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the Associate Laboratory CICECO Aveiro Institute of Materials - Center for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials, University of Aveiro, Portugal. We currently have a number of collaborations with colleagues at the Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, CICECO Aveiro Institute of Materials, specifically with Prof. Ma. Helena Fernandes and Dr. José Carlos Martins de Almeida. The collaborative project entitled "Hybrid inorganic-organic borosilicate materials by sol-gel for bone tissue engineering" is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). We also collaborate with Prof. Joao Mano in the Department of Chemistry at University of Aveiro, including a collaboration of hydrogel-bioactive glass composites for biofabrication [1]. In the pictures Prof. Ma. Helena Fernandes, Prof. Isabel Margarida Miranda Salvado, Dr. José Carlos Martins de Almeida, Prof. Paula Vilarinho, Prof. Joao Mano, Ms Soraia Coelho (Master student), Dr. Judith A. Roether (FAU), and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini
  
  [1] A. J. Leite et al., Bioplotting of a bioactive alginate dialdehyde-gelatin composite hydrogel containing bioactive glass nanoparticles, Biofabrication 8 (2016) 035005.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini to serve in the Scientific Committee of EUROMAT 2019
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini will serve as member of the Scientific Committee of the next European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes, EUROMAT 2019 to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on September 1-5, 2019. Prof. Boccaccini, together with Prof. Håkan Engqvist, Applied Materials Science, Uppsala University, Sweden, will be leader for the Topic Area F (Materials for Healthcare). EUROMAT is the premier international congress on materials science and technology in Europe, held every two years under the general organization of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS).
  

• EU Project AMITIE: meeting in Berlin
  The progress meeting of the EU (Horizon 2020) project "Additive Manufacturing Initiative for Transnational Innovation in Europe" (AMITIE) (Marie Skłodowska Curie Grant Agreement 734342), was held in Berlin, Germany on 14-15 May 2018. Prof. Boccaccini attended the meeting representing the Institute of Biomaterials. The meeting was hosted by Prof. Jens Guenster, Ceramic Processing and Biomaterials division, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM). The AMITIE consortium is composed of 18 partners from academia and industry from six EU countries and 1 third country. AMITIE involves 195 person-months of secondments bringing together leading academic and industrial European players in the fields of materials science and processes and AM technologies applied to the fabrication of functional and/or structural ceramic-based materials for energy/transport, and ICTs applications, as well as biomaterials. The final goal of the AMITIE project is to promote research and innovation in Additive Manufacturing of Ceramics through international and intersectoral staff exchange. The project coordinator is Prof. Fabrice Rossignol (Institute of Research for Ceramics, Limoges, France), pictured with Prof. Boccaccini.
  
  

• The Institute of Biomaterials at the Erlangen "Markttage des Wissens" (Knowledge market days)
  Many thanks to Lena Vogt, Thomas Distler, Florian Ruther and Marcela Arango, PhD students in the Institute of Biomaterials, for their great efforts representing our Institute at the Erlangen Knowledge market days ("Markttage des Wissens") on 5th May 2018, an activity organized as part of the celebrations to mark the 275 Years of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The stand of the Institute of Biomaterials attracted numerous visitors, it was a very well prepared and informative stand with didactic demonstration of biomaterial experiments. We shared the stand with the Chair for Glass and Ceramics, coordinated by Dr. T. Fey (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini). Well done!
  
  

• Our paper on Cu-nano bioactive glass / gelatin coated scaffolds published in ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng.
  The paper "Incorporation of Cu-Containing Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles in Gelatin-Coated Scaffolds Enhances Bioactivity and Osteogenic Activity" co-authors: Kai Zheng, Jingjing Wu, Wei Li, Dirk Dippold, Ying Wan, Aldo R. Boccaccini, has been published on line in ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., [1]. This research was carried out in collaboration with Dr. Wei Li (alumni of our Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland), and Prof. Ying Wan (College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China). This paper presents the Cu-doped bioactive glass nanoparticle technology developed by Dr. Kai Zheng in our Institute, applied to enhance gelatine coatings of standard 45S5 bioactive glass based scaffolds.
  
  [1] K. Zheng, et al., Incorporation of Cu-Containing Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles in Gelatin-Coated Scaffolds Enhances Bioactivity and Osteogenic Activity, ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.8b00051
  
  

• Visit from Thailand.
  Prof. Ratana Rujiravanit, The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, was a guest at the Institute of Biomaterials on 30th April - 5th May 2018. On 4th May, she presented the seminar "Transformation of biopolymers derived from agricultural wastes to value-added products for biomedical application: chitin and chitosan" in the "Advances in Biomaterials" seminar series. We plan research collaboration with the group of Prof. in the field of natural polymers for tissue engineering and wound healing.
  
