Biomedical optics is a field of increasing importance for a future point-of-care medical analysis. Valuable information about the health status of a person can be extracted by optical means, non-invasive and in a continous mode. Implant associated infections are a serious problem in modern medicine. The early diagnosis of such infections before a matured biofilm has formed is of particular interest. The combination of biomedical optics with polymers specifically cleavable by infection specific enzymes can yield suitable sensors for this purpose. In the project, polymers will be developed, which can be combined with nanoLED light engines based on GaN technology available at TU Braunschweig.
The Institute of Technical Chemistry focusses on the synthesis of functional polymers and their use at interfaces. The applications are mostly in the biomedical field. Together with partners from the Medical School in Hannover for example antimicrobial coatings for implants are developed. The characterization of the ultrathin (just a few nanometers) polymer films requires sophisticated methods of nanometrology. The polymers to be developed have to be combined with biomedical optics and will be used to demonstrate interesting novel functionality concerning sensing of implant associated infection and in future will be integrated in an implant design.