The European Biomaterials Network
The European Biomaterials Network, EC DGXII project BRRT-CT97-5008, is now in its
second year. BioBridge Associates manages the network under contract to the European
Commission DG XII Brite-EuRam. We fulfil a dual function on behalf of the Commission -
partly monitoring and partly communicating. For the monitoring function, we provide advice
on progress, evaluation and exploitation aspects of 18 EC-supported projects in the field
of new materials for medical uses. These are 4th Framework Programme projects in the
Brite-EuRam and the SMT programmes. For the communication function, we publish the
Biomateria Newsletter and the Biomateria Web-site. We also organise annual closed-session
workshops for Network participants, and seminars on biomaterials topics that are open to
anyone interested in the area – see the report on the European Biomaterials Seminar
at the European Society of Biomaterials conference in The Hague, September 1998, later in
this issue, and the Stop Press! on the seminar for Advanstar’s Spring Medical Device
Technology Conference in London, March 1999. This Network project will finish formally in
April 2000.
The projects currently in the Network fall into three areas, hard materials such as
dental and joint prostheses, soft materials such as skin replacements and drug delivery
systems, and new methods of manufacturing or testing. The co-ordinator of each project
represents the project collaborators in the Network, at annual workshops and can also be
contacted for further information.
‘North Sea Biomaterials’
The European Biomaterials Network Seminar at the European Society of Biomaterials’
14th Annual Conference ‘North Sea Biomaterials’, The Hague, 17th
September 1998.
This Seminar, organised by Mr M Lloyd-Evans, Administrative Co-ordinator of the
European Biomaterials Network, was a successful addition to the ESB’s programme and
generated considerable interest in the audience. The speakers included Professor David
Williams of the University of Liverpool, Professor Jos Vander Sloten of the Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven, Dr Alex Smeets of the East of England Innovation Relay Centre and Mr
Lloyd-Evans himself. The purpose of the Seminar was to give scientists at the ESB’s
conference the opportunity to hear about and discuss wider issues such as regulation,
public safety, technology transfer, creation and management of networks, and developments
of the EC’s forthcoming Fifth Framework Programme. For further details of the
seminar, including the programme, speakers’ CVs and animated presentations, see click here.
Five New Projects
We are very pleased to welcome 5 new projects into the Network. These were approved in
the final industrial call of the Fourth Framework Programme.
They are:
- BE-4301 – Development of novel matrices and encapsulatory materials for support and
modulation of hair follicle growth, co-ordinated by Queen Mary & Westfield College
Centre for Cutaneous Research, UK
- BE-4329 – Development and Testing of Membranes for Biohybrid Systems, co-ordinated
by GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht, Germany
- BE-4612 – IsoBone: A Tissue-Engineered Living Bone equivalent, co-ordinated by
IsoTis BV, The Netherlands
- BE-5063 – Hybrid bioartificial ligament and tendon reconstruction devices prepared
by combining synthetic and natural materials with tissue engineering techniques,
co-ordinated by Fidia Advanced Biopolymers, Italy
- BE-5086 – Bioresorbable implants for minimal access surgery, co-ordinated by Danish
Technological Institute, Denmark.
More information on these projects will appear in forthcoming issues of the Biomateria
Newsletter and on the Biomateria web-site http://www.biomateria.com
If you need more information about the projects currently in the
Network, in addition to the 5 new ones recently added, please contact Meredith Lloyd-Evans
E-mail biomateria@biobridge.co.uk, Tel +44
1223 566850 fax +44 1223 566851. Or see Biomateria Newsletters Issue
1 & Issue 2 or the Biomateria web-site http://www.biomateria.com
  
|
