Hannover site
Hannover Medical School
Through SFB/Transregio 37 the position of the topics about biomedical technology as well as regenerative medicine at the 3 Hannover universities has again been significantly reinforced.
The Hannover Medical School (MHH) is concentrating its research on three areas. In addition to infection research, the SFB/Transregio 37 research activities are reflected exactly in the other two pillars of regenerative medicine/stem cell research and biomedical technology and highlight the deliberate and prominent position of these research topics at the site.
Due to the very successful, also at the international level, surgical topics of thoracic, cardiac and vascular surgery, ear, nose and throat surgery as well as dentistry with high patient numbers, there is a high interest in the medium-term transfer of research results (“Reconstruction of biological functions”) both in the corresponding applied and clinical research and also later in the patient care. These clinics have built up long-term cooperation with companies which serve the transfer research. Diverse individual projects in the area of transfer and clinical research have contact points with the SFB/Transregio 37 and make possible a systematic and scientific-based reconstruction of biological functions on the basis of micro and nanosystems using interdisciplinary cooperation.
There is an established cooperation with human and veterinary medicine which has already been reflected in the SFB 599 “Biomedical technology” and in the joint excellence cluster “REBIRTH” for regenerative medicine.
For institutional safeguarding of biomedical technological research, the CrossBit Research Institute (Forschungsinstitute CrossBit (biocompatibility research)) and the Cooperative Institute for Audio, Neurotechnology and Nanobiomaterials (Verbundinstitut für Audio-Neuro-technology and Nanobiomaterialien VIANNA) were founded in the last few years with the support of the state Lower Saxony. They represent the nucleus for the Centre for Biomedical Engineering (Niedersächsische Zentrum für Biomedizintechnik NZ-BMT) jointly supported and approved by the three universities, in which beginning in 2013, research activities in the area of interdisciplinary research will be further intensified in a new building with approx. 7,000m² area (authorised amount: 53.8 mn. €).
University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover
The TiHo has also followed this concept from the beginning. As the largest facility of this kind in Germany, it has a research-active department with the clinic for small pets which focuses its research on biomedical technology. In the last few years, both the method spectrum and the number of projects pursued in the broader field of research of this network has been greatly expanded. The university has promoted these activities long-term. In the past year, the TiHo has built a new, modern small pet clinic adapted to the need of their animal patients. All treatment and care areas are equipped with the most modern technology. The spatial concept with its expanded offer of space and modern laboratory equipment offers both outstanding conditions for the student education and the research activities of the clinic for small pets.
Leibniz University Hannover
At the LUH, the connections to MHH and through them, to medicine have increasingly intensified in the last few years. In various faculties, which are in part funded with centralised funds, the contact points to medicine have been consciously focussed on (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Machine construction/Material science, ...). The research activities of SFB/Transregio 37 and the (required) involvement of the corresponding scientists also illustrate with this the position of these interdisciplinary research fields at the LUH. With the Centre for Biomedical Engineering, there exists a structural facility which the researchers have decisively supported in the initiation and management of research projects between the (Hannover) universities (SFB/Transregio 37, SFB 599, Excellence cluster REBIRTH).
Non-university institutions
As the only non-university institution, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH - LUH) is actively involved in the cluster of des SFB/Transregio 37. The LZH - LUH is a research facility which receives basic funding from the Lower Saxon Ministry for Economic Affairs as a registered association and cooperates closely with the Leibniz University in Hannover. One of the research points of concentration lies in the area of laser medicine/medical technology. This area is being constantly expanded. A separate cross-sectional area “Medical Applications & Biophotonics” has been set up. The technologies and methods developed there in connection with the established department of “Nanotechnology” also increasingly used in the SFB/Transregio 37 subprojects. Several new projects in the area of pure research could be set up and other contract research projects from companies e.g. in the area of stent technology could be acquired. Many company spin-offs in the area of medical technology such as MeKo, Rowiak or Particular have ensued from the Laser Zentrum.