In modern medicine, implants are progressively used to alternate missing structure and function in human body. However, bringing implants into the body implies to cause serious infection. As a non-tissue material the implant can be colonized by bacteria. This situation lead to initiate a chronic inflammatory response creating e.g. bone resorption and can lead to the failure of implant.
The frequently used diagnostics to detect infection hold disadvantages, i.e. being time consuming, not reliable, and expensive. In addition, the infection is usually detected after patients has developed symptoms and while already a mature biofilm has been formed. Consequently, rapid, sensitive, biocompatible and low cost detection for early stages of infection becomes a challenge and demand to develop.
This project is aiming at the development of a polymer which can be combined with Gallium nitride as semiconductor material to detect implant associated infections.