  

• First Closed Meeting of SFB TRR 225: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models"
  The first Closed Meeting of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) TRR 225: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models" took place on 3-4 May 2018 in Reichenberg (Klingholz), Germany. The PhD students in the project based at the Institute of Biomaterials; Susanne Heid, Jonas Hazur and Emine Karakaya attended the meeting as well as Dr. Rainer Detsch and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (principal investigators). In SFB TRR 225, Prof. Boccaccini is the spokesperson for the site Erlangen, which includes Institutes of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the University Hospital Erlangen (UKER). We congratulate Ms Susane Heid, who was elected deputy representative of the Young Investigators Committee to the Board of TRR 225.
  
  

• Special Issue "Bioactive Glasses 2017" published
  The Special Issue "Bioactive Glasses 2017" has been published in the open access journal Materials. The Special Issue was co-edited by Dr. Francesco Baino and Prof. Enrica Verné (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and contains 12 papers from renowned authors in the field of bioactive glasses. All articles can be accessed freely online. The following papers were published with contribution from our Institute:
  
  Haro Durand, L.; Vargas, G.; Vera-Mesones, R.; Baldi, A.; Zago, M.; Fanovich, M.; Boccaccini, A.; Gorustovich, A. In Vitro Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Response to Ionic Dissolution Products from Lithium-Containing 45S5 Bioactive Glass. Materials 2017, 10(7), 740.
  
  Westhauser, F.; Ciraldo, F.; Balasubramanian, P.; Senger, A.; Schmidmaier, G.; Moghaddam, A.; Boccaccini, A. Micro-Computed-Tomography-Guided Analysis of In Vitro Structural Modifications in Two Types of 45S5 Bioactive Glass Based Scaffolds. Materials 2017, 10(12), 1341.
  

April 2018

• Prof. Boccaccini attended German Materials Society (DGM) Board meeting
  On 26th April 2018 Prof. Boccaccini attended the German Materials Society (DGM) Board meeting, held in Berlin. He presented the latest developments of FEMS (Federation of European Materials Societies). Prof. Boccaccini is a member of the Executive Committee of FEMS, where he represents the DGM. Prof. Boccaccini met also Prof. Frank Mücklich, University of Saarland (pictured), chair of the scientific committee of the MSE 2018 conference, to be held in Darmstadt on 26-28 September, 2018. Prof. Boccaccini leads the organizing committee coordinating the participation of Argentina as guest country at MSE 2018 in collaboration with the SAM (Sociedad Argentina de Materiales). (Group photo: courtesy DGM)
  
  

• New book co-edited by Prof. Boccaccini published
  The volume "Nanostructured Biomaterials for Cranio-Maxillofacial and Oral Applications, 1st Edition" has been published by Elsevier. Editors are: Dr. Júlio Souza (Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, and University of Minho, Portugal), Prof. Dachamir Hotza (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil), Prof. Bruno Henriques (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil) and Aldo R. Boccaccini. The book examines the combined impact of materials science, biomedical and chemical engineering, and biology to develop nanostructured biomaterials for applications in maxillo-facial rehabilitation and implantology. The book is a valuable resource for scientists and clinicians wishing to broaden knowledge in the important and developing field of nano-biomaterials.
  
  

• Kick-off meeting of Project B03 in TRR-225: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models"
  The kick-off meeting of project B03 (Simultaneous printing of biofabricated constructs and tailored bioreactors) within the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 225 "From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models" took place on 17th April 2018 at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. This project is a research collaboration between the groups of Dr. Sahar Salehi, University of Bayreuth, Dr. Jan Hansmann, Chair for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg and Professor Boccaccini, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. The project will investigate new approaches to biofabrication using composite bioinks and the simultaneous printing of bioreactors. Pictured: Marius Gensler (PhD student, Würzburg), Milad Eyvazi Hesar (PhD student, Bayreuth), Dr. Jan Hansmann, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Dr. Sahar Salehi, and Ms Susanne Heid (PhD student, Erlangen).
  
  

• Our recent paper published in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces featured in CeramTech Today
  The platform "CeramTech Today" of the American Ceramic Society includes in its April 17, 2018 edition a note on our recent paper entitled: "Electric Field-Assisted Orientation of Short Phosphate Glass Fibers on Stainless Steel for Biomedical Applications" published in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces vol. 10 (2018) pp 11529–11538 [1]. The article featuring comments by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, corresponding author of the paper, can be read here. The paper was written in collaboration with Dr. Qiang Chen (School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China), alumni of our Institute (PhD, 2015), Prof. Tingli Lu, and co-authors. The results confirmed electrophoretic deposition as a powerful method to develop textured fibrous surfaces for biomedical implants. This international collaboration involved also Dr. Ifty Ahmed, University of Nottingham, UK, an expert in phosphate glass fibre technology.
  
