Biomaterials and Medical Device Research Program

The BioCity Turku Biomaterials and Medical Device Research Program is located in the city of Turku. In collaboration with Turku University Hospital involves nineteen research groups that provide a unique collaboration, education and learning environment for researchers in different fields of science. These groups combine their efforts and expertise to develop reliable and safe implantable medical devices for the healing and regeneration of injured and diseased tissues.

The Biomaterials and Medical Device Research Program bridges generic and clinical research with clinical practice. It also provides a collaboration platform with companies for the fabrication of implantable medical devices. The research groups develop together innovative biomaterials and medical devices focusing on clinical solutions for tissue injuries and defects, on-line sensing of tissue healing, controlled drug release, adequate mechanical durability, and predetermined, desired resorption matched to neotissue growth rate. This consortium enables a new multidisciplinary approach in developing medical materials.

Hongbo Zhang
Director

Sufyan Garoushi
Director

Pekka Vallittu
Director Turku Clinical Biomaterials Centre – TCBC

For conducting research at Turku Clinical Biomaterials Centre -TCBC  look into the PhD Programs of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Turku or Åbo Akademi University and contact the research group leaders.

For general enquiries please contact Mona Gibreel. mona.f.gibreel@utu.fi

Doctoral Dissertations

2024

Siekkinen, M., 2024: The impact of dissolution products and solution pH on in vitro reactions of the bioactive glasses 45S5 and S53P4

Uppstu, P., 2024: Bioresorbable polymer–bioactive glass composite scaffolds for bone regeneration

2023

Kuusisto, N., 2023: Artifacts due to dental and maxillofacial restoration materials in cone beam computed tomography images

Riivari, S., 2023: Gingival cell attachment and cell adhesion complex formation on TiO2 coated zirconia and titanium

Sirkiä, S., 2023: Physicochemical properties and characterization of bioceramics and bioactive glasses for bone repair

Salmi, R., 2023:  Oral health care of older people in domiciliary care – perspectives of the domiciliary care clients and personnel

2022

Plyusnin, A., 2022: A novel concept for non-metallic orthopedic implants for load-bearing applications

2021

Stape, T., 2021: Dry bonding: new perspectives for collagen hybridization

Abushahba, F., 2021: Bioactive glasses in air abrasion treatment of contaminated implant surfaces

Gibreel, M.,2021: Fiber-reinforced implant-retained overdentures: studies of their mechanical behavior and deformation in relation with attachment systems

Mäkinen, E., 2021: Photoinitiated curing of orthodontic adhesive resin.

Khan, A., 2021: Fiber-reinforced composite with interpenetrating polymer network – Influence of shelf-life of the prepreg and the adhesive primer on interfacial adhesive strength of the composite to a resin luting material.

Areid, N., 2021: Hydrothermally induced nanostructured TiO2 coatings – with special reference to biologic events of peri-implant tissue integration.

2020

Kilponen, L., 2020: Bonding of orthodontic brackets to enamel: Studies on the clinical outcome of bracket bonding and approaches to increase the bond strength of the adhesive interface.

Basavarajappa, S., 2020: Surface dissolution and degradation of dental resin-based materials with special emphasis by the effects of solvent ethanol, dimethacrylate monomer resin and catalyst solution of ethylene glycol.

Fteita, D., 2020: Impact of estradiol and quorum sensing on biofilm-related virulence of the Prevotella intermedia group: – in vitro studies on bacterial growth properties, proteolytic enzyme activity and cytokine production.

Altinci, P., 2020: Fluoride as a proteolytic enzyme inhibitor in dentin.

2019

Lahdenperä M., 2019: Structural and interfacial adhesion elements of indirect fiber-reinforced composite fixed dental prostheses.

Bangalore Huchaiah, D., 2019: Behavior of resin composites at the interface between orthodontic bracket and tooth.

Shahramian, K., 2019: Gingival tissue attachment and blood responses to nanoporous bioactive coatings on zirconia.

Omran, T., 2019: Bi-layered restorative dental composite structures : stress and fracture behavior.

Salim Al-Ani, AA., 2019: Towards enhancing the durability and strength of dentin-resin bond: the role of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an alternative solvent in dental adhesives.

