DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials

🎉There is good reason to celebrate for Rahman Omidinia Anarkoli, Ekin Akdere and Jana Kaus. 🎉 🏆🥇 The three colleagues behind FORMeat impressed the jury with their presentation at the “AC² - Gründen und Wachsen” competition and were awarded first place in the “AC²- Pitch+PitchDeck” discipline. 👨🔬 👩🔬 FORMeat is developing a pioneering technology for the production of cultured meat: Their advanced fiber spinning technology will be used to produce steaks from animal stem cells, making it possible to offer a more environmentally and animal-friendly alternative to conventional methods of factory farming and meat production in the future. The specially developed spinning machines will be able to process meat cultivated in the laboratory to replicate the texture and structure of conventional types of meat. The scalable spinning technology ensures that cultured meat meets the highest quality and taste standards.

Studierende und Auszubildende aufgepasst! Du möchtest etwas über nachhaltige textile Wertschöpfungsketten lernen und dabei auch praktische Erfahrung sammeln? Dann ist die erste #SummerSchool der vom Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen geförderten Kooperationsplattform #KlarTEXt genau das richtige für Dich. Arbeite mit Kommiliton*innen und Kolleg*innen aus ganz Deutschland in praktischen Laborübungen zusammen. Vorträge, Workshops und Konzepte werden in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Industriepartner*innen gehalten, erarbeitet und diskutiert. Die SummerSchool findet an der Hochschule Niederrhein in Mönchengladbach vom 17. – 20. September auf Deutsch statt. Neben dem DWI und der Hochschule Niederrhein ist auch das Fraunhofer UMSICHT Kooperationspartner. Hier geht es zur Anmeldung und weiteren Informationen: https://lnkd.in/divuUpqP #Textile #Nachhaltigkeit #Wertschöpfung

🚀 Thrilled to share that I recently had the honor of presenting at the IUPAC Macro 2024 Conference in University of Warwick 🚀 It was an incredible experience to present my latest research on “Synthesis of polymeric polyphenolic polyphosphazene colloids for bio-based flame retardant finishes” to the polymer chemist community. My work, focusing on bio-based flame retardants for a more sustainable and halogen free alternative sparked engaging discussions about its potential impact and future applications. Connecting with so many talented researchers and professionals, exchanging ideas, and initiating new collaborations was truly invaluable. A huge thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making this conference an unforgettable experience! 🌟 I'm excited about the next steps and looking forward to driving future developments in our field with Andrij Pich & Regina Palkovits & Kevin Sabel at the DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien & RWTH Aachen University. Also I’m grateful to have received a scholarship for this conference from the DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, which made this opportunity possible. And the AiF Projekt GmbH & Forschungskuratorium Textil e. V. who supported and financed our idea and research for more bio-based polymeric flame retardants. #IUPAC2024 #MacroIUPAC #ScientificResearch #PolymerScience #Innovation #Networking #Collaboration #Grateful

We look back on our first "Macromolecular Chemistry & Soft Matter Connects Symposium" here at the DWI in Aachen. Together with representatives from Universiteit Gent and Eindhoven University of Technology, we laid the foundation for a promising series of events that will also lead to joint research projects and collaborations. Congratulations to Fabian Sobotta and Anna Meyer for winning the Best Poster Awards! Many thanks to our keynote speakers Li Tang, Christoph Weder and Mahesh Mahanthappa for their inspiring presentations, which left a positive and lasting impression. Furthermore, we thank all participants and everyone who contributed and look forward to the next symposium, which will take place in Gent next year. Patricia Y.W. Dankers Peter Dubruel Rint Sijbesma Sandra. Van Vlierberghe Alexander Cook Kristýna Kolouchová Anja Palmans Bruno De Geest Richard Hoogenboom Laura De Laporte Andreas Herrmann Andrij Pich

Next Wednesday: Meet Andrij Pich from DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials and RWTH Aachen University! He recently joined our faculty and will provide an insight into his research during our Matter to Life Lecture Series. Keep reading for a sneak peek of his lecture: "Aqueous colloidal hydrogels exhibit interesting properties like stimuli-responsiveness, surface-activity, adaptability and resemble behavior and functions of biological soft materials. We develop efficient and easy up-scalable synthesis methods to obtain colloidal hydrogels using functional molecular building blocks like monomers, macromonomers and biomacromolecules. The use of “programmable” reactive building blocks able to undergo specific non-covalent interactions (electrostatic, hydrophobic or π-π-stacking) along with the formation of covalent chemical bonds in aqueous solutions is a key to bottom-up synthesis of colloidal gels with controlled size, tunable shape and variable chemical structure. Aqueous colloidal hydrogels with programmable chemical functionalities, size and shape are used for the development of switchable catalyst systems, sustainable plant protection formulations, emerging drug delivery systems and adaptive biomaterials for tissue engineering." Intrigued? Register now! 👉 https://buff.ly/3xmj9pB 📸 Fabio Sentek, DWI – Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials

