The ACHILLES project was sought to address the major challenges in Tendon Tissue engineering/Regeneration research by building up the institutional expertise and technology capacity of University of Minho (UMINHO) in biophysics, cell/molecular biology and genetics/gene therapy in order to achieve global scientific excellence and competitiveness for the translation of advanced therapies/ tendon tissue engineering strategies to treat tendon injuries/diseases. At the same time, ACHILLES also aimed at positioning the research profile of UMINHO and its staff in an outstanding international research level.
The main goals were achieved by establishing a twinning process through knowledge sharing and collaboration between the 3B’s Research Group of UMINHO and the partner institutions, namely, the Department of Trauma Surgery of the University Regensburg Medical Centre (UHREG), the Regenerative, Modular & Developmental Engineering Laboratory of the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), University College Dublin (UCD), and the Department of Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Orthopaedic Hospital König- Ludwig-Haus, University of Würzburg (JMU). ACHILLES focused in defined areas in which UMINHO showed less scientific knowledge being well-complemented by UHREG-JMU and NUIG-UCD. In addition, the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center of Mayo Clinic (MAYO), a leader in the field of advanced therapies for musculoskeletal tissues, in which UMINHO also showed less scientific knowledge, collaborated closely as coordinator of the external advisory board.
Along the project it were organized 4 very successfully Conferences/Workshops (in Portugal), 3 Retreats, and 2 Schools (organized by the partners). These events followed very high scientific standards and enabled not only to strengthen the knowledge sharing and collaboration between the UMINHO and the project partners, but also the training of young researchers and all participants in other relevant topics, such as scientific writing, entrepreneurship, ethics, etc. More importantly, these events gathered all the major scientists in Europe (and some from USA) working in this field, enabling to create a quite unique platform for collaborations that already resulted in the submission of several joint research programs and exchanges of students beyond ACHILLES partnership. It was also fundamental to position the profile of UMINHIO and its staff in an outstanding international research level within this field.
The researchers exchanges carried out between the partners also contributed significantly for a closer and direct exchange/sharing of knowledge that promoted the growth of UMINHO in specific areas, taking the most advantage of the international and scientific complementary character of the partnership.
The ACHILLES partners maintained a very active and consistent presence in all the main Conferences of the field (several of them organized by members of the consortium), with specific symposia/session associated to the Project chaired by the partners, with participation of both young and experienced scientists. Together with the ACHILLES events, these were crucial to the gathering of a critical mass of researchers working in the field of Tendon Regeneration.
The involvement of the project team members in the boards of the principal Scientific Societies of the field is also relevant, particularly for the long term sustainability of the project.
The consortium has also produced a very significant number of publications in leading journals of the field, far more than anticipated, increasing substantially the impact factor of the UMINHO team in the field. Several members of the team were also involved in the publication of special issues on the project topics in main journals of the field, and the PIs of the 3 Institutions have presented a proposal for editing a 2nd edition of the Tendon Regeneration Book (published in 2015 by Elsevier) that was accepted by Elsevier. Finally, ACHILLES continued to promote the dissemination of the project in social media (especially in Twitter: @AchillesH2020), in several events organized for the general public, visits, etc.
