The French Government has launched a research network for microtechnology and nanotechnology, funding it with FFr55m (EUR 8.4m). The network is intended to bring together national laboratories such as those of CNRS, France Telecom and the Atomic Energy Commission, Universities and institutes working in the areas of electronics, optics, chemistry, biology and information technology and their application to micro and nanosystems, and private companies, especially start-ups and SMEs. The network will be administered from Grenoble by LETI.

Researchers at the University of California have created nitroxide initiators for polymerisation processes, that provides a far more controlled process than has hitherto been possible, by restricting the polymerisation reaction to unreacted monomers, rather than producing cross-linking between formed polymer chains. There is also the potential to construct block co-polymers of consistent structure and size. Such co-polymers are under study at Washington University Missouri as possible nanospheres for drug delivery (see EBN projects BE-7052, BE-3621).

SURGERY AIDS

Several products to prevent post-surgical adhesions are in development. The US company Life Medical Sciences has four products. These include the bioresorbable barriers Repel film and Repel-CV, and a viscous solution, Resolve, for prevention of post-surgical adhesions in soft tissue surgery such as gynaecological, general abdominal and open-heart operations, and one for prevention of adhesions in orthopaedic surgery, Relieve, which is a bioresorbable gel. Lifecore Biomedical Inc is in the last stages of seeking approval from FDA for a similar gel product, Intergel, which is a ferric hyaluronate compound for use in laparotomies.

ROBOTS & IT FOR SURGERY

The Fraunhofer-IPA Engineering Research Institute in Germany has developed a surgical robot that holds an endoscope and, if successful, will be developed to hold a range of fine-work instruments used in neurosurgery, ophthalmology, craniomaxillofacial surgery and orthopaedic work. The robot will use X-ray imaging and other scanning systems to provide a high degree of accuracy.

The European Commission is funding the CRIGOS project, Compact Robot for Image-Guided Orthopaedic Surgery, which started in August 1997, involving 11 partners, including 4 companies, 2 universities and 5 hospitals, co-ordinated by the Helmholtz Institute at the University of Aachen, Germany. The aim is to produce a hexapod robot that will use imaging technology to ensure precise surgical actions.

Medical software may be quite important for the success of new orthopaedic implants, and will certainly be vital for the type of customised implant created by CAD-stereolithography that is being investigated for certain uses such as maxillofacial and spinal surgery. The US company Integrated Surgical Systems, that has also developed the ROBODOC surgical assistant, is undertaking a number of joint-development agreements to tailor its software to specific manufacturers’ hip implants. The latest agreement was recently announced with Zimmer, adding to those in place with Johnson & Johnson, Aesculap, DePuy, Howmedica, PLUS Endoprosthetik and Biomet.