  [1] Q. Chen, et al., Electric Field-Assisted Orientation of Short Phosphate Glass Fibers on Stainless Steel for Biomedical Applications, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10 (2018) 11529–11538.
  

• Visit from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
  Dipl.-Ing. Frederik Kotz, NeptunLab (Head: Dr. Bastian E. Rapp), Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, visited our Institute on 19th April 2018. He presented a seminar entitled: "Three-dimensional printing of transparent fused silica glass", a topic of relevance for the research being carried out in our Institute. In the photo Prof. Boccaccini with Mr F. Kotz (KIT) and Dr. Kai Zheng (Institute of Biomaterials).
  
  

• Annual Meeting of the German Ceramic Society (DKG) in Munich
  Our Institute was well represented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the German Ceramic Society (DKG) and Symposium on High-Performance Ceramics 2018, held in Munich, Germany, on 10-13 April, 2018. Prof. Boccaccini was the organizer of the symposium "Ceramics for Environment and Health" of which he was also the session's chair. In this session, he gave two oral presentations entitled: "Release of therapeutic ions from mesoporous bioactive glass nanomatrices for bone regeneration and wound healing", based on EU project MOZART, and "Interfacial interaction of calcium carbonate in the context of biomedical applications", based on the project of Ms Barbara Myska (NanoHeal). The following poster contributions were presented:
  
  J. Hum et al., "Steel industry slag valorization as raw material asset for insulating refractories", from project EU RESLAG
  
  M. C. Molano-Camargo, et al., "Study of fly ash-based geopolymers reinforced with natural fibers as sustainable composites", supported by COLCIENCIAS, Colombia
  
  N. Toniolo, et al., "Extensive reuse of soda-lime waste glass in fly ash-based geopolymers", from EU project CoACH
  
  Prof. Boccaccini is pictured with Prof. Sanjay Mathur, University of Cologne, Germany, (plenary speaker), and Prof. Anna Tampieri, National Research Council of Italy, (keynote speaker in the "Ceramics for Environmental and Health" session).
  
  

• Thomas Distler wins best poster award at international workshop
  Thomas Distler, doctoral student at the Institute of Biomaterials, under supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, won „Best Poster Award“ at the 1st Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) EU Workshop on „3D Printing in Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering“, held in Warsaw, Poland, from 22nd to 23rd of March. He received the award, supported by the IOPScience Journal "Biofabrication“, for his poster: „3D Bioplotted Hydrogel Vessel Constructs for Regenerative Approaches“, which is based on his Master thesis in the Elite Master course "Advanced Materials and Processes" (MAP). Co-authors: Dr. R. Detsch, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (pictured with T. Distler).
  
  

• European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) Council Meeting in Maastricht
  Prof. Boccaccini attended the last meeting of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), held on 10th April 2018 in Maastricht, the Netherlands, hosted by ESB president, Prof. Pamela Habibovic. The next ESB conference (ESB 2018) will be held on in Maastricht. Members of the ESB Council and of the organizing committees of the ESB 2018 conference visited also the venue, the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre (MECC) (pictured).
  
  

• Svenja Heise featured in the webpage of the FAU Department of Materials Science and Engineering
  Every month, the webpage of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg publishes the "Research topic of the Month" reporting the latest research being carried out in the different Institutes. In April 2018, Svenja Heise, PhD student in our Institute, presents her research project on the Electrophoretic Deposition of bioactive coatings on Mg alloys. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is being carried out in close collaboration with Prof. Sanna Virtanen, Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion. The last paper of Svenja has been recently published [1].
  
  [1] S. Heise, et al., Electrophoretic deposition of chitosan/bioactive glass/silica coatings on stainless steel and WE43 Mg alloy substrates, Surf. Coat. Technol. 344 (2018) 553-563.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini attends inauguration of X-ray microscope in Halle
  On 6th April 2018, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the inauguration of the X-ray microscope (XRM) at Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS), in Halle, Germany, which included a program of scientific presentations. We are collaborating with the Nanomaterials and Nanoanalytics (GNN) group (Head: Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche, pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), at Fraunhofer IMWS in a joint research project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the field of advanced microstructural characterisation of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics, including the application of XRM, in which also researchers of University of of Jena (Prof. Delia Brauer) are involved.
  
