Kompetenzzentrum Diabetes Karlsburg

The Kompetenzzentrum Diabates Karlsburg (KDK), founded in 2016 and funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, is a cooperation initiative between the Dr. Guth GmbH & Co. KG and the INP. The KDK is active in the field of hospital-related research, development and application of innovative technologies in medicine. With the newly created laboratory rooms directly in the Karlsburg Clinic, product ideas are developed and tested on site in everyday clinical practice - a completely new approach for the transfer of research results in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, but also throughout Germany.

At the moment, the focus of the clinic-accompanying research with spatial proximity to the patient is particularly on innovations in the fields of diabetes and wound care - such as plasma medicine or new diagnostic procedures. In the constellation of researchers, doctors and nurses in direct contact with the development departments of the companies, it is possible to collect data on the patient and correlate it directly with the results of basic research - in the service of developing innovative medical products for the benefit of the patient.

Numerous opportunities are available for the collaborative projects carried out at the KDK and for contract research to develop new products directly in everyday clinical practice. The interdisciplinary team from the fields of physics, biology, engineering, laboratory and clinic has access to comprehensive laboratory and equipment for microbiological and cell biological basic research, various physical diagnostics and measuring stations up to rapid prototyping as well as medically approved devices for clinical examinations and therapy. The resulting test samples or prototypes can be analysed and further developed in the next step in preclinical tests for biocompatibility and in clinical tests for their practicability in everyday clinical practice directly on patients. This procedure can be applied individually to new therapies, diagnostics and also prevention methods.

The KDK team is organised into two research groups. The "Plasma Wound Healing" group is primarily concerned with the investigation of new therapeutic procedures in the field of microbiology and cell biology, specifically with the wound healing-promoting effect through the application of cold plasmas. In the "Plasma Source Concepts" group, innovative solution concepts for medical technology issues are primarily developed and investigated. The focus here is on the conceptual design of optimised plasma sources for various medical applications.

COMPETENCIES

• Expertise in the fields of plasma technology, diabetology and wound healing as well as cardiovascular medicine
• Basic microbiological and cell biological research, e.g. realtime PCR, life-cell analysis and imaging
• Collection and processing of patient samples in the clinic
• Laboratory applications e.g. cytotoxicity test, viability test, inhibition tests
• Physical analyses and measuring stations e.g. highvoltage analyses, diagnostics for optical analysis
• Rapid prototyping with 3D printing in ceramics, plastics, synthetic resin and metal
• Precision mechanical manufacturing and adaptation of components
• Clinical testing in the field of preventive medicine, diagnostics and therapy, e.g. in the field of wound healing

Especially in plasma medicine - i.e. the application of cold physical plasmas - the proximity to the patient is of decisive advantage due to the very short half-lives of the biologically active components. The short distances between the treatment room / operating theatre and the laboratories for cell and molecular biology on the one hand and physics on the other provide numerous impulses for innovations in the field of medical technology and the application of cold plasmas in the hospital sector. The same applies to innovative products for diagnostics, which can also be tested and further developed in everyday clinical practice. Here, direct feedback from patients and doctors represents a decisive advantage in product development, as this results in short feedback loops and rapid iterations, which accelerates the development of prototypes enormously.