Introduction

SSB meetings are broad in scope. Topics include all aspects of materials for surgical and medical use and their interactions with cells and tissues. Studies of tissues as materials, including their mechanical properties, are also of interest. Papers can describe research, development, lab evaluation, or results of animal and clinical studies based on biomaterials, including characterization of retrieved specimens.

Our annual meetings are open to everyone interested in biomaterials science and engineering. Attendees typically include engineers, scientists, graduate students, physicians/surgeons/dentists in practice or still in training, and everyone from industries dealing with biomaterials. Students are especially encouraged to attend and to submit both podium presentations and posters.

2010 Meeting Theme & Structure

The 2010 conference focused on "Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering" with a special emphasis on:

• Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering: novel approaches, concepts as well as limitations
• Stem cells and biomaterials
• Monitoring of cell fate in tissue engineering approaches
• Mechanics of cells in context with biomaterials

The afternoon sessions and all posters were open to all aspects of biomaterials science.
Following the last podium presentation, meeting attendees were invited to a farewell apéro where awards for best oral and poster presentations were given.
We thank SSB for the opportunity to organize and host the meeting at Empa (www.empa.ch). We are also grateful to
Prof. Clemens van Blitterswijk (Twente University, The Netherlands) for giving a presentation on "Materiomics: Dealing with Complexity in Tissue Engineering".
Patrick Schmutz (Empa, Switzerland) on "In vitro Investigation and Tailoring of Corrosion Mechanisms for Biodegradable Mg-Alloys Implants".
We would also like to thank Prof. Lutz Nolte (CTI, Switzerland) on "Swiss Medical Technology & Innovation Promotion".
Special thanks also to our colleagues on the Scientific Program Committee (Prof.  Christine Wandrey (EPFL, Lausanne), Prof. Geoff Richards (AO Foundation, Davos), Prof. Marc Bohner (RMS Foundation, Bettlach)) and all of Empa fellow researchers and lab staff members for their help and support.

In addition to these three invited lecturers, there were 12 other oral communications and 43 poster presentations. We are pleased that 120 attendees were present at the meeting. With this,  we especially thank all of you who submitted abstracts and attended our meeting.
As in past years, SSB sponsored two awards for the best student presentations. The student awards went to:

• Alex Nilsson (ETH Zurich) for his talk on: "Engineered RGD-Silk Scaffold for Improved Cell Adhesion"
• Christian Zink (ETH Zurich) for his poster on "Two-dimensional morphological gradients for cell biology"

Katharina Maniura, Ph.D. (Empa)
Arie Bruinink, Ph.D. (Empa)
Giancarlo Rizzoli, Ph.D. (Mathys Medical)
Manfred Zinn, Ph.D. (Empa)

Swiss Society for Biomaterials (SSB)

The SSB is the assembly of people in Switzerland working or interested in the field of biomaterials, be it on the industrial or the university level. Our Charter and Bylaws describe the goals of our Society. We welcome everybody interested in the wide field of biomaterials to participate in our meetings and to join our Society. The SSB is officially affiliated with the European Society for Biomaterials.