The goal of this project is the development of a novel class of biodegradable fibre reinforced composite materials, which should serve as a future alternative to titanium-based implants. These new materials are based on a thermosetting polymer matrix, reinforced with bioglass fibres. By the use of photopolymerization, these composites can be polymerized on-site, facilitating an adaption of the required patient-specific geometry. For details click here, opens a file in a new window.

Supervisory Team: Prof. Aleksandr Ovsianikov (TUW), Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ioanna Giouroudi (TUW), FH-Prof. Dr. Marianne Raith (FHCW)

Many polymers are of synthetic origin and their biocompatibility is much more limited than that of natural polymers such as cellulose, chitin or chitosan. Chitosan in particular, as a natural biopolymer, has excellent properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and non-toxicity, which made the material suitable for applications, like tissue engineering or as surface coating to improve osseointegration. Since surface topography plays an important role in cell growth required for fast integration into tissue as well as on bacterial adhesion, laser treated hierarchical surfaces will be investigated in detail to reveal influences of structure size and shape on integration into tissue and biofilm development. For details click here, opens a file in a new window.

Supervisory Team: Prof. Andreas Otto (TUW), FH-Prof. Dr. Marianne Raith (FHCW)

Associate Expert: Dr. Sabine Gruber (FHCW)

After implantation of a vascular stent into an artery, the smooth surface with endothelial lining of the lumen is interrupted, non-physiological mechanical loads and flow disturbances contribute to local tissue damage, thrombi formation and vascular cell-growth, increasing the risk of re-stenosis. Aim of this project is to investigate, how design parameters of the inserted stent influence loads, local flow conditions and vascular cells and to determine design parameters that may reduce the likelihood of re-stenosis. For details click here, opens a file in a new window.

Supervisory Team: Prof. Margit Gföhler (TUW), Prof. Andreas Otto (TUW), FH-Prof. Dr. Thomas Czerny (FHCW)

Novel materials or coatings for medical devices are in close contact to human tissue and for several applications (e.g., implants) and adherence and proliferation of host cells to the device/coating is essential. Standard biocompatibility tests include the analyses of migrates of the medical devices with toxicological assays. In this project we will concentrate on the cell attachment step and will establish biocompatibility assays with cells directly attached to the material or coating. For this we will adapt reporter cell lines previously developed in our group for type 4 allergy via detection of ARE pathway activity (skin sensitization; Mertl et al. 2019), inflammation via detection of NF-kB activation and genotoxicity (Pinter et al. 2021). Further, we will newly develop a dual luciferase reporter cell line for the analysis of attachment and proliferation of cells on medical devices or coatings. This should allow a direct quantification of the ability of the cells to attach and proliferate without the need of microscopy, which is often the limiting step with non-transparent materials. The use of secreted forms of luciferase for all assays will allow the study of the cellular behaviour over several days in time course experiments. The combination of bioassays covering different toxicological endpoints (skin sensitization, inflammation, genotoxicity) and markers for attachment and proliferation of cells directly in contact with the material/coating will give new insights into material-cell interactions and will allow a straight forward test regime for the development of new materials. For details click here, opens a file in a new window.

Supervisory Team: FH-Prof. Dr. Thomas Czerny (FHCW), Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ioanna Giouroudi (TUW), Dr. Elisabeth Riegel (external)

The use of polymers and polymer composites for biomedical applications can be hampered by strong adverse immune reactions, which might result in excessive inflammation or allergic reactions that lead to the dysfunction of medical devices. In contrast, it is also known that controlled immune responses are crucial for integration of foreign materials and for tissue repair. This PhD project has two major objectives: i) to compare immune responses induced by different biomaterials to gain a better understanding of harmful and beneficial cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction between novel biomaterials and the immune system, and ii) to characterize chitosan as an antimicrobial compound with known high biocompatibility for the coating of medical devices with the goal of increasing the tolerability of medical devices. For details click here, opens a file in a new window.

Supervisory Team: FH-Prof. Univ. Doz. Dr. Ines Swoboda,  Prof. Andreas Otto (TUW)

Associate Expert: Dr. Sabine Gruber (FHCW)