History — SSB Conferences

2010

SSB 2010 meeting took place on May 5, 2010 at Empa in Dübendorf. It was organized by Katharina Maniura and Arie Bruinink, with the support of Giancarlo Rizzoli and Manfred Zinn. The 2010 conference focused on "Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering" with a special emphasis on:

• Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering: novel approaches, concepts as well as limitations
• Stem cells and biomaterials
• Monitoring of cell fate in tissue engineering approaches
• Mechanics of cells in context with biomaterials

There were three invited talks:

• Clemens van Blitterswijk (Twente University, The Netherlands) on "Materiomics: Dealing with Complexity in Tissue Engineering"
• Patrick Schmutz (Empa, Switzerland) on "In vitro Investigation and Tailoring of Corrosion Mechanisms for Biodegradable Mg-Alloys Implants"
• Lutz Nolte (KTI, Switzerland) on "Swiss Medical Technology & Innovation Promotion"

Besides these three invited lecturers, there were 12 other oral communications and 43 poster presentations. All abstracts will be published in the ECM journal, the official journal of the SSB.

120 attendees were present at the meeting.

As in past years, SSB sponsored two awards for the best student presentations. The student awards went to:

• Alex Nilsson (ETH Zurich) for his talk on: "Engineered RGD-Silk Scaffold for Improved Cell Adhesion"
• Christian Zink (ETH Zurich) for his poster on "Two-dimensional morphological gradients for cell biology"

2009

Images of the Meeting

The Swiss Society for Biomaterials (SSB) is proud to have hosted the 22nd European Conference on Biomaterials (ESB2009), from September 7-11, 2009 in the Beaulieu Convention Centre, Lausanne. ESB2009 strengthened the scientific basis of the traditional ESB core topics with several changes to the normal ESB conference structure as well as increasing interaction with both the clinical and industrial side of biomaterials. The majority of participants came from Europe but also a considerable number from overseas including Asia and USA. The participants were composed of researchers, medical professionals and manufacturers. ESB2009 attracted clinicians by holding several keynote lectures from clinicians, by subdividing the meeting in day themes.

• 1044 abstracts were submitted for presentation at ESB2009
  (The most submitted to an ESB event - previous record 750 abstracts)
  There were 250 oral presentations and over 750 posters.
• 1201 attendees participated at ESB2009
  (The highest registration number - previous record 1100, ESB2005, Sorrento, Italy)

New areas from ESB2009

• CME Accreditation - 27 European external CME credits for clinicians
• SGO Accreditation - (Schw. Gesellschaft für Orthopädische Chirurgie), 25 credits.
• Theme of the Day session, running throughout the day
• Single session clinical plenary followed by state of the art in research plenary.
• Conflict of interest statements
• Plenary lectures at both the opening and closing ceremonies.
• Brought EORS as new sister society to ESB
• Restrengthened connections to current ESB sister societies.
• Exhibitor evening to connect the scientists to the industry.

ESB2009 drew on the extensive MedTech industry within Switzerland and Europe to bring closer working relationships with industry. We collaborated with alliance, whose function is to connect the French Swiss universities to local industries including MedTech ones. Alliance is also part of the European Enterprise Network whose goal is to help support and build up international technology partnerships within Europe, especially for small businesses. ESB2009 also organized an exhibitor evening. Partnering Event. ESB2009 started each day with the ESB award lectures (Jean Leray and George Winter). This was followed with a new idea at ESB. Remaining as a single session there was a lecture on clinical problems that need to be solved within a theme of the day and a lecture of the state of the art in research of that area. Subsequently, we moved onto the breakout parallel sessions. One of the five parallel sessions continued the "theme of the day", throughout the day. Pre-meeting and during meeting workshops, which were mainly educational were also held. Another new idea to improve the opening and closing was the addition of plenary lectures at these events. Both the opening ceremony on the evening of the 7th had a plenary lecture from Prof. Jeffrey A. Hubbell and the closing ceremony on the evening of the 11th had the award lecture from Prof Buddy Ratner (where 300 attendees remained). ESB2009 succeeded to connect biomaterial research with current clinical problems to produce progressive translational research and was the venue to present and discuss basic, applied/translational & clinical research in a multi disciplinary environment. ESB2009 also introduced conflict of interest statements (Compulsory Presentation Statements) to let ESB2009 participants better interpret posters and talks declaring any potential conflict of interest that he/she or any co-author of the study might have with the presented data. This will need more enforcement for future meetings, as this was a partial success.

