IDIR - Boost for the development of innovative implants

The members of the founding team (from left to right) Prof. Cyron, Prof. Checa, Prof. Jansen, Prof. Saalfeld, Prof. Deuschl, Prof. Willumeit-Römer and Prof. Quandt. Further founding team members (not pictured): Prof. Tomforde and Prof. Popp.

Interdisciplinary cooperation takes research on digital implant development to a new level

The development and approval of new types of implants is a very time-consuming and cost-intensive process. One of the reasons is the large number of trials and tests required to develop materials and determine implant properties, including their behavior in the body. The seamless use of computer simulations, from material production to implant application in the patient, will help to simplify this process.

The future of implant development lies in the use of computer models and artificial intelligence, which map the complex development cycle from material to tissue regeneration and then find their way into the approval process. This will allow existing implants to be improved and further developed into personalized implants based on individual, molecular body properties. So-called digital twins, which depict physiological and material-scientific conditions in computer models, are the focus of the research.
With the help of digital twins, new implants will no longer only be developed at the workbench, but on a high-performance computer, and they will no longer be heuristically acceptable, but comprehensively optimized to meet medical needs.

For this purpose, the Helmholtz Center Hereon, Kiel University and the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein have joined forces in the field of digital implant research. The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to take implant development to a new level by combining biomaterial research, data science, AI and medical research, and later to accelerate the approval process. The contribution of the Institute of Metallic Biomaterials and the Institute of Material Systems Modeling lies in the provision of data on Mg-based and thus degradable implants in the biological environment, the development and implementation of corresponding experiments and simulations as well as the production of test specimens and implant prototypes. Intensive cooperation with industry is expressly sought.