GRK 2154: Materials for Brain (M4B): Thin film functional materials for minimally invasive therapy of brain dieseases

慢性脑部疾病患者的治疗主要以全身用药为主。大脑中足够大的药物浓度往往伴随着影响身体其他器官的副作用。神经植入物允许局部和个性化治疗，如果它们能够满足以下要求，则是一种替代解决方案：它们必须紧凑、生物兼容、弹性和高度灵活，特别是在儿童和青少年使用时。确定的纳米级治疗活性涂层以及植入物对磁共振成像(MRI)诊断的适用性可以为新疗法开辟新的前景。为了实现这些目标，将研究基于薄膜技术的微结构、功能材料，用于癫痫、脑瘤和血管疾病的创新局部治疗。材料控制的药物释放和植入物与细胞的相互作用最初将使用细胞培养进行研究。随后，将通过组织学和活体方法，通过核磁共振和功能测试(行为测试，脑电)，在疾病相关的动物模型中研究植入物对大脑特定结构和功能的影响。这种尖端的局部疗法和合适的功能材料的开发需要材料科学和医学之间的实质性合作。有了这里提出的研究培训小组，我们将为跨学科博士学位建立巨大的可能性：未来，医学和材料科学的联合研究领域将培养符合实践的跨学科语言和解决问题的策略。教育计划将包括与来自其他学科的同事进行目标、方法和结果的强制性和可理解的跨学科交流。我们预计，在德国和国际上，对具有医学和材料科学跨学科研究经验的科学家的需求将会强劲增长。这些科学家将在材料科学和医学研究方面开展竞争性研究以及先进技术的开发。这种对受过专门教育的科学家的需求是这个研究培训小组的主要关注点。

The treatment of patients with chronic brain diseases is mainly based on systemic drug treatments. Sufficiently large drug concentrations in the brain are often accompanied by side effects affecting other organs in the body. Neural implants, which allow localized and individualized therapy, are an alternative solution if they can satisfy the following requirements: they must be compact, biocompatible, resilient and highly flexible, particularly when used in kids and teens. Defined, nano-scale, therapeutically active coatings as well as suitability of the implants for diagnostics with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can open up new prospects for novel therapies. In order to reach these goals, micro-structured, functional materials based on thin film technology will be investigated for innovative local treatment of epilepsies, brain tumors and vascular diseases. Material-controlled drug release and implant interactions with cells will initially be studied using cell cultures. Subsequently, the effect of the implants on specific structures and functions of the brain will be investigated in disease-related animal models by histological and in vivo approaches by MRI and functional tests (behavioral tests, electroencephalography). The development of such cutting-edge localized therapies and suitable functional materials requires substantial collaboration between materials science and medicine. With the research training group proposed here, we will establish great possibilities for an interdisciplinary doctorate: interdisciplinary languages and problem-solving strategies will be fostered in line with hands-on practice in a future, joint research area of medical and materials sciences. The education program will include mandatory and comprehensible interdisciplinary communication of goals, methods and results to co-workers from other disciplines. We foresee a future where there will be a strongly increasing need for scientists with interdisciplinary research experience in medical and materials sciences both in Germany and internationally. Such scientists will carry out competitive research as well as developments for advancing technologies in both materials science and medical research. This demand for specifically educated scientists is a main focus within this research training group.