Louise Kruse Jensen

Implants – but without the associated infections

If your knee or hip is worn, the answer may be to have a prosthetic fitted – an implant.

This restores mobility in many, but in some cases, the procedure fails due to infection.

Infections of this kind can potentially destroy the bone tissue intended to bond with the implant. In some cases, the prosthetic device needs to be removed, and the bone damage caused by the infection can complicate insertion of a new implant.

Louise Kruse Jensen – 37, associate professor at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen – will use her Lundbeck Foundation Fellowship to establish a research group that will seek to develop a new technique for preventing implant-associated infections in humans.

Such implant-associated infections are usually difficult to treat with antibiotics. Louise Kruse Jensen aims to develop and test a new nanomaterial to treat the surface of implants.

One of the distinctive features of this material – which will initially be tested in trials with minipigs – is that it binds and releases large concentrations of antibiotics, enabling cure of an incipient infection.
Louise Kruse Jensen will also study the biochemical grounds for known infections associated with implants in humans.

Louise Kruse Jensen is receiving a grant worth DKK 10 million.