2018

Aro E., 2018: Stability of the femoral stem in cementless total hip arthroplasty and PET/CT imaging of adverse reaction to metal debris.

Ramakrisnaiah R.K., 2018: Micron and submicron scale parameters affecting the adhesion of resin composites to dental glass ceramics.

2017

Sarin, J., 2017: Bioactive glass S53P4 and tissue adhesives in the surgical treatment of chronic middle ear and mastoidal infections.

2016

Bijelic-Donova, J., 2016: Discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite for dental applications. Studies of the fracture resistance and the mechanical properties of the material used for extensive direct restorations.

Seseogullari-Dirihan, R., 2016: Effect of collagen crosslinkers on dentin protease activity.

Alm. JJ., 2016: Bone quality and mesenchymal stromal cell capacity in total hip replacement. Significance for stem osseointegration measured by radiostereometric analysis.

2015

Piitulainen, J., 2015: Reconstrucion of cranial bone defects with fiber-reinforced composite-bioactive glass implants.

Sulaiman, T.A.., 2015: Monolithic zirconium dioxide as a full contour restorative material with special emphasis on the optical and mechanical properties.

Perea Mosquera, L., 2015: Fiber-reinforced composite fixed dental prostheses. Studies of the materials used as pontics.

Kulkova, Y., 2015: Experimental Studies on Composite Bone Implants with a Special Reference to Staphylococcal Biofilm Infections.

2014

Kantola, R., 2014: Use of fiber-reinforced composite framework and thermochromic pigment in facial prosthesis.

2013

Abdulmajeed, A., 2013: Unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites as an oral implant abutment material: Experimental studies of E-glass fiber/BisGMA-TEGDMA polymer in vitro.

Nganga, S., 2013: Development of porous glass-fiber reinforced composite for bone implants. Evaluation of antimicrobial effect and implant fixation.

2012

Frantzén, J., 2012: Bioactive glass in lumbar spondylodesis: a pre-clinical and clinical study.

Hautamäki, M., 2012: Repair of segmental bone defects with fiber-reinforced composite: a study of material development and an animal model in rabbits.

Fagerlund, S., 2012: Understanding the in vitro dissolution rate of glasses with respect to future clinical applications.

2011

Heikkinen, T., 2011: Bonding of composite resin to alumina and zirconia ceramics with special emphasis on surface conditioning and use of coupling agents.

Madanat, R., 2011: The Use of Radiostereometric Analysis in Fractures of the Distal Radius: From Phantom Models to Clinical Application.

Wilson, T., 2011: Effects of Silica Based Biomaterials on Bone Marrow Derived Cells – Material Aspects of Bone Regeneration.

Rekola, J., 2011: Wood as a model material for medical biomaterials – In vivo and in vitro studies with bone and Betula pubescens Ehrh.

2010

Hjerppe, J., 2010: The influence of certain processing factors on the durability of yttrium stabilized zirconia used as dental biomaterial.

Vuorinen, A.-M., 2010: Rigid rod polymer fillers in acrylic denture and dental adhesive resin systems.

2009

Mattila, R., 2009: Non-resorbable glass fibre-reinforced composite with porous surface as bone substitute material: Experimental studies in vitro and in vivo focused on bone-implant interface.

Ääritalo, V., 2009: Silicon Releasing Sol-Gel TiO2-SiO2 Thin Films for Implant Coatings. Åbo Akademi.

2008

Arstila, H., 2008: Crystallization characteristics of bioactive glasses. Åbo Akademi University.

Ballo, A., 2008: Fiber-reinforced composite as oral implant material. Experimental studies of glass fiber and bioactive glass in vitro and in vivo.

Dhang, D., 2008: In vitro characterization of bioactive glass. Åbo Akademi University.

Meretoja, V., 2008: Macroporous Scaffolds for Bone Engineering. Studies on Cell Culture and Ectopic Bone Formation.

Ranne, T., 2008: Thermoplastic Bioactive Composite – with Special Reference to Dissolution Behaviour and Tissue Response.

Rosenholm, J., 2008: Modular design of mesoporous silica materials : towards multifunctional drug delivery systems. Åbo Akademi.