Accreditation. The AO Foundation is accredited by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME) to provide the following CME activity for medical specialists. The EACCME is an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). The "22nd European Conference on Biomaterials, Lausanne, Switzerland" is designated for a maximum of 27 hours of European external CME credits. Each medical specialist should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity. EACCME credits are recognised by the American Medical Association towards the Physician's recognition Award (PRA). To convert EACCME credit to AMA PRA category 1 credit, contact the AMA. Conference accrediitation certificate (PDF 43KB). ESB2009 also received 25 points for the congress from SGO (Schw. Gesellschaft für Orthopädische Chirurgie).

Student awards. The SSB awarded a total of 4 awards, 2 for posters and 2
for talks, to Swiss students. Visit the awardees section for more
information. In addition the ESB awarded 3 other Swiss students for their
contributions.

• Poster: Srinivas Madduri, ETH Zurich "Nanostructured nerve conduits releasing neurotrophic factors for guided peripheral nerve repair"
  
• Talk: Arnaud Tourvieille de Labrouhe, EPFL Lausanne, "Nanostructured Smart Drug Delivery Coating"
• Talk: Sarra de Valence, University of Geneve, "Assessment of paclitaxel in the prevention of vascular graft intima hyperplasia formation"

Thank you for attending and participating to make ESB2009 a very successful and rewarding meeting.

Yours Sincerely,
Prof R. Geoff Richards, Prof Marc Bohner and PD Dr. Christine Wandrey
Congress Organisers on behalf of the Swiss Society for Biomaterials.

2008

Our 2008 SSB meeting was held in Basel on 8 May 2008, under the auspices of Clinical Morphology and Biomedical Engineering (CMBE), the University of Basel Faculty of Medicine's newest "Schwerpunkt" for research and related education. CMBE is focused on surgery and imaging-related science and technology, including biomaterials and biomechanics. Meeting organizers were Prof. Bert Müller, Ph.D., Head of CMBE's Biomaterials Science Center, and Prof. A.U. Dan Daniels, Ph.D., Head of CMBE's Laboratory for Orthopedic Biomechanics. Besides the organizers, members of the Scientific Program Committee were Drs. Kurt Ruffieux and Andreas Zumbuehl. The organizers also received excellent support from the staff and students of their two research groups.

As always, meeting topics included all aspects of materials for surgical and medical use and their interactions with cells and tissues, including studies of tissues as materials. Students were again especially encouraged to attend and to submit both oral presentations and posters.
Our 2008 theme, and focus of the morning oral presentation sessions was: 
Mechanics of Cell & Materials Interactions. The theme-related topics included:

• Mechanobiology-effects of mechanical environment on cells in vitro and in vivo
• Tissue engineering mechanics: effects of fluid flow and other mechanical factors on cell proliferation and tissue formation
• Mechanics of cell attachment/locomotion and bioactive molecules on surfaces
• Mechanical properties of cells and natural or engineered tissues
• Implant material/tissue interface mechanics

Invited lecturers were Prof. Malgorzata Lewandowska-Szumiel, Medical University of Warsaw (Mechanics of material/cell/tissue interactions in vitro) and Prof. Ivan Martin, University of Basel (Bioreactor-based tissue engineering strategies). Afternoon sessions and posters were open to all aspects of biomaterials science. Student award for best oral presentation went to Mirja Nolff  (Comparison of computed tomography and microradiography for ß-TCP graft evaluation after mandibular reconstruction), and for best poster to Catherine Schütz (Efficient delivery of photosensitizer for rheumatoid arthritis treatment by photodynamic therapy).

In addition to the two invited lectures, there were 15 oral presentations and 49 posters. Abstracts are published as a supplement to European Cells and Materials. There were 115 registered attendees, coming not only from Switzerland but several other countries as well.

Conference abstracts are available as a Volume 16, Supplement 1, 2008 of the ECM journal.

2007

The 13th SSB Annual Meeting, organized by PX Group, took place in Neuchâtel (DSR - Cité Universitaire) on May 9 and was oriented towards the topic "Micro and Nanotechnologies in Medical Applications: Risks and Opportunities".

During the meeting, 3 keynote lectures, 9 podium presentations and 32 posters were presented.

The keynote lectures were held by Mr A. Dommann (CSEM S.A, Neuchâtel, Switzerland; "Polymer MEMS for Medical Purposes"), Mr R. Geertsma (Centre of Biological Medicines and Medical Technology, National Institutefor Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands; "Nanotechnology in Medical Applications: Risk Management Issuse for Emerging Technologies") and Mr O. Gröning (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Thun, Switzerland; "Nanomaterials: Technological Potential and Risks").