  

• Our paper on alginate-elastin hydrogels published in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
  Our paper "Hydrogel matrices based on elastin and alginate for tissue engineering applications" has been published in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules [1]. The paper presents a study led by our former co-worker Dr. Raquel Silva, in collaboration with several research groups in Germany, UK and Greece, on the synthesis and characterization of a new family of hybrid hydrogels for soft tissue engineering composed of alginate blended with elastin in two geometries: 2D films and 3D microcapsules, which were tested in contact with human dermal fibroblasts. The study was carried out in the framework of the project TOPbiomat funded by the Emering Fields Initiative (EFI) of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
  
  [1] R. Silva, et al., Hydrogel matrices based on elastin and alginate for tissue engineering applications, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 114 (2018) 614–625.
  

March 2018

• Prof. Boccaccini invited speaker at TERMIS-EU Workshop on 3D Printing in Warsaw, Poland
  Prof. Boccaccini was one of the invited speakers at the 1st TERMIS-EU Workshop on "3D Printing in Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering”, which was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 22-23 March 2018, chaired by Prof Wojciech Swieszkowski, Warsaw University of Technology. Prof. Boccaccini presented the lecture: "Enhancing alginate based bioinks for biofabrication: the composites approach" and he chaired the session "3D printing in musculoskeletal TE" together with Prof. Lorenzo Moroni. Thomas Distler represented also our Institute with his poster entitled: "3D Bioplotting of hydrogel vessels for regenerative approaches". In the photos, Prof. Boccaccini with Prof. Heinz Redl, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Austria, Continental Chair, TERMIS EU Chapter, Prof. Lorenzo Moroni, Prof. Prof Wojciech Swieszkowski and with Dr. Sahar Salehi, Chair for Biomaterials, University of Bayreuth, Germany, Mr. Luciano Vidal, University of Nantes, France, and with Thomas Distler (FAU Institute of Biomaterials) (Poster award winner, see separate NEWS).
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini, invited speaker at 2nd Sino-German Symposium on Reconstruction and Repair of Musculoskeletal Tissues
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini was an invited speaker at the 2nd Sino-German Symposium on Reconstruction and Repair of Musculoskeletal Tissues, held in the Mainz University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany, on 13-14 March 2018. He presented the lecture: "Bioactive materials and biofabrication approaches for hard tissue regeneration". This symposium follows from the previous one held in Chengdu, China, in 2013 and it was supported by the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (SGC). Prof. Boccaccini is pictured with Prof. Huiqi Xie, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Sichuan University, China, Prof. Barbara Nebe, University of Rostock, Prof. Michael Gelinsky, TU Dresden. Also pictured with colleagues attending the symposium, Prof. Alexander Hofmann, Mainz University Medical Center, Prof. Pol M. Rommens, Chair of the symposium, Mainz University Medical Center, Prof. Gang Li, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  
  

• Professor Boccaccini appointed academic editor of the journal PLOS ONE
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Institute of Biomaterials, Department WW) has been appointed Academic Editor of the journal PLOS ONE. PLOS ONE is the world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal providing a platform to publish primary research, including interdisciplinary and replication studies as well as negative results. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported.
  

• FunGlass research training program at the Institute of Biomaterials
  In the framework of the EU funded (Horizon 2020) FUNGLASS project (GA n. 739566), Dr. Zuzana Nescakova is the first senior researcher from the Department of Biomaterials, FUNGLASS Center, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, who joined the Erlangen Institute of Biomaterials for her one-year training, under the supervision of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. Dr. Nescakova started her activities in Erlangen in November 2017, her research training focuses on sol-gel based bioactive glass synthesis and characterization. In her project, the synthesized bioactive glass particles are being used for the fabrication of electrospun composite fibrous mats for wound healing applications. Her training is related also to the fabrication of porous bioactive glass scaffolds and their characterization using a range of materials methods an in terms of biological activity. Dr. Zuzana Nescakova pictured with Dr. Liliana Liverani (Inst. of Biomaterials) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini in the electrospinning laboratory and during SEM observation of scaffolds.
  
  

• Our paper on electrophoretic deposition of phosphate glass fibres accepted for publication in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
  Our recent paper in collaboration with Dr. Qiang Chen (School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China), alumni of our Institute (PhD, 2015), Prof. Tingli Lu, and co-authors, entitled: Electric Field-Assisted Orientation of Short Phosphate Glass Fibers on Stainless Steel for Biomedical Applications has been just accepted for publication in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces [1]. In this collaborative research project we developed a novel approach to modify metallic surfaces by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) employing short phosphate glass fibers. The random and aligned orientation of glass fibres embedded in a polyacrylic acid matrix was achieved by smart modification of the EPD cell. The results confirmed EPD as a powerful method to develop textured fibrous surfaces for biomedical implants. This international collaboration involved also Dr. Ifty Ahmed, University of Nottingham, UK, an expert in phosphate glass fibre technology.
  
