Kick-off meeting of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB): “From the fundamentals of biofabrication to functional tissue models”
The kick-off meeting of the new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) (“Transregio TR-Sonderforschungsbereich”) “From the fundamentals of biofabrication to functional tissue models” took place on 31st January 2018 at the Institute of Biomaterials, hosted by the head of the institute, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini.
The German Science Foundation (DFG) approved the establishment of the new CRC in November 2017. This is a large scale, highly interdisciplinary research effort involving principal investigators from different disciplines and faculties from three universities, namely University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, University of Würzburg, and University of Bayreuth with a funding volume of about 10 Million Euro for initially 4 years.
Biofabrication, the core scientific discipline in this CRC, involves the application of 3D printing techniques to process living cells and biomaterials (hydrogels) simultaneously in order to obtain complex, tissue and organ mimicking 3D structures.
The governing bodies of the CRC were elected at the meeting.
Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is the FAU spokesman in this CRC and also a member of the CRC board. Other WW-Department members who are participating in this project are Dr. R. Detsch (Research associate, Institute of Biomaterials) and Prof. D. W. Schubert (Head, Institute of Polymer Materials, WW5).