POLISH RESEARCH NETWORKSNanomaterials, biomaterials and materials for application in medicine

Biomaterials and scaffolds for tissue engineeringGrant of the Polish Committee for Scientific ResearchCoordinator: Dr. Małgorzata Lewandowska – Szumiel

e-mail: mszumiel@ib.amwaw.edu.pl, Medical University of Warsaw, Department of Biophysics and

Human Physiology, Poland.

Hard tissue reconstruction by means of tissue engineering - biomaterial scaffolds for autologous cell transplanatation. The idea of tissue reconstruction by means of tissue engineering (TE) is extremely up-to-date. One of the TE method is transplantation of patient own cells isolated from the health part of the tissue, proliferated, differentiated in vitro, settled on 3 dimensional (3D) scaffold and stimulated to produce extracellular matrix. In Poland the consortium consisting of 10 institutions has been established in order to elaborate the optimal implantable onstructions of this type. Specialists in material engineering representing all biomaterial fields (polymers, ceramics, metals and composites) are represented in the consortium and will work on carries for cell transplantation.

Nanocomposites for dental applicationsGrant of the Polish Committee for Scientific ResearchCoordinator: Prof. Krzysztof Sikorski, sikorski@inmat.pw.edu.pl,Contact person: Dr. Małgorzata Lewandowska,malew@inmat.pw.edu.pl, Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, http://www.inmat.pw.edu.pl.The project coordinates research of 5 research institutes and universities. The main aim of the project is to develop new composites for restorative materials in stomatology. The project includes optimization of the microstructure of composites for restorative materials in stomatology with the aim to improve mechanical properties and reduce the contraction during polymerization. The following activities are foreseen: development of new composites for stomatology. characterization of microstructure, quantitative description of the microstructure using image analysis and stereological methods, investigations of mechanical properties (tensile and compression test, tribological properties), aapplication of finite elements methods to simulate internal stresses, study of the quality of the junction between restorative materials and tooth tissue, study of the degradation of composite materials in bio-environment.

Nanocomposites for medical applicationsCoordinator: Prof. Krzysztof J. Kurzydłowski, kjk@inmat.pw.edu.pl

Contact person: Mrs. Anna Szymańska,aszymanska@inmat.pw.edu.plWarsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Poland.This network of 36 leading Polish research groups is considered as an action, with the final goal to formulate research proposals in the rapidly developing fields: nanotechnology and medicine, which also are priority research directions in the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission. The main objective of the network is:to enhance the research potential of all the partners both due to improved efficiency of intellectual work and extended available facilities in the fields: materials science and engineering,biomechanics, biomaterials and medicine.

Metallic, Ceramic and Organic Nanomaterials: Processing – Structure – Properties – Applications Grant of the Polish Committee for Scientific ResearchCoordinator: Prof. Marcin Leonowicze-mail: nano@inmat.pw.edu.pl http://www.inpat.pw.edu.pl/nanoFaculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology 26 Polish research groups, carying out research in the following directions: Sintering of nanocrystalline powders. Metallic nanomaterials. Nanomaterials for electronic applications. Nanoprecipitates in electronic materials for light emission. Organic nanomaterials. Nanocrystaalline magnetic nanomaterials. Exchange coupling and magnetoresistance of metallic layer systems. Ceramic nanomaterials. Superplastic ceramic nanomaterials. Ceramic-ceramic and ceramic-metal nanocomposites. Perovskite nanolayers and naonostructures. Nanocrystallisation of metallic glasses. Nanocrystallisation of non-metallic glasses. Nanocrystalization of high ionic conductivity glassesNanocrystalline biomaterials. Polymer nanocomposites.

Network of Centres of Excellence “Interfacial effects, novel properties and technologies of nanostructured materials”

Dr. hab. Witold Łojkowski,e-mail: wl@unipress.waw.pl, High Pressure Research Centre,Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. http://www.unipress.waw.pl/CE

Objectives: Development of joint research projects, organise workshops and exchange of students, prepare a joint database of equipment and competence and a joint web page, cooperation and interaction with other European networks in nano-materials and technologies.The main activity is carried out at present in two working groups:

Synthesis of nano-powders and sintering of functional nanoceramics and Bulk nanocrystalline metals

EC projects under preparation: STREP: Nanostructured materials for Optoelectronics and Photonics NoE Functional Nanostructured MaterialsMarie Curie Research Training Network

Network Funding: EC Centers of Excellence Grants, Polish State Committee for Scientific ResearchNext workshop: jointly with the European Materials Society fall Meeting, Warsaw, 14 September 2003. NETWORK MEMBERSCoE HighPressure and CoE Prenabio, High Pressure Research Centre Unipress (Lojkowski, coordinator) CoE NanoCentre , Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, (Kurzydlowski, Kulik)CoE AMAS, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, (Nowacki)CoE IDRANAP National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Experimental Physics Department, RumaniaCoE CAMART Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, (Krumis)CoE ESTOMATERIALS, University of Tartu (Estonia) (Haller)CoE CEBIOLA, Vilnius University (Krivilene, Piskarskas)CoE CELDIS, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (Kossut)CoE CELTAM, Institute for low Temperature and Structure Research of Polish Academy of Sciences (Strek)CoE MAREC Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland (Maruszewski)CoE Bioregionszeged Institute of Biophysics, Szeged, Hungary. (Ormos)CoE KFKI-CMRC, Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Hungarian Acad. of SciencesDepartment of Chemistry, Technical University of Lodz, Poland (Slusarski)Krakow Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, Department of Materials Science and Ceramics, Poland (Lis, Haberko)Kiel University, Technische Fakultaet and Centrum fur Materialanalytik, Germany (Jaeger, Faupel)Riga Technical University, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (Grabis)Romanian Network of Excellence for Nano-bio-technologies (Piticesku)German Network of Competence WEMTECH, University of Ulm (Fecht)ASSOCIATED MEMBERS: Rubber Research Institute, Poland (Parasiewicz), Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Poland (Turos), Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pomagailo), Ufa State Aviation Technical University, Institute of Physics of Advanced Materials, Russia (Valiev), Institute of Problems of Materials Science, NAS Ukraine (Milman), Department of Crystal Physics Kharkov National University (UKR), (Bogdanov), Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Belarus, (Borisenko), Department of Ceramics and Glass Engineering, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal (Ferreira), Applied Physics Faculty, Georgian Technical University, Georgia. (Kervalishvili), Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica FCTUC - Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal (Cavaleiro)Institut de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces (ICSI) – CNRS, France (Vidal), Centro de Investigación Tecnológica en Electroquímica, CIDETEC, Spain (Pomposo), Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan Israel (Gedanken and Kaganoski) University of Modena, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Materiali e dell'Ambiente, Italy (Leonelli) and others.

International Scientific Network on Advanced Materials and Structures (AMAS-ISN)Coordinator: Prof. W. Nowacki (wnowacki@ippt.gov.pl) Inst. Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw (http://www.ippt.gov.pl)Structure: 4 Thematic Groups (Material Microstructures, Biomaterials, Intelligent Systems, Durability & Safety)Advanced Materials: hi-tech composites, alloys, ceramic materials, intermetallics, FGM,

biomaterials, SMA, thin layers, lightweight materials, electronic materialsAdvanced structures: smart structures, sensors and actuators, biological implants, aircraft and automotive structural membersParticipants: > 60 research teams from PL, EU, Eastern Europe (including 12 Centres of Excellence)Current funding: participants resources; State Committee for Scientific Research (PL) grantMore information: see Expression of Interest (http://eoi.cordis.lu/dsp_details.cfm?ID=35123)