  [1] Q. Chen, et al., Electric Field-Assisted Orientation of Short Phosphate Glass Fibers on Stainless Steel for Biomedical Applications, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, in press (2018) DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b01378
  

• Meeting of the Scientific Board of EU Teaming project FunGlass in Trencin, Slovakia
  The meeting of the Scientific Board of the EU funded (Teaming) project "FunGlass" took place in Trencin, Slovakia, on 7 - 8 March, 2018. Dr. Liliana Liverani attended the meeting representing our Institute with remote participation of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini via teleconference (photo). “FunGlass” aims at establishing a new Centre of Excellence for improved glass materials based at Alexander Dubček University in Trencin, Slovakia. The Institute of Biomaterials at FAU is participating in the scientific development of the Centre. FunGlass is financed through an EU Horizon 2020 Teaming project that supports EU countries with a developing research infrastructure. Our Institute plays a leading role in the area of “Glass in Medicine”, with Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Chair of Biomaterials, being responsible for the academic and professional training of doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers of the new Centre. In the photo, participants of the meeting including Dr. Liliana Liverani (FAU), Dr. Andrea Chrastinová Kalinayová (Alexander Dubček University, Trencin), the members of the Scientific Board, including Prof. Dusan Galusek (Chair, Alexander Dubček University, Trencin, Slovakia), Prof. Enrico Bernardo (University of Padova, Italy), Prof. Alicia Duran (Institute of Ceramics and Glass, Madrid, Spain), Prof. Lothar Wondraczek (University of Jena, Germany, per tele conf.), Prof. Aldo. R. Boccaccini (per tele conf.).
  
  

• Visit from Japan
  On 5-6 March 2018 we received the visit of Prof. Yuichi Nakamura (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, TUT, Japan. We are collaborating with TUT in a research program funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) entitled: Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers, which aims to build up and expand international collaborative research networks through the circulation of young researchers among research institutes in Japan, Germany and USA. The objective of the project is to develop artificial magnetic lattices (AML) with innovative features, such as controlling optical and electromagnetic waves by designing nanostructures. Prof. Go Kawamura (Matsuda-Muto-Kawamura lab) (also pictured) is leading the collaboration between TUT and our Institute [1]. Prof. Kawamura is visiting us for 2 months and further visits from Japanese researchers are planned for later in 2018.
  
  [1] W. K. Tan, et al., Preparation of BaTiO3 Nanotube Arrays, CoFe2O4 Nanoparticles and Their Composites, ECS Trans. 2018 82(1): 51-57.
  
  

• We welcome our international guests, visiting researchers and students, in spring 2018
  Several researchers and students have chosen our Institute to carry out their research projects during the next months. We welcome Ms Diana Mireya Ayala Valderrama, visiting PhD student, Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, Dr. Agnieszka Witecka, Institute of Fundamental Technological, Research Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland, Ms Jingjing Wu, visiting PhD student from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, Ms Hatice Genc, visiting PhD student, Anadolu University, Turkey, Dr. Go Kawamura, visiting researcher from Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan, Ms Paola Zezza, Master student, University of Bologna, Italy, Mr Quan Shi, visiting PhD student, Southeast University, China, Dr. Zuzana Neščáková, visiting scientist, Centre for Functional and Surface Functionalized Glass (FunGlass), Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, Dr. Miguel Fuentes Chandia, visiting scientist, Chile, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Guoxin Tan, Guangdong University of Technology, China, and Mr Emre Yavuz, visiting PhD student, Akdeniz University, Turkey. They are working on topics as varied as mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles, bioglass scaffolds, electrospinning of composite fibres, electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials, biofabrication and 3D printing of hydrogels as well as cell biology characterisation of composites. Welcome to Erlangen !
  
  

February 2018

• EU project RESLAG progress meeting in Grenoble, France
  The 5th Follow-up project meeting of the EU Horizon 2020 funded project RESLAG ("Turning waste from steel industry into a valuable low cost feedstock for energy intensive industry") took place in the premises of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Grenoble, France, on 28th Feb.- 1st March 2018. The project has received funding from H2020-EU.3.5.4. Dr. Jasmin Hum and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini represented our Institute in this meeting. Our participation involves the thermal characterisation of waste derived materials being produced by other academic and industrial partners of the consortium. RESLAG is coordinated by CIC Energigune, the energy research centre with headquarters in the Basque Country (Spain). In the picture Dr. Elena Palomo del Barrio, Scientific Director of the Thermal Energy Storage group at CIC Energigune and General Coordinator of the REslag project, Dr. Íñigo Ortega Fernández, Thermal Energy Storage Group, CIC Energigune, Dr. Jasmin Hum (FAU) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU).
  
