Locally applied bisphosphonates, such as Zoledronate, have been shown in several studies to inhibit peri-implant bone resorption and recently to enhance peri-implant bone formation. Studies have also demonstrated positive effects of hydroxyapatite particle ...
Polyethylenimine (PEI) is a promising gene carrier among polymeric vectors because of its high transfection efficiency, buffering capacity, which is responsible for its escape from endosomes, facility of modification, reasonable price and wide range of mol ...
The invention of heart pacemakers in the 50's aims to help patients to overcome heart strokes, which represent the first cause of death worldwide. In Europe and in the USA, more than 3000 pacemakers are implanted every day. Despite the constant evolution o ...
Laser-induced optical breakdown (LIOB) is a multiphoton process which can be used for selective removal of material. It revolves around the creation of a plasma in the focal volume of a beam, and requires very high peak intensities in the order of the GW.c ...
With advances in fetal diagnosis and therapy, fetoscopy has become a good option to treat a series of life threatening diseases like twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome or severe congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The efficacy of fetoscopy for those types of d ...
Regenerative medicine aims to repair body tissues when natural mechanisms fail. Growth factors (GFs) are essential proteins that promote tissue regeneration upon injury, and as such, are very promising therapeutic drugs in regenerative medicine. Due to the ...
Iatrogenic preterm prelabour rupture of fetal membranes (iPPROM) occurs in 6-45% of the cases after fetoscopic procedures, posing a significant threat to fetal survival and well-being. The number of diagnostic and therapeutic prenatal interventions availab ...
Thin polymer films that prevent the adhesion of bacteria are of interest as coatings for the development of infection-resistant biomaterials. This study investigates the influence of grafting density and film thickness on the adhesion of Staphylococcus epi ...
This thesis advances the field of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) through the development of device designs, fabrication processes, strain characterization technique and modelling tool. It provides the first demonstration that DEAs can be interfaced ...
Osteoporosis is a major health problem in our aging society. This metabolic disease, which is characterized by a deterioration of the bone microarchitecture and a significant loss of bone mass, is affecting a rising number of mostly elderly patients. The m ...