Laser rapid prototyping of bioactive materials for medical treatment

Burn wounds are very painful and take a very long time to heal. Conventional treatment of burns implies exchange of wound coverages several times per day. By pulsed laser ablation of a metal plate in a water-based monomer solution and simultaneous polymerization, nanoparticles are permanently embedded in a polymer matrix, called microgel. Using electrospinning, these microgels can be easily processed to microfibers for the application as ion-release systems. The release of different bioactive metal ions initiated by the nanoparticles, supports all healing stages and therefore improving the healing process.

The presented project is interdisciplinary lead by Prof. Stephan Barcikowski (Chair of Technical Chemistry I at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Vice-Director of the Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE) and Co-founder of the Particular GmbH), Prof. Andrij Pich (Chair of Functional and Interactive Polymers in the DWI-Leibnitz-Institute for Interactive Materials at the RWTH Aachen), Prof. Peter M. Vogt and Prof. Kerstin Reimers (Chair of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery at the Hannover Medical School).

The principal investigators acknowledge the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for generous founding of the Schwerpunktprogramm 1327.