Research
The clinic's research projects are coordinated and handled by the Swiss MAM Research Group / Smart Implants.
The research groups for oral and maxillofacial surgery are interdisciplinary working groups that are mainly run by the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Medicine in Basel. In order to tackle a complex problem across specialist boundaries, flexible teams of oral and maxillofacial surgeons, academic staff, external researchers and specialists from industry come together.
Thanks to increased third-party funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation, international collaborations and industry, doctors are currently working together with computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists, engineers and, in some cases, humanities scholars and artists in numerous working groups.
Key topics that are currently being worked on in our interdisciplinary working groups:
- Computer-assisted and 3D real-time navigated surgery
- Use of 3D technologies (rapid manufacturing, 3D visualization) for surgical planning
- Mathematical modeling and simulation of the facial skull, virtual and augmented reality for intraoperative navigation
- 3D soft tissue visualization with various surface scanning methods (laser, white light, holographic 3D imaging)
- New methods for the diagnosis and treatment of speech function disorders
- Virtual biomechanics laboratory with finite element models
- Temporomandibular joint reconstructions
- Diagnosis and treatment of speech disorders, especially in patients with cleft palate and craniofacial malformations
- Development and use of new biomaterials, development of new "intelligent" and resorbable materials, use of new hybrid implants
- Laser surgery
- Distraction osteogenesis
- Tissue engineering (stem cell-based tissue engineering of bone implants, production of scaffolds using rapid prototyping processes)
- 4D imaging (projects: Simulation of the airways, functional disorders of the temporomandibular joint - diagnostics and therapy, swallowing and speech functions, orbital imaging)
- Scientific networking, development and use of new technologies for telemedicine and advanced medical education
- Applied AI in oral and maxillofacial surgery: computer algorithms for machine learning, neural networks and deep learning systems
Medical 3D printing at the University Hospital Basel
In August, the University Hospital Basel implanted an artificial skullcap for the first time, which was specially manufactured for the patient at the USB. After several years of research and development, the USB is the first hospital in Europe to successfully produce implants that meet international medical device standards using the 3D printing process.
Contact Research Secretariat
Marion Blum
Research Group Coordinator
Faculty of Medicine
Swiss MAM / Smart Implants Research Group
Administrative staff
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Gewerbestrasse 14
4123 Allschwil
Switzerland
E-Mail: Marion.Blum@unibas.ch
