New research program BioInterface...( This will lead for example to new wa...)

This will lead, for example, to new ways of growing stem cells, or manipulating cells in the organism and in bioreactor systems. These key technologies will ultimately contribute to the development of new therapies for many degenerative diseases that affect muscle, the retina or the central nervous system. In addition, BioInterfaces aims to control or inhibit bacterial cells that form biofilms on man-made surfaces, another area of immense technical relevance.

"The basic philosophy of the BioInterfaces programme is to learn from nature and then copy it. So, the first stage of our strategy involves a focused, innovative, large-scale analysis to learn more about the natural control mechanisms of cells and how optimally to manipulate them", says Professor Uwe Strhle, speaker of the program and head of the Institute of Toxicology and Genetics. "This will be achieved by a close partnership between biologists and technology developers. In the subsequent stages, multifunctional molecular devices or advanced surface modifications will be designed and built in order to target and interact with the key molecular control points and thereby to control cell behaviour."

The interdisciplinary nature of the BioInterfaces programme demands a new generation of scientists. The programme has therefore just launched the BioInterfaces Postgraduate School that will provide interdisciplinary training for approximately 90 PhD students. Students will be offered introductory courses covering all the participating disciplines. This school will foster cross-talk between the BioInterfaces research fields through the funding of interdisciplinary and "twinning" student projects.

Reflecting the Helmholtz research philosophy, the BioInterfaces researchers have access to or operate large scale infrastructures such as the largest fish facility in Europe, the ANKA synchrotron radiation source, a large computing and data storage facility, microand nano-fabrication facil
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