Lukas Gritsch (left) with Prof Boccaccini.
We are pleased to announce a second HyMedPoly Early Stage Researcher has received his doctorate. Lukas Gritsch successfully defended his doctoral thesis on 17th April 2019 at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He carried out his thesis (Dr.-Ing.) entitled: “An investigation on antibiotic-free antibacterial materials combining bioresorbable polyesters, chitosan and therapeutic ions” under the academic supervision of Prof Aldo R. Boccaccini, and in collaboration with industrial partner Lucideon Ltd, UK under the supervision of Dr Chris Lovell). Prof Silvia Fare (Polytechnic of Milan, Italy), Prof Wolfgang Goldmann (Biophysics Group, FAU), Prof Stephan Wolf (Chair for Glass and Ceramics, FAU) and Prof Boccaccini were the members of the examination board.
Prof Boccaccini highlighted the outstanding research work carried out by Lukas, in particular considering the special conditions of the HyMedPoly Engineering Doctorate programme, which involved spending half of the time (18 month) in the industrial partner (Lucideon Ltd). He also was pleased with the fruitful collaboration with the industrial partner, Lucideon Ltd. (Stoke-on-Trent, UK). The work of Lukas led to the development and characterization of a completely new chitosan-Cu system exhibiting high antibacterial capability, no cytotoxicity and capable of use in medical devices to achieve antibiotic-free surfaces. Some papers from Lukas’s thesis have been already published [1, 2] and other publications are being prepared. We congratulate Lukas for achieving his Dr.-Ing. degree and wish him all the best in his future career.
[1] Gritsch, L., et al., Fabrication and characterization of copper(II)-chitosan complexes as antibiotic-free antibacterial biomaterial, Carbohydr Polym. 179 (2018) 370-378. (LINK: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144861717311372?via%3Dihub ) [2] Gritsch, L., et al., Do bioresorbable polyesters have antimicrobial properties?, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Med. 29 (2018) 18. (LINK: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10856-017-6021-5 )