The experimental research of HTTG Surgery, which is spread across three sites, deals with clinically relevant issues in the fields of cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery, organ transplantation, the development of functionalized implants - with a particular focus on the prevention of implant infections - and regenerative medicine. Several interventional cohorts, in which the influence of physical activity on degenerative diseases in particular is being investigated, as well as studies on the role of particulate matter exposure, are intended to provide new impetus for experimental research in HTTG surgery in the future and contribute to the prevention and better understanding of degenerative diseases such as arteriosclerosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Our clinical lung transplantation program, as well as innovative ventilation methods and new technologies for ex vivo organ perfusion and therapy, are key components of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), which has now been extended in a second funding phase until 2020. As part of BREATH (Biomedical Research in Endstage And obsTructive lung disease Hannover), innovative concepts for tolerance induction, for (ex vivo) regeneration of diseased lungs, for stem cell-based drug research and therapy of hereditary lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis or pulmonary arterial hypertension, and for the development of a (bio)artificial lung are being developed.

Research at the Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) focuses primarily on stem cell research and tissue engineering of heart valves, blood vessels and heart muscle. So-called "induced pluripotent stem cells" are used for research into disease mechanisms and for the development of regenerative active substances and are also intended to form the basis of regenerative therapies in the future.

In close cooperation with LEBAO, small and large animal experiments are carried out in experimental surgery not only to test new approaches to regenerative therapies, but also to investigate issues relating to heart and vascular surgery, organ transplantation and artificial hearts.

Implant research at HTTG Surgery has a particularly interdisciplinary character, with the aim of developing new types of cardiovascular implants and a biohybrid lung, as well as anti-infective surfaces, e.g. using bacteriophages. The third location for experimental research at HTTG is the Lower Saxony Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development (NIFE), which has been home to several of our research groups since 2016. In collaboration with other surgical disciplines in particular, as well as scientists and engineers from Leibniz University and the Laserzentrum Hannover, biohybrid implants are developed here and related topics such as the biocompatibility of implants and the formation and avoidance of biofilms are investigated. The development of different ex vivo therapies, e.g. the treatment of infections with multi-resistant bacterial infections or the high-dose chemotherapy of tumors, in the so-called "Organ Care System" will also be of great importance in the future.