Research Areas

Research Goals

Despite numerous successes with implanted technical systems to support body functions that have been restricted by illness, accident or age, an extended research is needed with the objectives of improved function, greater compatibility and longer durability of implants. A substantial part of the emerging questions is directly connected to the necessity of a profound understanding of the processes at the interface between the implant and surrounding tissue, which in turn requires a detailed knowledge of the electrochemical processes taking place there - if applicable, influenced by externally applied electromagnetic fields.

The precise model description of the processes at the interface between the implant and surrounding tissue from both biological and medical as well as from physical-electrotechnical and biophysical-electrochemical point of view is the central research goal.

To study these processes, in the first funding period experimental analyses of the adhesion and proliferation of osteoblasts, biophysical experiments on electrical coupling of nerve cell networks with sensor chips, electric field calculations and thermodynamic simulations on different size scales have been carried out. To describe the processes, innovative automated statistical methods and techniques from systems biology have been developed in the last 4 1/2 years. The outcome has direct relevance to the analysis of the electrical interactions between implants and the biological system and thus for the optimization of deep brain stimulation, of cochlear implants and of electrostimulative implant systems for bone regeneration for future clinical application. These findings obtained in the first period will be extended.

New for the second funding period are to investigate the influence of electromagnetic fields on bacteria and human cells.

Projects

Influence of Structured Implant Surfaces on Neighbouring Bio-Systems and its Mathematical Modelling

  • Katarcyna Biala: Characterization of the extracellular matrix dependent on the chemical composition of the underlying surface
  • Gunnar Rott: Alloy titanium and composite with near-surface structure gradients for implants
  • Yiyi Lu: Alloy titanium and composite with near-surface structure gradients for implants.
  • Ekaterina Gongadze: Influence of the surface structure of a biomaterial on the field distribution in the neighbouring bio-systems
  • Apurva Sarkar: Reaction-diffusion equations for the adhesion of osteoblasts on metallic implants
  • Claudia Matschegewski: Analysis of initial adhesion mechanisms of osteoblasts in dependence of chemical, physical and electrical characteristics of implant surfaces
  • Harald Birkholz: Automatic detection of cyto-morphological parameters from microscope-images
  • Bing Liu: Mathematical analysis of the interaction of biomaterial and cells
  • Stefan Pauleweit: Mathematical modelling of cell growth depending on characteristics of the titan surface
  • Friederike Kunz: In vitro analysis of calcium channel function in osteoblasts

Electrical Interaction between Implant and Bio-Systems

  • Marian Lüder: Entwurf und Realisierung eines dynamischen Regelsystems zur Anpassung von Cochlea-Implantaten an die Umgebungslautstärke sowie elektro-physiologische Parameter
  • Revathi Appali: Modeling of the coupling of action potentials and electrodes on neurochips
  • Tom Reimer: Influence of electrical fields on neuronal growth and electrical activity in cortical neuronal networks cultivated on neurochips
  • Eduard Vinter: Numerical analysis of electric field effects on deep brain stimulating electrodes
  • Christian Schmidt: Numerical analysis of the electric field effects at electrodes for deep brain stimulation
  • Matthias Nissen: In-vitro stimulation of basal ganglia neurons on neurosensor-chips
  • Karl Andreas Nowak: Optimization of electrodes and stimulation parameters for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
  • Kathrin Badstübner: Optimization of electrodes and stimulation parameters for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
  • Thomas Weihe: Stimulation of human osteoblasts on cell chips in vivo
  • Sebastian M. Bonk: Implementation of sensoric and acuatoric in a 3D-cell culture system
  • Yvonne Haba: Electro-stimulating implants for bone regeneration: Parameter analysis and design optimization
  • Yukun Su: Optimization and development of implants and parameters for the electromagnetic stimulation of bone regeneration

Experimental principles

  • Marcel Wetegrove: Synthesis and characterisation of bioactive bone implant materials
  • Anne Langenbach: Influence of electrical fields on neuronal growth and electrical activity in cortical neuronal networks cultivated on neurochips
  • Philip Wysotzki: Connection between surface structure, cell activity and cell adhesion power
  • Christin Kleineberg: Optimization of the culture processes for epitaxial growth of osteobasts with parallel simulation
  • Anne-Marie Galow: Prevention of the generation of biological film-forming on implants
  • Denise Franz: Analysis of the electrical signal-electrode-coupling
  • Jana Markhoff: Differentiation and activity of human primary osteoclasts from peripheral blood mononuclear cells under the influence of orthopedic wear particles

Medical Application

  • Mirjana Holst: In silico study on in vitro experiments to determine the electric membrane properties of a realistic cochlear model  for electric field simulations on cochlear implants
  • Caroline Mörke: Evaluation of the influence of topographic and chemical surface properties on the cell biology
  • Thomas Dauben: Implant systems for bone regeneration: Investigation of the influence of electromagnetic fields on bacteria and human cells
  • Josefin Ziebart: Cell biological investigations of electromagnetic stimulation of osteobasts in 3D-setting
  • Thomas Bender: Investigation of electro-stimulating implants for bone regeneration and prevention of implant-associated bacterial infection using DC. Parameter analysis and surface coatings optimization, in-vitro investigation
  • Anna Adamus: Role of transmembrane syndecan receptors in cellular adhesion on modified biomaterials
  • Bettina Hiemer: Treatment of osteochondral defects by the use of electrical stimulation: Investigations of the cellular response
  • Katharina Wegner: Combined effects of cold atmospheric pressure plasma and electrical stimulation on biofilms of Staphylococcus epidermidis
  • Sarah Zaatreh: Microbiological investigations of antibacterial implant surfaces in mono- and co-culture
  • Simone Krüger: Investigation of combined electrical and mechanical stimulation on osseous cells

Theoretical Models

  • Kiran Sriperumbudur: Modeling simulation of stimulating electrode coupling with auditory nerve/ nerve fibers
  • Sebastian Hanisch: Mathematical models for the reconstruction of cellular networks on multielectrode arrays
  • Ralf Warmuth: Design and implementation of an FPGA-based embedded system for the automatic adaption of cochlear implants
  • Azhar Z. Syed: Investigation of the influence of the electrode surface structure on the field distribution in neighbouring bio-systems
  • Tom C. Theile: Spatio-temporal modeling of cells interacting on surfaces
  • Ulf Zimmermann: Mathematical approaches to bone remodelling under the influence of electric stimulation
  • Bachir Delenda: Reaction-diffusion model of the adhesion of osteoblasts on metallic implant using electrical stimulation
  • Seyed M. H. Hosseini: Developing of piezoelectric bio-active implants for bone modeling/remodeling process
  • Andrea Böhme: Numerical simulation of therapeutic effects of deep brain stimulation in an animal model
  • Duy Truong: Numerical simulation of bone growth on metallic implants
  • Kevin Struwe: Dynamic adjustment of cochlear implants to improve speech comprehension
  • Christian Bahls: Positivity preserving integration schemes for computing the galvano-taxis of bone cells using reaction-diffusion-equations
  • Karthik Sridhar: Modeling and electrical simulation of deep brain stimulation for treating parkinson's disease
  • Bhargava Palakurthy: Erstellung eines Reaktions-Diffusion-Modells der Adhasion von Osteoblasten auf metallischen Implantaten unter Einbeziehung elektrisher Stimulation