The meeting was attended by about 100 participants coming from 6 countries (Taiwan, Germany, Italy, Romania, Switzerland, The Netherlands).

Four student awards were attributed: the award for the best podium presentation was shared by Mr T.J. Brunner (ETHZ; "Comparison of Amorphous TCP Nanoparticles to Micro-sized TCP as Starting Material for Calcium Phosphate Cements") and Ms F. Cengeli (Lausanne University; "SuperParamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: A Multifunctional Tool in Biomedical Applications") whereas the award for the best poster presentation was shared by Ms K. Jähn (AO Davos; "Effect of a Serum Free Medium containing TGF-β3 on Osteocyte Viability of Cultured Human Cancellous Bone Explants") and Ms B. Saldamli (Basel University; "Morphology of Osteoblasts Grown on Doped Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings - An Electron Microscopy Study").

During the meeting, the President of SSB, Mr Jacques Lemaître, was awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Romanian Society for Biomaterials.

Conference abstracts are available as a Volume 13, Supplement 3, 2007 of the ECM journal.

2006

The 12th SSB Annual Meeting took place on May 10 in Grenchen (Park Theater) under the organization and the sponsoring of the Robert Mathys Foundation. The topic of the meeting was "Absorbables, Degradables and Resorbables". During the meeting, 2 keynote lectures, 12 podium presentations and 23 posters were presented. The keynote lectures were held by Mr M. Vert (University of Montpellier 1, France; "Biocompatible, biofunctional bioresorbable polymers for temporary therapeutic applications: the concept of artificial biopolymer") and Mr J. Lemaître (EPF Lausanne, Switzerland; "Bioresorption of bone substitutes based on calcium phosphates"). The meeting was attended by 90 participants coming from 6 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Switzerland, The Netherlands). Ms V. Simon (Cluj-Napoca; Romania) and Ms M.D. Vlad (Iasi, Romania) received the SSB 2006 travel award (500 CHF each). The two student awards were given to Ms B. San Miguel (Zurich; "Enhanced bone regeneration by a bioabsorbable and bioactive PLGA membrane"; best podium presentation) and to Mr L. Pfister (Zurich; "Controlled release of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor from biodegradable nerve conduits"; best poster presentation). Abstracts are published as a Volume 11, Supplement 2, 2006 of the ECM journal. The SSB has 188 members and 18 sponsors.

Images of the Meeting

2005

June 1: 11th Annual Meeting of the SSB, at Medicoat Company, Mägenwil, organized by Dr. Heiko Gruner, Medicoat, with M. Bohner, Dr. J. Mayer, Prof. M. Textor, P.H. Valloton, and P. Gruner. Topic: Treatments of Surfaces. The keynote lectures are given by Prof. Julie Gold, Göteborg, on "Surface modification of biomaterials from an academic research perspective", and by Prof. Marcus Textor, ETH Zürich, on "Surface modifications to direct biological response to inorganic materials". The SSB introduces another price for the best oral presentation. Abstracts were published as a supplement of the ECM journal Vol10 - Supplement 1. 80 participants attend.

The SSB counts 170 members and 14 sponsors. The sponsors take advantage from the fact that they are linked to the SSB website, and can use the SSB website to announce job opportunities.

Images of the Meeting

2004

On behalf of the AO Research Institute (ARI), Geoff Richards hosted the 10th General Assembly and meeting of the Swiss Society of the Biomaterials (SSB) in Davos on July 1st, 2004. Of high importance was that the meeting promoted new young researchers to show their own work as well as having the meeting chaired by young female ARI post-docs (Drs Cynthia Lee, Sibylle Grad, Llinos Harris & Kati Gorna). The invited lecturer was the president of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) Prof. James Kirkpatrick, Institute of Pathology, University of Mainz, Germany with "The challenge of regulating angiogenesis in tissue engineered implants". A second invited talk was by Prof. John Davies, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering and Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Canada on "Scaffolds and Cells for Bone Engineering". The meeting ran smoothly due to the excellent secretarial work of Sonia Wahl and Vreni Geret. Awards were given to:

• S. Fischer, C. Foerg, H.P. Merkle, B. Gander. Chitosan coated plga-microspheres - a modular system for targeted drug delivery. (First Prize for presentation by a student)
• T. Boontheekul, D.J. Mooney. Regulating myoblast phenotype through controlled alginate scaffold degradation: a delivery vehicle for skeletal muscle tissue engineering. (Second Prize for presentation by a student)
• L. Feller, S. Tosatti, S. Cerritelli, M. Textor, J.A. Hubbel. Synthesis of poly(propylene sulfide)-block-poly(ethylene glycol), (PPS-PEG), and its application to surfaces. (First Prize for poster by a student)
• H.M. Ruedlinger, S. Hofmann, A. Koch, C. Carugo, H.P. Merkle, L. Meinel. Seeding strategies for 3D silk scaffolds using human mesenchymal stem cells. (Second Prize for poster by a student)

Abstracts were published as a supplement of the ECM journal Vol7 - Supplement 1 - June 2004. The meeting was attended by 90 participants.

