The interdisciplinary research network SIIRI combines expertise from medicine, engineering and materials research to make implants safer. The interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Center/Transregio 298 SIIRI ("Safety-integrated and infection-reactive implants") receives a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to more than ten million euros over the next three and a half years to continue developing the implants of tomorrow. SIIRI was first funded four years ago. Since then, more than 150 scientists from the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the Leibniz University Hanover (LUH), the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the Braunschweig University of Technology and the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media The two researchers are working together to develop innovative strategies to improve implant safety. "This success shows what can be achieved by joining forces," says MHH President Prof. Dr. Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner. "We want to establish MHH as a driving force for forward-looking health research. This is only possible in a network of first-class partners - such as the SIIRI network. I would like to congratulate everyone involved." "Our research into intelligent implants is only possible thanks to the close inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration between scientists from medicine, dentistry, engineering, natural and social sciences," emphasizes SIIRI spokesperson Prof. Dr. Meike Stiesch, Director of the Clinic for Dental Prosthetics and Biomedical Materials Science and Dean of Research at the MHH. Together, the consortium has researched new strategies for implant safety and achieved top results with international appeal. "Our researchers in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry and physics are contributing their expertise to the development of implant materials and suitable sensor technology, among other things," adds co-spokesperson Prof. Hans Jürgen Maier, Managing Director of the Institute of Materials Science at LUH. The SIIRI consortium is working on new safety strategies for medical implants by, among other things, researching service life and monitoring concepts from the engineering sciences, such as those developed in aviation to increase safety, for application in medicine for the first time. In the engineering sciences, safety-relevant concepts are based on reliable monitoring. Regular checks are used to detect potential component damage at an early stage, measure its severity and react accordingly. The SIIRI researchers make use of this knowledge. Using cell-based, chemical and physical detection systems, the aim is to be able to detect biological or technical implant failure at an early stage and react accordingly. The overarching goal is always to achieve a sustainable improvement in implant and patient safety. The SIIRI scientists are working together to develop intelligent implant systems for dentistry and orthopaedics as well as hearing implants that use state-of-the-art technology to enable continuous monitoring of implant function for the first time and thus early detection of complications such as infections. "We are developing intelligent implant systems that can independently initiate early repair and thus healing using cell-based, chemical and physical closed-loop systems. Digital concepts such as digital implant lifecycle management and digital twins enable the lifelong tracking of implants and thus make a significant contribution to implant and patient safety," explains Professor Stiesch. The nucleus for this interdisciplinary research is the NIFE (Lower Saxony Center for Implant Research and Development), which has been established in the Medical Park Hannover as an internationally visible research institute, achieving top results in experimental research and bringing them into clinical application for various organ systems. At NIFE, biological, biohybrid and biofunctionalized implants are developed to replace or restore organ functions that have failed. Text: Inka Burow Source: MHH
Aviation knowledge to make implants safer
Digital twins for lifelong tracking
Close cooperation at NIFE