459. WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Degradable Polymers as Biomaterials

The starting point for the AFPM conference series was the Heraeus-Seminar “Degradable Polymers as Biomaterials”, which was arranged from May 30th to June 2nd 2010 in Bad Honnef, Germany. As the group of participants included chemists, material scientists, biologists, medical scientists as well as physicists, the seminar had a highly interdisciplinary setting. Thematic focus areas were the design and synthesis of biodegradable polymers, in vitro and in vivo testing of degradable biomaterials and their characteristics in contact with cells and tissues, multifunctional materials, release- and carrier-systems for bioactive compounds with special focus on proteins and DNA/RNA-systems as well as their clinical applications. In addition to the oral presentations, junior scientists from all participating fields presented about 30 posters. Three of them were awarded a prize, among them the poster of HZG Ph.D.-Student Susanna Piluso.