SFB 1270:  ELectrically Active ImplaNts - ELAINE

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Biology ; Chemistry ; Mechanical and Industrial Engineering ; Materials Science and Engineering ; Mathematics ; Medicine ; Physics
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 299150580

With the aging population, the need for medical implants for various indication areas and their replacement during the course of therapy is growing. The research vision pursued by the interdisciplinary SFB 1270 focusses on novel, electrically active implants employed for the regeneration of bone and cartilage and for deep brain stimulation to treat movement disorders. For these therapeutic applications, the technical vision aims at an energy-minimised electrical, autonomous long-term stimulator with continuous and intermittent modes, which is fully programmable and implantable. This should pave the way for new long-term medical applications, feedback-controlled, adaptive stimulation and patient-specific treatment. In vitro and in vivo validated multiscale models, taking into account patient-specific variations, should allow for more robust and safer individual therapy planning. So far, initial findings and pivotal innovations have been achieved: New concepts for bioactive and mechanically reliable implant structures and materials enable a reliable energy supply for implants by means of kinetic and deformation energy. STELLA is an innovative, fully implantable stimulator with miniaturised electronics and reduced energy requirements in the milliwatt range. Special approaches to simulate the effect of the stimulating electric fields at the cell and tissue level, taking into account stochastic uncertainties, as well as refined in vitro and in vivo approaches for a comprehensive characterisation of the respective cell and tissue processes have been established. For large bone defects a stimulation system for in vivo animal experiments was developed and proved to be effective ex vivo and in vivo. Using innovative stimulation chambers, the differentiation ability of human cartilage cells was investigated in vitro. For deep brain stimulation important new results could be achieved with STELLA in free moving animals on dystonia and Parkinson's disease. In the second funding period, feedback-controlled electrical stimulation of bone and cartilage defects as well as deep brain regions with STELLA, including integrated data acquisition, processing and energy supply, will be targeted. Our interdisciplinary consortium allows for a scientifically sound validation of newly derived theoretical models, numerical methods and technical solutions through experiments in both engineering and life sciences. Our patient-individual multi-scale models should enable the use of more specific stimulation parameters and thus increase the chances of therapeutic success. All in all, our ambitious interdisciplinary research programme is designed to demonstrate new approaches for future biomedical implants, hopefully increasing the chances of overcoming the health problems of an ageing population.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Computational models for analysing the impact of electric fields on intracellular and intercellular processes at different spatio-temporal scales (Project Head Uhrmacher, Adelinde )
• A02 - Multi-scale models for studies on electrically active implants in due consideration of uncertainties in the input data (Project Heads Appali, Revathi ;  van Rienen, Ursula ;  Schmidt, Christian )
• A03 - AC-electrostimulation of cells on functionalised and laterally structured material surfaces – cell signalling aspects (Project Heads Nebe, J. Barbara ;  Rebl, Henrike ;  Speller, Sylvia )
• A04 - Electrically conductive multilayers for implant surfaces (Project Head Helm, Christiane A. )
• A05 - Dielectric evaluation of cellular and interfacial characteristics for electrical stimulation (Project Head Kolb, Jürgen )
• A06 - Mathematical modelling and analysis of parameter dependent behaviour of multiscale systems (Project Head Starke, Jens )
• B01 - Electrically conductive and piezoactive materials for multifunctional implants for bone and cartilage regeneration (Project Heads Boccaccini, Aldo ;  Seitz, Hermann )
• B02 - Transformation of mechanical energy as internal energy source for electrically active implants (Project Head Klüß, Daniel )
• B03 - Modelling and design of ultra low power implants for closed loop stimulation (Project Heads Haubelt, Christian ;  Hohlfeld, Dennis ;  Timmermann, Dirk )
• B05 - Assessment of the mechanical reliability of electrically active, porous and functionally graded implant structures by local damage approach (Project Head Sander, Manuela )
• B06 - Signal processing for modelling and in situ monitoring of electrically active implants (Project Head Spors, Sascha )
• B07 - Numerical analysis of periprosthetic bone quality and density assessments (Project Head Adrian, Simon )
• C01 - Electro-physical stimulation of osseoinduction via alloplastic osteosynthesis system after ablative surgery in the mandible (Project Heads Dau, Michael ;  Engel, Nadja ;  Kämmerer, Peer )
• C02 - Electrical and mechanical stimulation of hyaline cartilage: Characterisation of biological response and different stimulation parameters (Project Heads Bader, Rainer ;  Jonitz-Heincke, Anika ;  Seitz, Hermann )
• C03 - Deep brain stimulation in dystonia models: Biological implementation, definition of optimal stimulation parameters, and analysis of mechanisms (Project Heads Köhling, Rüdiger ;  Richter, Angelika )
• C04 - Interactive effects of deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus on dopaminergic plasticity and neurogenesis in a genetic rat model of Parkinson’s disease: From non-motor impact to biomarker development (Project Heads Fauser, Mareike ;  Storch, Alexander )
• INF - Infrastructure Support Project (Project Heads Krüger, Frank ;  van Rienen, Ursula ;  Sander, Manuela ;  Spors, Sascha )
• IRTG - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Spors, Sascha ;  Storch, Alexander ;  Uhrmacher, Adelinde )
• S01 - Improving metrology and instrumentation of electrostimulation experiments (Project Heads van Rienen, Ursula ;  Spors, Sascha )
• Z - Central Tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Head van Rienen, Ursula )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Rostock
• Participating University: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Universität Greifswald; Universität Leipzig
• Participating Institution: Leibniz-Institut für Plasmaforschung und Technologie e.V. (INP)
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Ursula van Rienen