The MgSafe project has received funding from EU Horizon 2020 and will create opportunities for 15 young researchers while bringing together universities, research institutions and tech companies that will push the boundaries of biodegradabe magnesium implants.
We at FUJIFILM VisualSonics are excited to be part of the MgSafe project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (to the amount of 4 million euros) under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement N°811226. To commemorate this, we took part in the project kick-off in Hamburg, Germany on November 6, 2018. We're proud to be part of this amazing project.
As part of the Marie Skłodowska Curie Action (MSCA), which has just been launched, 15 young researchers will investigate biodegradable magnesium implants. The project is coordinated by the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) and brings together eight universities and research institutions as well as four technology companies from eight European countries. In the MgSafe project, we will establish new techniques while educating 15 PhD students interdisciplinary in both imaging and implant technologies."
For their research, the young scientists will use various imaging methods that will enable them to most precisely monitor the behaviour of magnesium implants during the process of bio-compatible degradation. Biodegradable implants offer many benefits. For instance, patients needing trauma or orthopaedic intervention (to fix fractures) can potentially avoid a second surgery to remove metal implants.
Prof. Dr. Regine Willumeit-Römer, coordinator of the project and Head of the Metallic Biomaterials Division at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Geesthacht, explains: "Biomedical imaging is fundamental to both diagnosis and therapy, because we need to monitor the behavior of the degrading implant materials. There is still need for improvement as far as the new class of biodegradable magnesium-based implants is concerned.
Their main target is to investigate the human body's reaction to the implant and monitor the behaviour of the material during magnesium degradation – with an unequalled degree of precision and detail. The MSCA PhD students will be trained in interdisciplinary issues during workshops and spend secondments with the project partners to gain comprehensive knowledge in their research fields, which they will benefit from for their future scientific qualification.
Prof. Dr. Regine Willumeit-Römer: "We know how conventional implants behave within the body. Our novel implants form a class of their own, and we are urgently looking for suitable procedures to comprehend how the material behaves under real conditions."
List of Partners in the MgSafe project:
1. Helmholtz-Helmholtz-Geesthacht Zentrum for Materials and Coastal Research, Metallic Biomaterials Department (Geesthacht, Germany)
2. National Research Council (CNR) Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC) (Pisa, Italy)
3. Medical University of Graz, Department of Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery (Graz, Austria)
4. University of Oslo, Department of Biomaterial (Oslo, Norway)
5. Oslo Metropolitan University, Faculty of Technology, Art, and Design (Oslo, Norway)
6. Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany)
7. University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy (Gothenburg, Sweden)
8. Warsaw University of Technology (Warsaw, Poland)
9. MRITools GmbH (Berlin, Germany)
10. Syntellix AG (Hanover, Germany)
11. Scanco Medical AG (Brüttisellen, Switzerland)
12. Fujifilm Sonosite B.V (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
13. BRI.Tech BioResorbable Implant Technologies (Graz, Austria)