Vedel, E., 2008: Predicting the properties of bioactive glasses. Åbo Akademi.

2007

Tuusa, S., 2007: Development of craniofacial bone defect reconstruction implant based on fibre-reinforced composite with photopolymerisable resin systems. Experimental studies in vitro and in vivo.

Le Bell-Rönnlöf, A.-M., 2007: Fibre-reinforced composites as root canal posts.

2006

Areva, S., 2006: Sol-Gel derived titania based ceramic thin films for implant coatings. Åbo Akademi.

Tezvergil-Mutluay, A., 2006: Dental fibre-reinforced composite resin in direct chair-side applications: studies on thermal expansion and bonding characteristics in relation to the fibre orientation.

Garoushi, S., 2006: Bilayered dental composite resin. Load bearing capacity of combinations of fibre-reinforced and particulate-filler composite.

2005

Dyer, S., 2005: Fiber-reinforced composite fixed partial denture design: mechanical properties of the composite and load bearing capacity.

Moritz, N., 2005: Bioactive ceramic coatings on medical implants: with special reference to CO2-laser treatment.

Viitala, R., 2005: Characterisation of films, monoliths and microparticles prepared with sol-gel method and studies on in vitro bioactivity and controlled drug release. Åbo Akademi.

Viljanen, E., 2005: Photopolymerized dendritic copolymers. With emphasis on degree of conversion and residual monomer content in dental applications.

Väkiparta, M., 2005: Partially biodegradable fibre-reinforced composite. In vitro studies on material combinations for bone substitute applications.

Välimäki, V-V., 2005: Tissue engineering of bone: enhancement of new bone formation by bioactive glass microspheres combined with adenovirus-mediated BMP-2 gene transfer and bisphosphonate therapy.

Yli-Urpo, H., 2005: Glass polyalkenoate cements containing bioactive glass with special reference to mechanical, chemical and antimicrobial properties.

2004

Matinlinna, J., 2004: Silane chemistry aspects in some conventional and novel dental biomaterials.

Narva, K., 2004: Fibre-reinforced denture base polymer. Clinical performance and mechanical properties.

Puska, M., 2004: Acrylic bone cement. A study on the modification of polymethylmethacrylate-based bone cement by porogen fillers, reinforced glass fibres and semi-interpenetrating network structure.

2003

Heikkinen, V., 2003: Studies on polymer matrices of dental fibre-reinforced composites. Release of residual methyl methacrylate, water sorption and solubility.

Tanner, J., 2003: Adhesion of oral microbes to dental reinforced composites. With emphasis on Streptococcus mutans and Candidi albicans.

Events

Upcoming events

2024

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Nanomaterials for biomedical applications
    24-25th of October 2024
    Registration 
    Program
    Abstract submission:  Please send your abstracts to Marco Stålfors (mastal@utu.fi)

2023

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Emerging technologies for biomedical applications: additive manufacturing, biosensors and bioelectronics
    26-27th of October 2023
    Registration 
    Program
  • Turku Dental Biomaterial Summer School—Molecular and Structural Engineering of Resin Based Dental Materials winter Meeting
    August 16-18. More information about the registration and program deadline.
  • 4th TCBC Sauna Midwinter Meeting
    3rd of February (9:00-12:00 am) at Arje Scheinin (Dentalia).
    No registration (free entrance)

2022

  • Door Open at Aurum/Biomaterial research infra in Aurum and junior researcher networking, hosted by Chunlin Xu and Leena Hupa
    Registeration by sending email to cxu@abo.fi latest by 27.3
    Programme start at 13:30.
  • Biomaterials Spring Seminar at TPS
    31st of May 2022
  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Glass technology across healthcare industry and science
    27-28th of October 2022
    Registration 
    Program
  • Seminar (Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry) and TCBC open doors event for networking
    1st of December 2022 at 12:00 (PharmaCity main hall)

Past Events

2021

  • Biomaterials Spring Seminar at TPS — Targeted bone modulation during tooth movement
    25th of May 2021
    Professor Håvard Jostein Haugen, University of Oslo
    Canceled
  • Dental Biomaterial Summer School at Seili Island
    August 2021
    Postponed to August 2022
  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Cutting hard/soft tissues and biomaterials
    28-29th of October 2021
    Registration
    Program

