News

From 7 to 11 September 2025, the annual conference of the European Society for Biomaterials took place in Turin, northern Italy. Among the more than 1,000 participants were TACTIC PhD students Charlotte von Heckel from the Core Facility Tissue Engineering and Rebecca Höpfer from the Chair of High Temperature Materials. Both had the opportunity to share their research with scientists from around the world in one of the diverse poster sessions. 

The numerous scientific presentations given in the various sessions illustrated the wide range of topics covered by the term ‘biomaterials’: next to metallic materials, their additive manufacturing and surface modifications, there was a special focus on bioreactor- and hydrogel-based in vitro models. During the ESB award ceremonies, attendees were also introduced to leading scientists in the field of biomaterials, including Liz Tanner, professor of biomaterials at Queen Mary University of London.
  
Special attention was also given to PhD students. The Young Scientists Forum organized an evening specifically designed for connecting and exchanging experiences with peers.   It was a scientifically very impressive week, accompanied by Italian flair and good food.

The project's progress since the kickoff meeting in Wanzleben was presented at a three-day retreat in Merseburg. Following presentations by the doctoral students, initial results and progress in networking the subprojects were discussed in detail. 

For the advanced statistics workshop, TACTIC received support from Prof. Dr. Dirk Ostwald (OVGU). Since the TACTIC doctoral students come from different disciplines with different methodological training, the focus here was on establishing a uniform foundation for statistical methods.

The program was rounded off by two evening lectures: Dr. Laura State (HIIG Berlin) spoke under the title "Towards responsible AI: assessing the impact of AI systems on society and the planet." She addressed important aspects of artificial intelligence, such as potential negative developments, the trustworthiness of AI systems, and the evolution of systems toward diversity, non-discrimination, and fairness. Dr. State is a postdoc in the "Impact AI" research project.

Success coach and motivation expert Ben Reszel offered insights into how our mindsets influence our long-term motivation in his talk "What Drives You" – and demonstrated how we can help shape the foundations of sustainable success.

Under the motto "Ready to pitch your thesis? 3 Minute Fame Competition for PhD candidates," the EUGREEN Alliance issued a call to doctoral candidates to present their own doctoral project in a simple and concise three-minute video. The final round of the competition took place at a summer school in Parma from June 9th to 13th, coinciding with the EUGREEN Research Week. Participants had the opportunity to present their topic live in a three-minute short presentation to the jury (external link). Among the group of winners selected by the jury was Rebecca Höpfer, a doctoral student in the TACTIC subproject "Novel alloys for reducing inflammatory processes and biofilm formation on implants" (led by Prof. Dr. Manja Krüger). Congratulations on your well-deserved success!

The report written by Rebecca Höpfer can be found here.

After a one-year hiatus, the Long Night of Science took place again this year on the main campus and the grounds of the University Hospital. The TACTIC project was represented at both locations. Doctoral students from the subprojects led by Prof. Myra Spiliopoulou and Prof. Benjamin Noack (both FIN) conducted an experiment on the main campus in which breaths were recorded while completing simple and less simple tasks. The goal was to identify the effect of the difficulty of the tasks on breathing patterns. The team led by Prof. Jessica Bertrand provided an insight into the topic of osteoarthritis and endoprostheses at the University Hospital. This topic is of interest to the general public not only because of demographic changes, but also to illustrate the role that infection models, materials science, and sensor technology could play in future developments. The topic thus offers a vivid introduction to the concept of smart prostheses. Young and old were enthusiastic about the experiments and demonstrations.