UniBE Foundation establishes endowed professorship in tissue histology

Robert K. Schenk (1923-2011). University of Bern - An endowed professorship in tissue histology has been established at the University of Bern thanks to the support of Dr. h.c. Thomas Straumann, entrepreneur and founder of the Straumann Group. The professorship will be named after the renowned anatomist and bone specialist Robert K. Schenk and based at the Robert K. Schenk Laboratory of Oral Histology at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern. The professorship, endowed with CHF 10 million, is the first donation that the newly established UniBE Foundation is entitled to receive. Tissue histology is of central importance in the research and use of implants, for example in orthopedic surgery or dental implantology, as well as in tissue regeneration. For regeneration, i.e. the restoration of tissue, very often biomaterials such as granular bone substitutes are used. These must be thoroughly tested in a laboratory, examined for how tissue reacts to them, and guaranteed to be effective and inoffensive before they can be used in humans.