Modern surgery requires advanced materials for wound closing that can be fast and reversibly fixed to tissue. Such materials will save surgery time, improve reliability of suturing process, reduce scar tissue and traumatisation and enhance cosmesis. Within the BMBF funded cooperative project “FixNaht” we develope innovative solutions for the fabrication of self-retaining sutures and meshes based on bioinspired strategies for enhancing adhesion and grip to tissue. Polymeric fibers applied in surgery are patterned with nanofibrils with different geometries. The nanofibrillar topography resembles that of gecko toe pads and is expected to allow strong fixation via directed mechanical interlocking with the tissue. As polymer chemists we focus on the process and materials development and we closely cooperate with pathologists (University Mainz), physicists (INM Saarbrücken) and surgeons in order to understand intereaction mechanisms, to assess biocompatibility issues and special needs at their point-of-application.

Pictures from the Award Ceremony on 25th October 2010 in Berlin