Due to his retirement, Dr. Wolfhart Rieger steps back from the presidency and Dr Jacques Lemaître is elected President. The SSB introduces a new kind of membership, the "Lab membership", to facilitate the participation of groups of scientists working in the same laboratory. The SSB has 145 members, including 8 lab memberships, and 12 sponsors. The SSB introduces 2 new types of awards, to be applied for by doctoral thesis students who are members of the SSB: the "Student travel award" and the "Thesis binding award".

2003

The 9th Annual Meeting and General Assembly was organized at the University of Neuchatel on May 14th, 2003 by PX Tech SA. The meeting was organised by Dr. Lucien Reclaru, Dr. Andreas Blatter and Pierre-Yves Eschler (PX Tech SA). The committee was supported by Dr. Jacques Lemaître (SSB Vice-President), Prof. Heinz Lüthy and Dr. Marc Bohner (SSB EC members), Dr. R.G. Richards (Web and Journal Supplement Editor) and Dr. Marc Petitmermet (SSB Webmaster). The invited lecture was given by Prof. Etienne Schacht, Polymer materials research group, Ugent, Ghent, Belgium with the talk "Biodegradable polymers for biomedical application". Abstracts are published as a supplement of the ECM journal Vol5 - Supplement 1. The meeting had a very high attendance of 119 participants. During the meeting Prof. Pierre Descout who retires from the SSB executive committee, after nomination from the SSB EC became an honorary member.

2002

The 8th Annual Meeting and General Assembly was organized at the University of Geneva on May 22, 2002. The meeting was organised by Prof. Jean-Marc Meyer, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Prof. Pierre Descouts, Faculty of Sciences, Geneva, Dr. Björn-Owe Aronsson, GAP Biomedical, Geneva, Dr. Serge Bouillaguet and Dr. Maria Cattani-Lorente, School of Dentistry, Geneva. The invited lecture was by Prof. Dr. Peter Greil from University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany on "Microstructure Design of Advanced Bioceramics". Abstracts were published as a supplement of the ECM journal Vol3 - Supplement 1. The meeting was attended by 69 participants. The SSB counts 122 members and 8 sponsors.

2001

May 16: 7th Annual Meeting of the SSB, at Straumann Institute in Waldenburg, organized by Dr. Reto Lerf, Dr. Daniel Snétivy, Dr. Wolfhart Rieger, Dr. Geoff Richards and Mrs. Ingrid Limbach. Thanks to the spontaneous action by Institut Straumann, which took over the task from CIBA Vision, the meeting can be organized in a last minute concerted action! The topic is Titanium and Metallic Dental Implants. The invited speakers are Prof. Steinemann, Institut Straumann, and Prof. Perren, AO Davos.

Professor Erich Wintermantel leaves Switzerland for Germany and therefore steps back from presidency. The vice-president since the beginning of the Society, Dr. Wolfhart Rieger, is elected as President. Abstracts were published as a supplement of the ECM journal Vol1 - Supplement 1. 89 people attend. The SSB counts 100 members. The EC proposes, and the GA approves the start for a sponsoring program to attract more funds to be used for young scientists.

2000

June 8 (afternoon) and 9: 6th Annual Meeting of the SSB, at AO Foundation in Davos, organized by Prof. Berton Rahn and Armando Gisep. The meeting is attended by 40 visitors. The keynote lectures are given by Dr. J. Gobrecht, Würenlingen, and Prof. B. von Rechenberg, Zürich. Prof. Jean-Marc Meyer steps back from presidency and Professor Erich Wintermantel is elected as new president.

The SSB improves its appearance in the world-wide-web and appoints Dr. Marc Petitmermet, Zurich, as webmaster of the new SSB website. Furthermore, the SSB appoints the newly founded Online Journal European Cells and Materials, initiated by Dr. Geoff Richards, as its official journal. A very important point in the SSB history is the affiliation to the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), which becomes reality on Dec 19, 2000, after first contacts had been made on the occasion of the World Biomaterials Congress in Hawaii in May 2000, by W. Rieger.