  

• Governing Council and General Assembly meetings of European Virtual Institute KMM-VIN in Brussels
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini, member of the Governing Council (GC) of the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based Multifunctional Materials (KMM-VIN), attended the GC and General Assembly meetings of KMM-VIN that took place on 27th February 2018 in Brussels. Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is coordinator of the Working Group Biomaterials (together with Prof. C. Hellmich), Technical University of Vienna, Austria). KMM-VIN offers integrated basic and applied commercial research, educational and innovation activities in the field of knowledge-based multifunctional materials. The aim of KMM-VIN is to foster the creation of a platform for research and development and industrial application of advanced multifunctional materials in order to contribute to European research and technology base in this field. In the photos, Prof. M. Basista, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT), Warsaw, Poland, and CEO of KMM-VIN, Prof. M. Ferraris, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, GC member, and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini attends FEMS Executive Committee Meeting in Vienna
  On 22-23 February 2018, Prof. Boccaccini attended the meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS), which took place in premises of TU Vienna, Austria. Prof. Boccaccini represents the German Materials Society (DGM) in the FEMS EC. A major next FEMS event this year is the Junior EUROMAT conference, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary, on 8-12 July 2018, chaired by Dr. Csaba Balázsi. Prof. Boccaccini will be a plenary speaker at Junior EUROMAT and will deliver the lecture: "Bioactive materials and Biofabrication for Tissue Engineering: Progress and Challenges". In the photos Prof. Boccaccini with Dr. Csaba Balázsi (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary), Prof. Paula Vilarinho (University of Aveiro, Portugal) and with FEMS president Prof. Paloma Fernández Sánchez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain).
  
  

• Visit from Milan
  Prof. Silvia Fare and Dr. Serena Bertoldi, Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano, Italy, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 21 February 2018. We are collaborating with the group of Prof. S. Fare in the development and characterisation of bioactive glass containing biopolymer foams for bone tissue engineering and have established a student exchange program between our research groups. Prof. Fare and Prof. Boccaccini are members of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB).
  
  

• Master students (MAP) poster presentations evening
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the Poster presentations evening of Master students of the Elite Master’s Programme “Advanced Materials and Processes“ (MAP), which took place on 7th February at Fraunhofer-Institut IISB, Erlangen. It was attended by numerous lecturers of the program from the FAU Departments of Materials Science and Engineering (WW) and Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBI). Swathi Naidu Vr, Ksenia Klementyeva, Cai, Fei-Fan and Dalia Dranseikiene, Master students who carried out their research projects under supervision of Prof. Boccaccini (pictured), presented posters in areas of electrophoretic deposition of bioactive materials, bioinks for 3D printing, electrospinning of tissue engineering scaffolds and calcium carbonate ceramics. Ms Dalia Dranseikiene won the 3rd prize for her poster entitled: "Physico-chemical Characterization of ADA-Gelatin-Methylcellulose Bioink", carried out under supervision of Supachai Reakasame (PhD student in our Institute). Prof. Boccaccini is pictured also with MAP Chairs Profs. Erik Bitzek and Nicolas Vogel and with Ms Marcela Arango Ospina, MAP graduate and currently PhD student in our Institute. Prof. Boccaccini is the Focal Subject Chair for the Focal Subject "Biomaterials and Bioprocessing" in the Elite Master’s Programme.
  
  

• EU Teaming project "BBCE" meeting in Davos, Switzerland
  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini attended the meeting of the EU project "Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence (BBCE)", held at AO Research Institute (ARI), Davos, Switzerland, hosted by Dr. Mauro Alini, Head Musculoskeletal Regeneration, ARI. The project has received funding from the European Commission (Horizon 2020) under the Teaming "Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation" framework and will combine expertise and infrastructure in the field of biomaterials leading to the formation of a critical mass in research and development in Latvia. The main objective is to establish a joint Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence for advanced biomaterial development based on a long-term strategic cooperation between AO Research Institute Davos (ARI), the FAU Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen, Germany, and three institutions from Latvia; The Rudolfs Cimdins Riga Biomaterials Innovations and Development Centre, Institute of General Chemical Engineering, Riga Technical University (RTU RBIDC), Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS) and Riga Stradins University, (RSU). The project coordinator is Dr. Jānis Ločs, Institute of General Chemical Engineering, Riga Technical University (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini). In the other photo Dr. Liliana Liverani (FAU Institute of Biomaterials, Erlangen), Prof. Boccaccini and Prof. James Kirkpatrick (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany).
  
