Successful 4th Digital Implant Innovation Forum despite stormy weather

The 4th symposium of the established Digital Implant Innovation Forum series took place on November 28. [...]

Participation of NIFE/HTTG research groups at the Hannover Organ Transplant Summit

Researchers in cardiothoracic, transplantation and vascular surgery from NIFE presented their latest scientific findings at the first Hannover Organ Transplant Summit, which took place on November 21 and 22, 2024 at the Medical Park Hannover.

Novel biosensor to detect contamination of water

iGEM Competition 2024: Students at Leibniz University Hannover receive gold medal for development that could help prevent antibiotic resistance

Heart transplantation in wartime

International cooperation in cutting-edge medicine: Renowned surgeon Prof. Dr. Borys Todurov reports on how transplant programs in [...]

Innovative implant against sudden deafness wins start-up funding competition

Lower Saxony Research Incubator Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) supports MHH project Bacta Implants with 770,000 euros The [...]

Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development

NIFE - this is the acronym for the Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development. 

At NIFE, biological, biohybrid and biofunctionalized implants are developed to replace or restore failed organ functions. The aim is to achieve optimal biological function with the greatest possible lifelong durability. This takes into account the growing importance of suitable implants that are tailored to the needs of the patient, which results not least from the demographic development of the population, as the percentage of elderly people in society is increasing.

At the same time, completely new approaches are to be researched at NIFE. Postoperative and cost-intensive complications of implants, for example due to infections or mechanical or electrical failure, are to be reduced, as these often require very expensive treatments as a consequence. Despite different functionalities in the various organ areas and the associated demands on the specificity of the implants, there is a large area of organ-independent, concurrent issues that benefit from common approaches to solutions. Thus, the close collaboration of the natural science, engineering and medical research groups will be elevated to a higher level in terms of efficiency, quality and synergy generation.

In parallel to research and development, the preclinical and clinical expertise available at the site is used to translate biomedical engineering findings from the laboratories into marketable products more quickly. The topics range from the development of biomaterials for implants and infection biology to imaging and laser medicine as well as regenerative therapies.

NIFE is a joint scientific institution of the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the Foundation of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo) and the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) in cooperation with the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH). This institution was founded according to §36a of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) with the aim of bundling transdisciplinary research and development with a focus on implant research in Lower Saxony.

With NIFE, a transdisciplinary center in the field of implant research has been created, which conducts research across several organ systems along the entire innovation chain. This can be expected to provide considerable impetus for the transfer of scientific results to industry. With this center, Hannover as a biomedical technology location underscores its outstanding position and becomes all the more attractive for the settlement of national and international life science companies.

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Transdisciplinary collaboration

42 Working groups

MEDICINE | NATURAL SCIENCES | ENGINEERING SCIENCES 

Focus of our research 

Bio-Material Development

Biomaterial development can be seen as a fundamental example of interdisciplinary cooperation in NIFE. 

From clinical practice, requirements are defined for synthetic and biological materials for implants that are either conventional, artificial, biohybrid with a resorbable structure, or completely biological.
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Implant-associated infection

Infections caused by bacterial biofilms play a crucial role in all medical fields.

In the focus area of implant-associated infections, new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are being developed on the basis of a systematic characterization of biofilms on implant surfaces and the resulting implant-associated diseases.
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Biohybrids & Bio-Compatibility

The main focus of the work is to elucidate the tissue-implant interaction.

Clinically, implants must reliably fulfill many specific functions in addition to their biocompatibility and mechanical suitability.
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Bio-Functionality - VIANNA

Biofunctionality and functionalization are essential research tasks in medical implant development in the various fields of application. 

Optimization of the cell-specific implant surface and its inextricably linked function is of fundamental importance in all of the organ systems brought together in NIFE.
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Bio-Material Testing

Novel biomaterials must undergo extensive testing prior to their use in humans to rule out adverse reactions such as material-induced implant failure.
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Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering occupies the interface between biology (isolation and cultivation of cells), medicine (replacement of missing or diseased tissue), and engineering, including physics and chemistry (development and production of synthetic matrices).
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eNIFE

The eNIFE is a research center associated with NIFE within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Leibniz Universität Hannover, which is dedicated to the topic of biomedical engineering from the perspective of electrical engineering.
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