... looking back to what was and what will be ... two weeks ago, Laura De Laporte from DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials received as first female scientist the biannual award from the Belgian Polymer Group on the 30th anniversary edition organized by Sandra. Van Vlierberghe and myself UGent ... very well deserved award Laura for an outstanding scientist! ... during her talk, she brought a very nice tribute to Prof. Etienne Schacht who passed away too early ... #polymers #materials #biomedical #chemistry #engineering #scaffolds #3Dprinting #polymer #award #BPG #ESB #biomaterials #godfather #hydrogels

“We have every opportunity to maintain and further expand technological sovereignty in cell and gene therapy in Germany. Now is the time to make use of them“, concluded our colleague Sven Stegemann during the panel discussion at today's official release of the National Strategy for Gene- and Cell-Based Therapies. Around 150 experts from science, industry, politics and society have joined forces to develop a national strategy for gene- and cell-based therapies on behalf of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) with the aim of offering seriously ill people new treatment perspectives through gene- and cell-based therapies and strengthening the international competitiveness of Germany as a location for research and innovation in the field of gene- and cell-based therapies in the long term. The strategy paper was officially presented to the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, and publsihed in Berlin today at the Futurium. The development of the strategy was coordinated and moderated by Berlin Institute of Health in der Charité and Netzwerkbüro GCT Germany. Six scientists from Aachen are part of the large panel of experts: Sven Stegemann (Leibniz Joint Lab 'first in Translation'), Hannes Klump, Fabian Beier and Martin Zenke from Uniklinik RWTH Aachen as well as Robert Schmitt and Jørgen Barsett Magnus from RWTH Aachen University. You can read more about his work and that of the Aachen experts here: https://lnkd.in/evymivXG

💗 Die Warteliste für Spenderherzen ist lang. Deshalb wird intensiv an Alternativen geforscht, wie zum Beispiel sogenannten Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs). In Deutschland bekommen jährlich bis zu 1000 Patient:innen solche Pumpsysteme neu eingesetzt, und die Zahl steigt. Doch selbst die fortschrittlichsten Geräte sind oftmals nicht ausreichend blutverträglich. Das führt zu lebensbedrohlichen Komplikationen wie Blutgerinnseln, Embolien, Schlaganfällen sowie chronischen Entzündungen. 🎤 Auf der diesjährigen CIRP -Konferenz BioM in #Dresden stellt unser Kollege Martin Kohse einen neuen Ansatz zur Verbesserung der Blutverträglichkeit von Kunstherzen vor. 🔬 Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts »Heart 2.0« des Kompetenzzentrums Bio4MatPro haben wir gemeinsam mit dem Manufacturing Technology Institute – MTI der RWTH Aachen und dem DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien eine thrombophobe Oberfläche für Kunstherzen entwickelt, die die Bildung von Blutgerinnseln verhindert. Durch Laserbearbeitung haben wir feine Mikro- und Nanostrukturen in die Innenfläche des Kunstherzens eingebracht. Die Strukturen bilden eine physische Barriere, die Blutbestandteile am Verklumpen hindert. Entstehen doch einmal Thromben, sorgen weitere Strukturen, inspiriert von der Haihaut, dafür, dass die Thromben schnell aus dem Herzbereich herausgespült werden. Wir freuen uns sehr darauf, die Entwicklungen aus diesem spannenden Projekt dem hochkarätigen Publikum der CIRP vorstellen zu dürfen! #CIRP #fraunhofer #medizintechnik #herz #laser

Ninon Möhl is a PhD student in the research group of Laura De Laporte and investigates polymers and biomaterials. She recently received both the Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Life Science from the Joachim Herz Foundation and a Fulbright Scholarship. Her plans for the use of the funding are already fixed: https://lnkd.in/eAtWeNgQ

🎉 Exciting News! 🎉 Our latest research article, titled "𝘐𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰 polymer mechanochemistry with polynucleotides," has been accepted for publication in 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴! ✅ We dive into the innovative field of polymer mechanochemistry, utilizing mechanical force to activate latent functionalities in macromolecules. Traditionally, this field has relied heavily on ultrasonication techniques, but our research overcomes fundamental constraints of frequency and power intensity that have limited biomedical applications—until now! 🔎 This study introduces a mechanochemically-responsive polynucleotide platform that leverages medical imaging ultrasound for the binding and release of therapeutic oligonucleotides and small molecules. It demonstrates that high molar mass, colloidal assembly and distinct mechanochemical mechanisms facilitate force-induced cargo release and subsequent activation of biological functions in vitro and in vivo, thereby pioneering novel mechanochemical strategies for sonopharmacology and sonogenetics applications. 💊 💠 I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the authors for their incredible contributions and dedication to this project. Johannes Hahmann, Cheng Lin, Xiaofeng Zhang, Chuanjiang He, Wolfgang H. Rath, Dr. Pardes Habib, MD/PhD, Sabri Sahnoun, Khosrow R., Rostislav Vinokur, Felix Mottaghy, Robert Göstl and Matthias Bartneck. Your hard work, creativity, and perseverance were instrumental in bringing this research to life. 🧬🔬 💠 Special thanks to my supervisor, Andreas Herrmann, for the unwavering support, guidance and mentorship throughout this journey. Your insights and encouragement have been invaluable in navigating the challenges and achieving this milestone. 🗎 An early preview version is available here: https://lnkd.in/eVGiCiXw DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials RWTH Aachen University