  

• ECS Transactions Vol. 82, No. 1: "Electrophoretic Deposition VI" published by the Electrochemical Society
  ECS Transactions Vol. 82, No. 1, "Electrophoretic Deposition VI", the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD 2017) held in Gyeongju, South Korea, October 1 – 6, 2017, has been published by the Electrochemical Society. Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini, the EPD 2017 conference chairman, was one of the editors of the volume together with Prof. J. H. Dickerson (USA), Dr. B. Ferrari (Spain) and Dr. T. Uchikoshi (Japan). The peer refereed manuscripts included in this special issue cover several areas of applications of EPD, from nanotechnology and functional coatings to biomaterials, and reflect the variety of topics that were presented at the EPD 2017 conference, which was sponsored by Engineering Conference International (ECI), and endorsed by The Electrochemical Society, the European Ceramic Society, the American Ceramic Society, the German Ceramic Society, and the Spanish Ceramic Society.
  

January 2018

• Kick-off meeting of the Collaborative Research Centre: "From the fundamentals of biofabrication to functional tissue models"
  The kick-off meeting of the new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) ("Transregio TR-Sonderforschungsbereich"): "From the fundamentals of biofabrication to functional tissue models" took place on 31st January 2018 at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, hosted by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini. The German Science Foundation (DFG) approved the establishment of the new CRC in November 2017. This is a large scale, highly interdisciplinary research effort involving principal investigators from different disciplines and faculties from three universities, namely University of Würzburg, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and University of Bayreuth with a funding volume of about 10 Million Euro for initially 4 years. The coordinator of the new CRC, Prof. Juergen Groll from University of Würzburg and the spokespersons for Erlangen (FAU) and Univ. of Bayreuth, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Prof. Thomas Scheibel, respectively, attended the meeting. The governing bodies of the CRC were elected at the meeting. Biofabrication, the core scientific discipline in this CRC, involves the application of 3D printing techniques to process living cells and biomaterials (hydrogels) simultaneously in order to obtain complex, tissue and organ mimicking 3D structures.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini elected scientific coordinator of the Network of Argentinean Scientists in Germany
  At the Annual General Meeting of the Network of Argentinean Scientists in Germany (RCAA), held last November at the Embassy of Argentina in Germany in Berlin, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Head, Institute of Biomaterials) was elected Scientific Coordinator of RCAA. He will represent RCAA, together with the RCAA technical coordinator, Dr. Silvia Kroyer, in all official communication with German and Argentinean research and academic institutions. Prof. Boccaccini is also member of the RCAA Scientific Advisory Board of RCCA, in which he represents the field of Engineering. RCAA is part of the program RAICES of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina and has as main goal to maintain and promote scientific interaction between Argentina and Germany. In the picture, Minister Sebastián Sayús, Dra. Silvia Kroyer and Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Halle-Jena-Erlangen collaboration on bioactive glass-ceramics: DFG project kick-off meeting in Halle
  On 16th January 2018 Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and Qaisar Nawaz (PhD student) attended the DFG project meeting at Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS), group Nanomaterials and Nanoanalytics (GNN) (Head: Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche), in Halle, Germany. The project is a joint research effort in the field of advanced microstructural characterisation of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics in which researchers from IMWS Halle, the Institute of Biomaterials at FAU and the group of Prof. Delia Brauer, at Otto Schott Institute of Materials Research, University of of Jena, are collaborating. In the photo Prof. Delia Brauer (University of Jena), Ms Gloria Kirste (University of Jena), Ms Altair Contreras (University of Jena), Dr. Araceli de Pablos-Martín (IMWS), Dr. Christian Patzig (IMWS), Mr Qaisar Nawaz (Biomaterials Erlangen) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini.
  
  

• Darmstadt-Erlangen collaboration on bioactive glasses: DFG project meeting in Darmstadt
  The recent progress meeting of the DFG funded project on ion-doped bioactive glasses with outstanding high temperature crystallization resistance took place on 12th January 2018 at the Institute for Materials Science, Dispersive Solids of TU Darmstadt (Head: Prof. Ralf Riedel). Researchers Mr Fangtong Xie (TU Darmstadt), Dr Kai Zheng (FAU Institute of Biomaterials), Ms Marcela Arango Ospina (FAU Institute of Biomaterials) and principal investigators Dr. Emanuel Ionescu (TU Darmstadt) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU Institute of Biomaterials) (pictured) attended the meeting. This 3-year project is developing a new family of bioactive glasses containing biologically active ions. The glasses are synthesized at TU Darmstadt and they are characterized for their intrinsic bioactive behavior and cytocompatibility at the Institute of Biomaterials in Erlangen.
  
