Since its establishment in 2018, the Collaborative Research Centre TRR225 has provided decisive impetus for the development of innovative processes for the production of tissue models. Working in close cooperation, the participating scientists have developed new technologies and methods that have attracted international attention and laid the foundations for future applications in medicine and biotechnology.
"We have achieved impressive results in the past funding periods – from new processes to groundbreaking tissue models. These advances would not have been possible without close cooperation and interdisciplinary exchange," emphasises the spokesperson for the SFB, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Groll from the University of Würzburg. "The extension gives us the opportunity to build on these successes."
The Collaborative Research Centre TRR225 "Biofab" aims to produce biological tissue using innovative manufacturing processes, thereby creating new approaches for regenerative medicine and biomedical research. Close cooperation between the Universities of Bayreuth, Erlangen-Nuremberg and Würzburg forms the basis for the successful further development of this field of research.
"The third funding period opens up exciting prospects for us. We will intensify cooperation between the locations and open up new fields of research. The coming years promise groundbreaking developments that will have a lasting impact on the field of biofabrication," says Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel, location spokesperson and holder of the Chair of Biomaterials at the University of Bayreuth.
Practical examples from research
In the search for new therapeutic approaches, artificially produced heart tissue is a valuable tool for modelling heart disease, mechanistic studies, drug testing, and the functional replacement of damaged tissue. Currently, preclinical studies are based on animal models, which are insufficiently informative for the human heart, and on 2D cell culture models, which do not reliably replicate the complex function of the human heart.
In this context, one of the projects within the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 225 between Prof. Felix Engel (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg) and Prof. Thomas Scheibel uses heart muscle cells that can be obtained from reprogrammed human (skin) cells. Together with new so-called "bioinks", these are printed in three dimensions (3D). The tissue created by this process showed spontaneous contractions for up to 100 days and responded to pharmacological treatments. This approach opens up new possibilities, e.g. for the production of complex, functional heart tissue as models for advanced drug analysis.
Significance for the region
"The extension of the TRR225 Collaborative Research Centre is a great success for the three participating universities. It shows how fruitful cross-location collaboration can be and how much we can achieve together," says Bayreuth University President Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stefan Leible. "I am proud of the outstanding work of our scientists and look forward to the coming years."
The extension of TRR225 not only underlines the scientific excellence of the participating universities, but also strengthens the visibility of Northern Bavaria as an internationally important location for future technologies. The close networking of research, teaching and regional partners creates sustainable impetus for innovation, the promotion of young talent and the competitiveness of the region.
