Host Response to Biomaterials Laboratory (HoRB)

Our research

The focus of the research in the Host Response to Biomaterials Laboratory (HoRB) research group is to characterize how biomaterials perform in a biological system, with emphasis on the acute intravascular immune and thrombotic responses.

Implantation of a medical device, i.e. a biomaterial, into human tissue is inevitably associated with adverse reaction against the non-self biomaterial. Whether the device will be accepted by the host is determined by the biocompatibility, defined as the ability of the material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific application.

Central components in the acute reaction, and the focus of our research, are the acute inflammatory and thrombotic processes which follow immediately after biomaterial implantation. This reaction, referred to as thromboinflammation, involves complement, coagulation and the contact activation systems, in cross-talk with leucocytes and platelets. Issues of thromboinflammation are also apparent in non-implantable biomaterials applications, e.g. in extracorporeal circulation and in nanoparticle drug delivery systems.

By employing models of human whole blood in combination with endothelial cells, a comprehensive panel of read-outs and therapeutic inhibitors, we have developed systems to investigate thromboinflammation to biomaterials in human whole blood. Our ambition is to dissect mechanisms of thromboinflammation in response to biomaterial exposure in models with high translational value. This will aid in solving critical matters in biomaterials treatment, such as inflammation in hemodialysis, thrombosis associated with mechanical heart support and issues related to in vivo administration of nanopharmaceuticals.

The Host Response to Biomaterials Laboratory is part of the Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences and Linnaeus University Centre for Biomaterials Chemistry.