  

• Doctoral thesis success: Harald Unterweger
  On 22th December 2017 Harald Unterweger successfully defended his doctoral thesis in the field of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) for magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic drug delivery applications, which was carried out under the supervision of Professor Christoph Alexiou, Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine, University Hospital Erlangen and co-supervised by Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini. Several high impact publications have resulted from the doctoral thesis project of Harald Unterweger, some of them are listed below [1-3]. Harald had carried out both his Bachelor and Master Theses in Nanotechnology in our Institute. We congratulate Harald Unterweger on achieving his doctoral degree and wish him all the best in his future career.
  
  [1] Unterweger, H., et al., Development and characterization of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with a cisplatin-bearing polymer coating for targeted drug delivery, International Journal of Nanomedicine 9 (2014) 3659–3676.
  
  [2] Unterweger, H., et al., Hypericin-bearing magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for selective drug delivery in photodynamic therapy, Int. J. Nanomedicine 10 (2015) 6985-6996.
  
  [3] Unterweger, H., et al., Non-immunogenic dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: a biocompatible, size-tunable contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging, Int. J. Nanomed. 12 (2017) 5223–5238.
  
  

• Visit from USA: Prof. M. N. V. Ravi Kumar at the Institute of Biomaterials
  Prof. M. N. V. Ravi Kumar, Drug Delivery Lab, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, Texas, USA, visited the Institute of Biomaterials on 11th Jan. 2018. He delivered the special seminar: "It's all about delivery". We plan collaboration with Prof. M. N. V. Ravi Kumar in the field of novel composite materials for controlled delivery applications.
  
  

• Prof. Boccaccini visited Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen
  Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini visited the Department of Biomaterials, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Hosts were Dr. Sander Leeuwenburgh and Prof. John Jansen. The main aim of the visit was participating at the oral defense of the PhD thesis of Mr Mani Diba (pictured with Prof. Boccaccini), Mani is a graduate from the Master program MAP at FAU and collaborator of our Institute. He successfully defended his PhD thesis carried out at Radboud University Medical Center under supervision of Dr. Sander Leeuwenburgh and Prof. John Jansen in the field of composite biomaterials with self-healing properties. Our collaboration with Dr. Diba and the group of Dr Sander Leeuwenburgh (pictured) has led to high impact joint publications [1, 2]. During his visit, Prof. Boccaccini also gave a seminar at the Department of Biomaterials, Radboud UMC, entitled: "Bioactive glasses with biologically active ion delivery: development and applications".
  
  [1] Diba, M., et al., Exploiting Bisphosphonate-Bioactive Glass Interactions for the Development of Self-Healing and Bioactive Composite Hydrogels, Macromolecular Rapid Communications 37 (2016) 1952-1959.
  
  [2] Diba, M., et al., Composite Colloidal Gels Made of Bisphosphonate‐Functionalized Gelatin and Bioactive Glass Particles for Regeneration of Osteoporotic Bone Defects, Adv. Funct. Mater. 27 (45) (2017) 1703438.
  
  

• Most cited papers
  Several papers from our Institute are listed as "Most Cited" in different Elsevier journals. The lists include the most cited articles published since 2013.
  
  Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
  Caridade, S. G., et al., Chitosan membranes containing micro or nano-size bioactive glass particles: Evolution of biomineralization followed by in situ dynamic mechanical analysis,
  J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. Volume 20, Issue , April 2013, Pages 173-183.
  
  Journal of the European Ceramic Society
  Li, W., et al., Preparation and characterization of vancomycin releasing PHBV coated 45S5 Bioglass®-based glass-ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering,
  J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. Volume 34, Issue 2, February 2014, Pages 505-514.
  

  Acta Biomaterialia
  Miguez-Pacheco, V., et al., Bioactive glasses beyond bone and teeth: Emerging applications in contact with soft tissues,
  Acta Biomater. Volume 13, Issue , January 2015, Pages 1-15.
  
  Journal of Non-crystalline Solids
  Baino, F., et al., Bioactive glasses: Special applications outside the skeletal system,
  J. Non-Cryst. Solids, Volume 432, Issue , January 2016, Pages 15-30.
  Chinnam, R. K., et al., Review. Functional glasses and glass-ceramics derived from iron rich waste and combination of industrial residues
  J. Non-Cryst. Solids, Volume 365, Issue 1, February 2013, Pages 63-74.

  Current Opinion in Solid State & Materials Science
  Diba, M., et al., Magnesium-containing bioactive polycrystalline silicate-based ceramics and glass-ceramics for biomedical applications,
  Curr. Op. Solid State Mater. Sci. Volume 18, Issue 3, January 2014, Pages 147-167.

  
  
  
  
  

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