National Launch of Marie Curie Programme in FP7
21st May 2007, Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre, Santry, Dublin 9
Dr Lisa Looney / Dr Garrett McGuinness
Materials Processing Research Centre (MPRC)
Dublin City University
Novel Fabrication Techniques to Produce Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications
Marie Curie Host Fellowships for Early Stage Researchers (EST)
Funding from the Marie Curie Host Fellowship for Early Stage Training (EST) has enabled researchers within the Materials Processing Research Centre at Dublin City University to recruit seven international PhD students over the next four years, to examine innovative methods of producing hard and soft tissue substitutes.
The main task of this EST is to contribute to the ultimate goal of patient specific biological substitutes There are several circumstances under which it is necessary to replace human tissue, either on a permanent or temporary basis. The current ‘gold standard’ in replacing both bone and vascular tissue is to use autografts (material from other sites in the patient), but this can be problematic. Tissue may not be available and the ‘double’ procedure incurs higher risk of infection, pain and prolongs hospital stays. Synthetic alternatives do exist, but have not found widespread application due to difficulties in producing the optimum material structure and properties, in a repeatable and controllable manner. The research at DCU will study a number of innovative manufacturing processes with a view to achieving this control and repeatability, while characterising the properties, and response of cells to the tissue substitutes (or scaffolds).
The recruited PhD students will use existing equipment and infrastructure within the centre, such as rapid prototyping machines, chemical analysis equipment and powder processing apparatus to perform their research. In addition to this technical training, students will undertake supplementary activities to enhance their PhD experience and provide them with strong foundations for their future research career. These include postgraduate level modules on aspects of materials science and biotechnology, seminars on ethics and commercialisation in research, a chance to demonstrate undergraduate practical classes and undertake an industrial placement. Aspects of the research will involve researchers in IT Tallaght, NUIG and DCU’s Vascular Health Research Centre. The cost of the work will be approximately €1.2million.
The funding achieved through the EST scheme has enabled a volume of international researchers to be recruited and drive the MPRC research activities in an exciting new direction. This would not be possible through national funding.
By performing research on the area of "Tissue Engineering", a new generation of young researchers can be trained to handle complex technological problems associated with either the life sciences or engineering. Europeans will likely be the chief beneficiaries of solutions offered by these "bioengineers" in the form of products, services and public benefits.
The Marie Curie National Contact Points based at the IUA provided invaluable assistance during the preparation of the proposal. The comprehensive reviews of draft proposals and advice on what the EU evaluators require ensured that a competitive proposal was submitted that was ultimately successful. This support has provided DCU researchers with confidence to continue to apply for Marie Curie funding and success has been achieved in a number of other Marie Curie Programmes. This will undoubtedly continue into the 7th Framework Programme.
