Advanced Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine

The main aim of this project is to establish a long- lasting collaboration and to create a network of European and Chinese reearch centres of excellence and R&D active SMEs in the area of biomedical materials. This aim will be achieved by undertaking joint research activities in creating advanced composite `hard`and ´soft` biomedical materials for regenerative medicine via collaboration facilitated by individual mobility of researchers between Europe and China. The main research objectives of the proposal are: - To synthesise novel composite carbon/carbon, carbon/polymer, polymer/polymer, carbon/ceramic nanostructured biomaterials for advanced applications in regenerative medicine; - To characterise mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the synthesised biomaterials; - To produce bioactive materials which have bispecific surface functional groups, bioactive coating, carry bioactive agents, or carry induced pluripotent stem cells; - To assess their biological performance in clinically reflective tests; - To develop technologies for manufacturing novel biomaterials; - To gain fundamental knowledge of the mechanism of biomaterial - biological media interactions; - To develop novel biosensor devices for monitoring tissue engineered constructs; - To establish routes to market for the material developed in this project.