Laser-Induced Hierarchical Micro-Structures/Nano-Structures to Support Controlled Cell Adhesion Implants

A large application area of medical implants are currently dental prostheses – a rapidly growing market in ageing societies. These implants consisting of titaniumi or a titanium alloy should provide good and fast osseo-integration into the jaw bone. Opposed to that demand, in other applications (for instance for bone screws and plates), the implants may have to be removed after some months or several years and shall, therefore, not be completely overgrown by the bodies’ cells. Hence, a one-step laser-based surface functionalization of implant materials for controlling the cell growth is strongly desired.

LaserImplant, an EIC Pathfinder pilot project, focuses on bringing universities, research centers, laser processing equipment developers and implant manufacturers together to develop smart medical implants designed to meet patients' growing demands for dental prostheses and screws and plates used for bone regeneration. Project activities involve preparing laser-functionalized implants for market commercialization, exploring strategies to scale up industrially (including an implant function machine demonstrator that will be designed and constructed towards the end of the project), and disseminating and utilizing the findings.

The interdisciplinary project consortium brings renowned academic and industrial experts in the fields of medicine, surface chemistry, physics, materials science, laser-matter interaction and laser processing together. The joint project consortium is an outstanding foundation to support both base-knowledge and applied research in the field of medical surfaces.