Biodesign

Rational Bioactive Materials Design for Tissue Regeneration

The healing of damaged tissue occurs in a similar fashion regardless of the type of tissue. Likewise, healing through scar formation leads to similar tissue dysfunction regardless of where these scars are formed. Such scar formation is currently a major problem when new biomaterials are transferred from the laboratory to functional scaffolds in animal trials and, eventually, the clinic. Furthermore, the development of novel therapeutic materials has become increasingly complex through advances in technology and biomimetics. This has caused the process of biomaterials development to be both expensive and time-consuming. Important reasons for this are the requirements and needs for extensive animal trials in order to study and document the function of the materials.

In the project BIODESIGN, a modular approach is used for the design and development of new regenerative biomaterials in order to satisfy requirements regarding the immunological, mechanical and inflammatory response of the materials. Coupled with a development of laboratory tests that can accurately predict the fate and behavior of the materials in animal trials, this allows for a more efficient development process for new, innovative therapeutic biomaterials. Using this approach, it is possible to radically reduce the number of animals and hence the time and cost associated with taking new materials and therapies from the laboratory to the clinic.

BIODESIGN is a large international project that is funded by the EU 7th Framework Programme and is coordinated by Professor Jöns Hilborn at Polymer Chemistry. For more information, please contact the project RTD coordinator Sonya Piskounova.

Learn more at http://www.biodesign.eu.com