1999

October 8: 5th Annual Meeting of the SSB, at ETH Zurich, in conjunction with Biosurf III (October 7 and 8), organized by Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell. This 2-day meeting, with one day reserved for the SSB, is attended by more than 100 visitors. The keynote lectures are given by Prof. D. Letourneur, Paris, and Prof. Bengt Kasemo, Göteborg. The topic of the meeting can be summarized under the term: Drug Delivery and Cell Technology. For the first time, the SSB presents a Best Poster Prize (1000 CHF). The SSB counts 83 members.

1998

May 12: 4th Annual Meeting of the SSB, at Stratec Medical in Oberdorf, organized by Dr. Reto Lerf and Dr. Sandro Matter, Stratec Medical, Oberdorf. The topic is Bone Morphogenesis. The keynote lecture is given by Prof. Vukicevic, Belgrade, on Bone morphogenetic proteins. 79 attend.

1997

May 6: 3rd Annual Meeting of the SSB, at EPFL, Lausanne, organized by Dr. Jacques Lemaître, Laboratoire des poudres, EPFL, Lausanne, together with H.J. Mathieu, P. van Landuyt, P. Aebischer and J.-F. Clement. The Topic is Biomaterials, the invited speakers are Prof. P.Y. Zambelli, Lausanne, and Prof. Hasan Uludag, Andover. The meeting is accompanied by an exhibition, in which 7 exhibitors participate.

1996

May 8: 2nd Annual Meeting Of The Swiss Society Of Biomaterials at Sulzer Hochhaus in Winterthur, organized by Dr. Peter Bittmann, Sulzer Innotec, Dr. Wolfhart Rieger, Metoxit AG, and Dr. Armando Salito, Sulzer Metco. Topics: Orthopedics and Dental Implantology.

Invited Speaker: Prof. Dr. David Williams (Dept. of Clinical Engineering, Liverpool, UK) "New Developments in our Understanding of Biocompatibility".

1995

The charter and the bylaws being ready, a formal meeting is organized on:
17 May 1995: Founding meeting of the "Swiss Society of Biomaterials" in Berne and approval in general assembly of the charter and bylaws.

An invited speaker, Prof. Jim Anderson (Houston, Texas), brought a great scientific aura to this first meeting, held in the cupola room of the University of Berne. An Executive Committee has been appointed, including: President: Jean-Marc Meyer, Vice-president: Wolfhart Rieger, Secretary: Heinz Lüthy, Treasurer: Hans-Peter Merkle, Members: Peter Bittmann, Pierre Descouts, Ludwig Gauckler, Heiko Gruner, Armando Salito, Robert Streicher.

September 20: First meeting of the newly appointed Executive Committee
The president, Jean-Marc Meyer, establishes a first website, which helps to make the SSB better known to the interested public. Furthermore, it helps to keep contact with the members.

1994

Second meeting in Berne, on May 4, 1994, 10.00 am at the "Haus der Universität", Schlösslistrasse 5, Berne. The proposed agenda is:

1. Short report on the two working groups
2. Discussion on the proposed charter (enclosed)
3. Possible creation of a Swiss Society for Biomaterials
4. Designation of a temporary Board
5. Miscellaneous

Jean-Marc Meyer is nominated as provisional president of the Swiss Society of Biomaterials (later to be officially changed into Swiss Society for Biomaterials, SSB).
A first circular letter is sent on September 13, 1994, to all potential members in Switzerland, offering membership and announcing the first General Assembly due next May 1995.

1993

A scientific meeting, organized by ETH Zürich in Monte Verita, Ascona:
Monte Verità Conference 1993 on Biocompatible Materials Systems, October 11-14, 1993, Ascona, Switzerland.
It gave birth to the idea of creating a group to explore the possibilities of organizing a scientific society involving all those who are active with biomaterials in Switzerland. This informal group, the Swiss Working Group in Biomaterials, was formed around that idea of creating a scientific society in Switzerland related to biomaterials. The group, including Professors Patrick Aebischer (CHUV), Pierre Descouts (UNIGE), Eric Doelker (UNIGE), Ludwig Gauckler (ETHZ), Robert Gurny (UNIGE), Heinz Lüthy (UNIZH), Hans-Peter Merkle (ETHZ), Jean-Marc Meyer (UNIGE), and Doctors John Ranieri (CHUV), Wolfhart Rieger (Metoxit), will then meet several times in Geneva and in Berne, to discuss the creation of that society, its aims and to elaborate a charter and the bylaws.

December 15: First meeting in Berne