Objective
The manufacture of bioresorbable medical devices for temporary implantation inside the human body is growing into a high-value industry with many benefits over traditional devices. Bioresorbable devices do not need a removal operation, reducing patient trauma and significant healthcare costs. Due to the ability to add antibacterial or antibiotic drugs and to control the release rate at the implant site, such devices can reduce the number of post-operative complications and open up possibilities for new therapies.
However, development times for new devices can be lengthy and extremely expensive. Bioresorbable materials have a high cost and are difficult to process, resulting in high scrap rates. The addition of fillers such as bioactive particles further complicate the manufacture. In Bio-PolyTec, sensor technology - centering on optical spectroscopic techniques - will be developed for in-process monitoring of the key quality measures of polymer degradation and additive dispersion. The availability of this information in real-time rather than after time-consuming and expensive laboratory testing represents a significant improvement in Quality Control for bioresorbable devices as well as enabling better process control. The influence of typical processing procedures on the degradation and mixing and hence subsequent bioresorption/release behaviour and mechanical properties will be fully investigated for the commercial products of the consortium SMEs to optimise their processes to achieve specific and consistent product requirements. In particular the processing of Polylactic Acid (PLA) and dispersion of bioactive Calcium Phosphate particles for orthopaedic implants will be investigated among other polymer/filler systems.
The innovations in sensor technology will extend outside the consortium to enable other device manufacturers to reduce scrap rates and hence production costs for bioresorbable devices. The 'trial-and-error' guesswork is taken out of the process development stage for new products, significantly reducing the time and cost and stimulating activity in the market. Possible batch-to-batch variation will be eliminated, avoiding adverse behaviour of the products after implantation in a patient.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics polylactic acid
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkaline earth metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs antibiotics
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-SME-2013
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
F56 Sligo
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.