Communicating biomaterials
Professor Heinz Koeppl, Darmstadt spokesman of the project ‘CoM2Life’, in a video interview
2024/10/30 by Michaela Hütig
The cluster initiative ‘COM2Life’ is a project within the framework of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU), with TU Darmstadt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as partners. Professor Koeppl introduces the research project, which aims to develop a new generation of soft biomaterials.
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„CoM2Life“ aims to develop a revolutionary generation of soft biomaterials that are based on the principles of living systems and are able to enter into permanent and reciprocal communication with living systems, i.e. cells and tissues. To this end, the scientists are following an approach that combines the chemistry-centred design of biomaterials with the design of regulatory circuits in synthetic biology. In this way, they are creating the prerequisites for the development of intelligent biomaterials that are capable of selectively detecting signals from their environment, processing them internally and then controlling actuators and effectors as required.
The aim is to enable ground-breaking advances in medical research, including the development of feedback-controlled materials for the needs-based release of drugs and biological effectors for cancer immunotherapy or tissue regeneration, for new tissue models that can replace animal experiments and, in the long term, for the development of artificial organs. Communication sciences are also involved in this highly interdisciplinary project in order to counter the challenge of misinformation about this innovative field of research.
About the excellence strategy of the federal and state governments
To further strengthen the international competitiveness of research at German universities, the federal and state governments have established the . The key objective of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen top-level research in areas that are internationally competitive, to institutionally strengthen German universities, and to advance the development of the German higher education system. Excellence Strategy as a funding programme
To this end, the Excellence Strategy comprises two separate but intertwined funding lines. The “Clusters of Excellence” funding line, coordinated by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) provides project-based funding for internationally competitive research areas at German universities. The “Universities of Excellence” funding line, coordinated by the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat – WR), is designed to fund institutional strategies that promise to strengthen universities as a whole and create outstanding framework conditions for excellent research.´
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