FINCERAMIC

The SPINNER EID will train a group of Bioengineering early stage researchers to be in a position to design the next generation of repair materials and techniques for spine surgery. SPINNER brings together partners from the biomaterials (Finceramica), implantable devices (Aesculap), and computational modelling (Ansys, Adagos) industries with orthopaedic clinicians (National Centre for Spinal Disorders, NCSD) and academic experts in cell, tissue and organ scale biomaterials and medical device testing (Universities of Sheffield and Bologna). All projects will be fully grounded in practical industrial and clinical requirements, where the number of patients requiring complex spine surgery is rapidly expanding, and the biomedical engineering industry needs suitably trained, innovators to produce economic solutions to support healthy ageing for the people of Europe.

The incidence of Cardiovascular Disease (CD) claims worldwide 17.1 million lives a year, with an estimated 31% of all deaths globally and a EU cost of 139 billion euros. Up to 40% of all deaths occur among the elderly. In spite of all medical efforts, the 5-year mortality was reduced significantly less than that of malignant diseases. This highlights the urgent need to overcome the difficulties associated with present pharmacological therapies (i.e. drug instability, and unspecific targeting) by developing new ground-breaking therapeutic strategies that go far beyond any current regimens. New approaches for safe, efficient, and heart-specific delivery of therapeutics are strongly required. CUPIDO is envisioned to meet these critical needs by providing an unconventional and effective strategy based on nanoparticle-assisted delivery of clinically available and novel therapeutics to the diseased heart. In particular, CUPIDO will develop innovative bioinspired hybrid nanoparticles formulated as biologicals delivery, which are i) biocompatible and biodegradable, ii) designed for crossing biological barriers, and iii) guidable to the heart. A combination of multidisciplinary manufacturing and validation approaches will be employed, bringing the envisioned product beyond the currently available clinical and day-to-day management of CD individuals. Scale-up production, and respect of medical regulatory requirements will allow CUPIDO to deliver a final product for future late pre-clinical and clinical studies. Altogether, CUPIDO will foster the translation of nanomedical applications toward the cardiac field, which although still in its start, offers great potential to overcome the limitations associated to the currently pharmacological treatments.