2020

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Cutting hard/soft Tissues and Biomaterials
    22-23 of October 2020
    Postponed to October 2021
  • 3rd TCBC Midwinter Meeting

2019

2018

  • Turku Biomaterials Days 2018 — From an Innovation to Company Creation
  • Turku Dental Biomaterial Summer School — From the Tooth-Biomaterial interface to load  transfer
  • 2nd TCBC Midwinter Meeting

2017

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Interfaces and Interphases

2016

  • Turku Dental Biomaterial Summer School — Should we focus on biomineralization rather than resin based bonding?
  • Turku Biomaterials Days — SanBalt Forum 2016

2015

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Composite – A Material for Biomaterial Devices of Today and Tomorrow

2014

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — From Interfaces to Biomechanics of Biomaterial Devices and Tissues
  • Summer school of dental biomaterials — Dental Resin Composites, Polymerization and Related Properties

2013

  • Turku Biomaterials Days — Release of active Substances from Biomaterials

News

2023

  • Congratulations to Dr. Lippo Lassila as the first author for the ODONTOLOGY PRIZE 2023!
    The following paper has been awarded the Best Paper Award for the year 2023. “Lippo Lassila, Eija Sailynoja, Roosa Prinssi, Pekka Vallittu, Sufyan Garoushi. Characterization of a new fiber-reinforced flowable composite. 2019: 107: 342-352.”
  • Professor Pekka Vallittu has been awarded the research award from The Scandinavian Biomaterials Society in recognition of his significant contributions and groundbreaking achievement in the field of biomaterials science.

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

  • Tarek Omran is the winner of the 3MT Final at the University of Turku
  • President & CEO of GC International, Mr. Makoto Nakao has been conferred by Doctor of Odontology honoris causa (Doctor hc) in the Conferment Ceremony of the University of Turku, 26 May 2017
  • Professor Aldo Boccaccini from the University of Erlangen-Nurenberg, Germany has been nominated to the Scientific Advisory Board of the BioCity Turku. Professor Boccaccini is a leding scientist in the fields of bioceramics, bioactive glasses and tissue engineering scaffolds.
  • Acta Odontologica Scandinavica Big Prize 2017 has been awarded to Professor Pekka Vallittu

2016

  • Bensow – Äyräpää Prize 2016 by the Skandinaviska Tandläkarföreningen has been awarded to Professor Pekka Vallittu

2014

  • A Biomaterial Invented in Turku Receives an International Quality Innovation Award
  • “Critical Thoughts for Biomaterial Scientists” by Professor B.W. Darvell. A special TCBC seminar was arranged on Tuesday, 25th March 2014 given by Professor Brian W. Darvell. Professor Darvell is one of the most eminent scientists in the field dental biomaterials and he has contributed to highly respected books and scientific articles.

2013

  • Collaboration with scientists from Shanghai starts. Shanghai Stomatology Disease Center arranged the Second Scientific Seminar with the BioCity Turku Biomaterials Reserach Program in Shanghai, PRC, on April 8-9, 2013. The seminar started active research and educational collaboration between the Shanghai Stomatology Disease Center and the University of Turku.

2012

  • German Minister-President Erwin Sellering visited TCBC
    Minister-President  Erwin Sellering from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany and his delegation visited Turku Clinical Biomaterials Centre – TCBC on the 15th of October, 2012. There are similar interests and needs of finding more cost-effective alternative treatments for various fields of medicine and dentistry both in Germany and in Finland.
  • Professor Pekka Vallittu was awarded by the Distinguished Scientist Award in Prosthodontic and Implant Research by the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) at the General Session of the IADR in Brazil, June 18th 2012.

2011

  • Professor William Bonfield from the University of Cambridge was awarded by the Honorary Doctor Degree of the University of Turku in May 2011. Professor Bonfield is the one of the most eminent biomaterials scientist in the world and he is member of the Royal Society. He has made significant contributions to the field of science as founder and editor-in-chief of scientific journals, lecturer and in promoting commercialization of biomaterials.