Biomaterials Research – Research Center Rossendorf

From 2000 to 2004 a biomaterials research laboratory had been set up at the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research of the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf e.V. (now Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf). The topic of research was ion implantation to improve the biocompatibility of surfaces. The situation of the bio-laboratory in the physical institute offered a unique possibility for the interdisciplinary investigation of the biological response on physical surface properties. By means of ion implantation and various methods of film deposition, it is possible to modify surface properties like hardness, roughness, crystallinity, electrical and electronic properties, surface charges and chemical functional groups in a wide range. The biological research was on metabolism, differentiation, apoptotic and necrotic death of cells on foreign surfaces.

Unfortunately, in October 2004 the laboratory had to be shut down, due to priority shifts in the institute. All equipment got distributed to other institutes. Also, none of the cell lines is available anymore.

Flyers and posters and some presentations show the research fields of the laboratory.

Implants in contact with blood (leading topic)

  • influence of the surface on proteins, especially of the clotting cascade
  • influence of the surface on blood cells, especially with blood platelets
  • influence of the surface on blood vessel cells, especially with endothelial cells

Implants in contact with bone

  • surface interaction with extracellular matrix proteins
  • differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on the surfaces

Equipment and Methods

  • Standard equipped cell culture laboratory with flow box, CO2 incubator, autoclave, cryostat, etc.
    Types of cells, where I had experience with:
    • SAOS-2: human osteosarcoma cell line
    • L929: mouse fibrosarcoma cell line
    • GM-7373: bovine aorta endothelium cell line
    • HMEC-1: human microvascular endothelial cell line
    • STRO-1: hybridoma against a mesenchymal stem cell marker
    • B4-78: hybridoma against bone-liver alkaline phosphatase
    • AIIB2: hybridoma against the ß1 integrin subunit
    • BIIG2: hybridoma against integrin alpha 5
    • CASMC: human coronary artery smooth muscle cells
    • HCAEC: human coronary artery endothelial cells
    • Rat bone marrow stroma cells as primary cell culture
    • Bovine and pork coronary artery endothelial cells as primary cell culture
  • Inverted fluorescent microscope (Nikon: TS100F)
  • Upright microscope for DIC contrast, dark field, etc. (no transmission) (Zeiss: Axioskop)
  • Fluorescent (FLx800) and absorbent (µQuant) microplate reader (BioTek)
  • Gradient thermocycler (MJ Research: PTC200)
  • Protein and DNA gel electrophoresis (BioRad)
  • 4 colour flow cytometer (FACSCalibur, Becton Dickinson)
  • CO2 critical point drying for electron microscopy (CPD30, Bal-Tec)
  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM) in contact and non-contact mode (DME)
  • Scanning tunnel microscopy (STM) with electrochemistry (DME)
  • Drop Shape Analysis Instrument (contact angle) (Krüss: DSA10/DO3020)
  • Potentiodynamic corrosion measurement VersaStat (EG&G Princeton Applied Research)
    and Autolab Potentiostat/ Galvanostat (Eco Chemie B.V.)

Projects and Scientific Collaboration

Projects of 2004

  • Boston Scientific (SCIMED) and InFlow Dynamics
    • Biocompatible coatings for vascular stents
  • City University Hongkong, (Paul K. Chu)
    • Metal Plasma immersion implantation and deposition (MePIIID) of sodium with traces of other elements into titanium for precipitation fo hydroxyapatite from a simulated body fluid and increased growth of bone forming cells (DAAD grant)
  • University Lipetsk, Russia. (Igor Zyganov)
    • Blood compatibility of titanium oxide layers.
  • Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, (Huang Nan)
    • Blood compatibility of diamond-like carbon coatings with various amounts of sp2/sp3 bondings
  • Russian Academy of Science, Institute of technical ceramics, Moscow (Serguei Barinov)
    • Adsorption behaviour of fibronectin and bone morphogenetic proteins on various hydroxyapatite formulations (WTZ grant)
  • Nara Medical University, Department of Orthopaedics, Akira Kido.
    • Interaction of various osteosarcomas and malignous fibrous histiocytomas with coatings of hydroxyapatite precipitates in vitro and in vivo.

Projects completed 2003

  • University of Kiev, Faculty of Physics (Mykola Vinnichenko)
    • Adsorption and conformational changes of albumin on various diamon-like carbon coatings, investigated by fluorescent, antibody and ellipsometric methods (Intas young scientist grant)

Projects completed 2002

  • Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Solid State Physics, Sofia (Liliana Pramatarova and Emilia Pecheva)
    • Calcium phosphate precipitation from simulated body fluid on conductive, semiconductive and insulating surfaces after ion implantation (Marie Curie grant)
  • Russian Academy of Science, Institute of technical chemistry, Perm (Alexey Kondyurin)
    • Modification of drug release kinetics from polymers by ion implantation (WTZ grant)
  • University of Kiev, Faculty of Physics (Leonid Poperenko)
    • Chromium oxide films on stainless steel for corrosion protection and blood compatibility (Leonid Poperenko, DAAD grant)
  • Facilitation Center for Plasma Technologies, Gandhinagar, India (Subroto Mukherjee)
    • Interaction of bone forming cells with hard TiAlN coatings (side-collaboration during Alexander von Humboldt grant)

Projects completed 2001

  • University of Kiev, Faculty of Physics (Mykola Vinnichenko)
    • Corrosion of stainless steel in biological influences, investigated by electrochemistry, ellipsometry and XPS (DAAD grant)

Projects completed 2000

  • City University Hongkong (Paul K. Chu)
    • Metal plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (MePIIID) of tantalum for increased X-ray contrast of vascular stents (DAAD grant)