Lucideon and partners awarded €3,9m grant to train Industry PhD researchers to develop antibacterial medical materials

07-May-2015 - United Kingdom

Lucideon together with 9 European consortium partners, has been awarded €3.9m (£2.8m) grant by the European Commission to train industry PhD researchers for the development of drug-free antibacterial materials used for medical applications, such as wound care and implants.

Biomedical polymers have been widely used in combination with drugs in medical settings but a challenge has arisen to develop new materials that have an intrinsic antibacterial functionality. To meet this need, a new generation of professionals will be trained under the project ‘Drug-Free Antibacterial Hybrid Biopolymers for Medical Applications (HyMedPoly)’ which Lucideon is co-ordinating.

HyMedPoly will engage 15 young PhD researchers to create and implement new strategies to combat bacteria. Seven of these researchers will be jointly supervised by Lucideon together with two universities, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and University of Southampton, the research institute, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and industry partner Vornia Ltd.

The four-year long project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 643050. It forms part of the European Commission's initiative to develop European Industrial Doctorates with equal exposure to academics and industry, allowing them to combine research knowledge with business acumen.

HyMedPoly will offer a joint training programme at world class academic and industrial institutes, combining technical knowledge with hands-on training in state-of-the-art research projects related to key issues that determine the future therapies of antibacterial materials.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/152742/lucideon-and-partners-awarded-3-9m-grant-to-train-industry-phd-researchers-to-develop-antibacterial-medical-materials.html