BIOBONE · BIOCERAMICS FOR BONE REPAIR

There is a general consensus that ceramic based materials should play a very important role in the development of new therapies to treat and substitute damaged or diseased bone. Due to their resistance to wear and corrosion, bioinert technical ceramics are the ideal candidates to replace metallic alloys in a new generation of small, durable and safe orthopaedic implants. On the other hand, osteoconductive and bioactive ceramics such as calcium phosphates and bioactive glasses are the most promising materials to fabricate strong scaffolds to support the engineering of new bone. Ceramic implants and scaffolds are already being introduced in the market and its application is growing. However, for ceramics to fulfil their promise it will be necessary to address several key scientific issues such as the development of toughness and resistance to fatigue in the physiological media, the need to achieve strength in porous tissue engineering scaffolds or the control bioresorption and the interactions at the cell/material interface. To solve these issues a new generation of professionals is needed with a solid multidisciplinary background that will incorporate fields as diverse as materials science and engineering, orthopaedics, tissue engineering, biology, chemistry and biomedical engineering. The final objective of this network is to train young researchers to fill this demand in the strategic area of bioceramics for bone repair. BIOBONE will achieve this by combining hands-on training in state of the art research projects related to key fundamental issues that determine the future bioceramics with academic training and industrial experience. The goal is to form professionals that will play a pivotal role in pushing forward this growing, highly competitive, knowledge-intense field for the coming decades benefiting the European economy, bringing state-of-the-art technology to the bedside and improving the quality of life and current standards of care