SFB 760:  Biomechanics and Biology of Musculoskeletal Regeneration - From Functional Assessment to Guided Tissue Formation

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Materials Science and Engineering ; Mathematics
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 29773914

The long-term goal of the Collaborative Research Centre is the understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in bone regeneration to efficiently stimulate the healing process. The Collaborative Research Centre transfers basic knowledge from material science and molecular biology to treatment options in the field of musculoskeletal regeneration. Basic and clinical scientists in bone regeneration focus on the following questions:
(1) What are the molecular and physical mechanisms that allow the regeneration of bone?
(2) How can the regeneration process be influenced, and to what degree can this knowledge be employed to control the healing process?
(3) Is it possible to stimulate regeneration even under biological or mechanical conditions where bone regeneration would not occur naturally?
The Collaborative Research Centre joins the efforts of investigators who use genetic and molecular biological analyses in cell systems as well as animal models to study bone regeneration, researchers who assess structural properties of tissues on a micro- and nano-scale in an attempt to mimic the natural process of matrix formation and maturation, and clinical scientists who identify the mechanical and biological boundary conditions, under which regeneration of bone takes place in vivo.
By characterising the endogenous process of regeneration in the clinic, as well as in small and large animal models (project section C), the Collaborative Research Centre is organised along two fundamental pathways: the biological mechanisms underlying bone regeneration on a cellular level (project section A), and the physical mechanisms underlying bone regeneration on a structural level (project section B).
A successful combination of these lines of research will allow the members of the Collaborative Research Centre to benefit from the know-how and technologies of the partner projects, producing a highly interdisciplinary corporation. A comprehensive understanding of the processes that lead to endogenous bone regeneration could additionally guide the way to a blue print for regeneration of other organ structures.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - The molecular biology of fracture healing (Project Heads Mundlos, Stefan ;  Robinson, Peter Nicholas )
• A02 - Improving bone regeneration by modification of BMP-inhibition (Project Heads Mundlos, Stefan ;  Seemann, Petra )
• A03 - Manipulation of BMP and GDF growth factor signalling for musculoskeletal regeneration processes (Project Head Knaus, Petra )
• A04 - The role of AP-1 signalling in the pathology of bone remodelling (Project Head David, Ph.D., Jean-Pierre )
• A05 - Mechanical strain-induced reactive oxygen species as mediators of embryonic stem cell derived angiogenesis and osteogenesis (Project Head Wartenberg, Maria Gerda )
• B01 - The micro-mechanical and structural properties of callus tissue during bone healing (Project Heads Fratzl, Peter ;  Manjubala, Inderchand )
• B02 - Mechano-biology of bone healing and regeneration (Project Heads Duda, Georg ;  Weinkamer, Richard )
• B03 - Regulation of the biosynthesis of extracellular matrix components by biomaterial scaffolds of different geometry and stiffness (Project Heads Fratzl, Peter ;  Lendlein, Andreas )
• B04 - Sequential release of growth factors for treatment of biologically induced atrophic non-union (Project Heads Schmidmaier, Gerhard ;  Wildemann, Britt )
• B05 - Biomimetic scaffold systems to support regeneration of bone defects having overcritical size (Project Head Lendlein, Andreas )
• C01 - Biological characterisation of early bone healing and onset of regeneration (Project Heads Buttgereit, Frank ;  Perka, Carsten )
• C02 - Biology of musculoskeletal regeneration and evaluation of guided tissue formation (Project Heads Bail, Hermann Josef ;  Lienau, Jasmin )
• C03 - Biomechanical characterisation of bone healing and regeneration in small and large animals (Project Heads Duda, Georg ;  Schell, Hanna )
• C04 - Functional assessment and musculoskeletal loading conditions in regeneration (Project Heads Hege, Hans-Christian ;  Heller, Markus )
• C05 - Fast and reliable multilevel algorithms in a virtual orthopaedic surgery lab (Project Heads Deuflhard, Peter J. ;  Kornhuber, Ralf )
• C06 - Analyses of in vivo data of loads in the human body (Project Head Bergmann, Georg )
• C09 - Beneficial and unfavourable immune cells in fracture healing (Project Heads Schell, Hanna ;  Volk, Hans-Dieter )
• Z01 - Organisation and structural integration (Project Heads Duda, Georg ;  Haas, Norbert P. )

• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Co-Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin (DRFZ); Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon GmbH; Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung; Wissenschaftspark Potsdam-Golm; Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Genetik (MPIMG); Zuse-Institut Berlin (ZIB)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Georg Duda