Date: 2013-12-17
Type of information: Grant
Company: BIO-INSPIRE consortium (Fujifilm (The Netherlands) ISTEC (Italy), Erasmus Medical Center (The Netherlands), Medicyte (Germany), Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), Bone Therapeutics (Belgium) and Universita di Bologna (Italy)
Investors: European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7)
Amount: €3.8 million
Funding type: Marie Curie grant
Planned used: The four year project, entitled “Training program on new bio-inspired bone regeneration”, or “BIO-INSPIRE”, aims to develop a technology platform consisting of bio-mimetic and bio-active materials, and train the next generation of leading tissue engineering scientists. This platform consists of a new recombinant collagen biomaterial scaffold, that will be used (1) as a bio-mimetic mineralised scaffold, (2) as a local delivery system for growth factors and (3) as a delivery system for (autologous) cells.
Others: * On December 17, 2013, Bone Therapeutics, a Belgian regenerative therapy company addressing unmet needs in the field of orthopaedics via a minimally invasive approach, has announced that as part of the expert consortium BIO-INSPIRE it has been awarded a share of a highly competitive Marie Curie grant totalling €3.8 million.ed by a consortium of seven renowned European academic and industrial partners with complementary expertise. This Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) on bone regenerative therapie is led by Fujifilm (recombinant-collagen scaffolds, NL) and also includes ISTEC (natural bio-mineralisation, IT), Erasmus Medical Center (growth factor technology, NL), Medicyte GmbH (stem cell technology, DE), Fraunhofer Institute (bone cell therapy, DE) and Universita di Bologna (Orthopaedic Therapies, IT).
Bone Therapeutics’ role in BIO-INSPIRE will be to identify the therapeutic advantages of the combined use of scaffold and cells for orthopaedic applications as well as design subsequent clinical trials. Moreover, the Company will open a research fellowship position and provide training to a PhD candidate, together with the University of Brussels (ULB).Jan Bouwstra, BIO-INSPIRE project manager of Fujifilm commented, “We are extremely proud to have been rewarded this prestigious Marie Curie Grant. In the past 10 years, Fujifilm has developed new, unique recombinant collagen biomaterials. This Grant provides us with the opportunity to study the use of these safe, GMP-manufactured bio-materials for repair of critical size bone defects.”
Therapeutic area: Bone diseases - Regenerative medicine
