Mar 09, 2018
Attraction point neuroprosthetics
Dr. Ivan Minev, Dr. Anastasia Levchenko and Prof. Dr. Pavel Musienko in the Lab at the Biotechnology Center of the TU Dresden (BIOTEC).
In February the research group of Dr. Ivan Minev at the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of the Technische Universität Dresden hosted Prof. Pavel Musienko and Dr. Anastasia Levchenko from the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St. Petersburg State University. Their visit was made possible by a DFG (German Research Foundation) grant for the initiation of international collaboration awarded to Dr. Minev and Prof. Musienko.
Prof. Musienko is working in basic neuroscience and neuro prosthetics and has several animal models of spinal cord injury: "We performed extensive studies on spinal cord injured models that led to the development of effective multi-system neurorehabilitation therapies, including epidural spinal cord stimulation, pharmacological intervention and locomotor robotic training".
Dr. Levchenko is interested in the "discovery and characterization of genetics factors in the etiology of mental illnesses". She has already worked on the genetics of frontotemporal dementia, restless legs syndrome and schizophrenia. They both presented their work and institute during a seminar about spinal neuroprosthetics at the Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB) green seminar series, which is a joint seminar series of BIOTEC, B CUBE and CRTD.
The long term vision of the Minev group is to develop implantable technologies that deliver a permanent therapeutic effect by orchestrating repair in the nervous system. To make this possible, they are investigating micro-technologies (e.g. 3D printing) for integrating soft bio-materials into implantable devices that seamlessly blend with neural tissues. The lab is building technologies needed to study the spinal cord and build neuroprosthetic devices with translational outlook. The successful development of a long-term relationship between Dresden and St. Petersburg would therefore be extremely rewarding.
The DFG grant runs for the entire year 2018 and visits between scientists from the Minev Lab and the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at the St. Petersburg State University are scheduled to take place on a regular basis. In the future, this will enable them to deliver success stories for a greater cooperation between Dresden and Petersburg.
The group of Dr. Ivan Minev and their guests from Russia in the lab.