On behalf of the Materials Science Area of Advance Chalmers and Department of Biomaterials,
Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, the BIOMATCELL VINN Excellence Center of
Biomaterials and Cell Therapy and the BIOSUM Interdisciplinary Research School, we are pleased to
announce the Autumn 2012 International Seminars on Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine:
Professor Thomas J. Webster
Department Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University
Department of Chemical Engineering, 313A Snell Engineering Center, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston,
MA 02115 USA
"Nanomedicine: From Increasing Tissue Growth to Toxicity Concerns"
Date: 26th of October, 2012, 10.00-11.00
Biotech Center, Arvid Wallgrens backe 20, 413 46 Gothenburg
Thomas J. Webster’s degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (B.S.,
1995) and in biomedical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (M.S., 1997; Ph.D., 2000).
He is currently the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston.
His research explores the use of nanotechnology in numerous applications. Specifically, his research
addresses the design, synthesis, and evaluation of nanophase materials (that is, materials with
fundamental length scales less than 100 nm) as more effective biomedical devices. He has completed
extensive studies on the use of nanophase materials to regenerate tissues. He is the founding Editorin-chief of the International Journal of Nanomedicine (the first international journal in nanomedicine
which in five years has achieved an impact factor of 4.97). He also currently serves as the Director of
the Indo-U.S. Center for Biomaterials for Healthcare, which is an international collaboration between
20 universities/industries in India and the U.S. to foster biomaterial development.
Introduction to the lecture: Inspired from biological systems, nanotechnology is beginning to
revolutionize medicine including improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of numerous
diseases. This talk will summarize efforts over the past decade that have synthesized novel
nanoparticles, nanotubes, and other nanomaterials to improve medicine. Efforts focused on the use
of nanomaterials to minimize immune cell interactions, inhibit infection, and increase tissue growth
will be especially emphasized. Tissue systems covered will include the nervous system, orthopedics,
bladder, cardiovascular, vascular, and the bladder. Due to complications translating in vitro to in vivo
results, only in vivo studies will be emphasized here. Materials to be covered will include ceramics,
metals, polymers, and composites thereof. Self-assembled nano-chemistries will also be emphasized.
As the US FDA has now approved several nanomaterials for medical applications, recent results from
FDA trials will also be discussed. Recent concerns over nanoparticle toxicity will also be covered as
well as strategies to make nanoparticles less toxic. In summary, this talk will provide the latest
information concerning the design and use of numerous nanomaterials in regenerative medicine
while highlighting what is necessary for this field to continue to grow.
Founder, Nanovis LLC, Audax, Nanoseleno, Nanovault, and NanoFe .
Dr. Webster is also the faculty opponent on the thesis (October 26, 2012) presented by Mats Hulander (PhD
student of BIOMATCELL and the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, GU)
Dr Shahram Ghanaati
REPAIR-Lab, Institute of Pathology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, and
Clinic for Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main,
Germany
"Bioactive titanium metal and its alloys prepared by simple chemical and heat treatments
and their clinical applications"
date: 31st of October, 2012, 12.00-13.00
Biotech Center, Conference room floor 5, Arvid Wallgrens backe 20, 413 46 Gothenburg
Dr Ghanaati´s research interests are in the in vivo vascularization of biomaterials (static and dynamic
in vivo models), understanding the biomaterials-specific tissue reaction (histology and
histomorphometry) and experimental and clinical studies with biomaterials for soft- and bone tissue
engineering. Dr Ghanaati was awarded the MD, DDS and PhD degrees in Johannes Gutenberg
University in Mainz. Since 2005, Dr Ghanaati is the head of in vivo research at the Institute of
Pathology. He is also Senior-Resident at the Clinic of Oral, Cranio-Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery,
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Introduction to the lecture: The present overview focusses on the influence of pysicochemical characteristics of materials such as size, shape and porosity, on the induction of the
material-specific cell and tissue response. Various synthetic, xeno- and allogenic bone substitute
materials and bio-membranes with or without pre-cultivation with human osteoblasts were
implanted into the subcutaneous tissue of small animals, muscle tissue in goats or the human sinus
cavity. The pattern of the inflammatory response to these materials, i.e. mononuclear vs.
multinucleated giant cell generation was systematically evaluated by applying standardized
histological and novel histomorphometrical techniques. The results showed that changes in size,
shape, porosity and chemical composition led to either a mononuclear cellular or a multinucleated
giant cell-based tissue response, which influenced biomaterial vascularization and integration.
Interestingly, the in vivo survival of pre-cultivated osteoblasts on bio-membranes and their
propensity for bone matrix production seemed to be independent of the extent of implantation bed
vascularization. The present data underline the fact that changes in biomaterial physico-chemical
characteristics can be used to guide synthetic materials to induce comparable cell and tissue reaction
observed for biological-derived, i.e. xenogenic materials. The results encourage continuation of
development of synthetic bone substitutes and membranes.
Prof. Dr. Regine Willumeit
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH, Geesthacht ,
Germany
“Degradation of Magnesium Implant Materials.”
date: 5th of December, 2012, 16.00-17.00
Biotech Center, Conference room floor 5, Arvid Wallgrens backe 20, 413 46 Gothenburg
Professor Regine Willumeit was awarded a PhD in physics 1996 after studies at the University of
Hamburg and is now the head of the Department “Macromolecular Structure Research’” at
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht in Germany. Professor Willumeit is currently responsible for 16 coworkers (10 PhD students, 3 Post-Docs and 3 technical staff) as well as summer students.
The German Helmholtz Research Centres encompass almost 34,000 staff. The Helmholtz-Zentrum
Geesthacht (HZG) is a Centre for Materials and Coastal research. The nearby Helmholtz Centre
Deutsches Electronen Synchrotron (DESY) is well known for Scandinavian researchers in physics.
Her research interests include:
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Investigation of biodegradable magnesium alloys and their influence on cellular metabolism
Development of biocompatible implant coatings based on biological model membranes
Structural and functional characterisation of peptide-membrane-interaction (peptide
antibiotics, viral peptides) mainly by neutron and X-ray scattering.
Classical contrast variation on biological and colloidal samples (magnetic nanoparticles,
glycolipides, polymers)
Introduction to the lecture: Magnesium as degradable metal has a large potential for
biomedical applications. However, the mechanism of degradation is not yet clarified in spite of
available in vivo data and clinical trials. The major problem is how to test the material in vitro and
how to correlate these findings to in vivo observations. Here an overview of the in vitro assessment
of biodegradable magnesium is given by considering some basic factors: (I) buffering capacity of the
used media and associated corrosion environment; (II) protein availability; (III) cell types and (IV) ?
For up-dates and details on the Seminar program, please contact Karin Ekström.
Karin.ekstrom@biomaterials.gu.se
Information is also available on www.biomatcell.se and www.chalmers.se/materials