BIOMEND is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Industrial Doctorate Network (DN) programme that will provide world-class interdisciplinary training to 15 highachieving doctoral candidates (DCs) in the area of BIOabsorbable Metallic ENdovascular Medical Devices (BIOMEND). The consortium spans seven European countries and comprises of leading academic, clinical and industry experts to promote international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral aspects of DC skill development.
The research vision of BIOMEND is to develop next-generation bioabsorbable metals for endovascular medical devices for both cardiovascular and peripheral applications. BIOMEND will achieve this through the development of ultra-fine grain Magnesium and Zinc alloys that exhibit high strength, excellent creep performance and high ductility, with enhanced corrosion properties delivered by multi-layer coating technologies. These novel Magnesium and Zinc metal alloys will be leveraged to develop, design and fabricate a range of innovate bioabsorbable metallic endovascular medical devices across both cardiovascular and peripheral applications.
Apart from these technological breakthroughs, BIOMEND programme will make significant scientific impact by developing novel ultra-fine grain Mg & Zn alloys and establishing new structure-property-processing relationships describing their performance. The comprehensive skillset delivered by the programme will enhance career development and employability of DCs within the Medical Technology sector and promote their development into leading innovators in the European Medical Technology sector.
BIOMEND brings together 18 leading academic, industry and clinical organizations from across Europe to develop the next-generation of biodegradable endovascular medical devices, while delivering world-class interdisciplinary training to 15 PhD researchers. BIOMEND is coordinated by the University of Galway, Ireland.
We are grateful for the support of our associated partners. These partners provide additional know-how, materials, production processes and training. This support is vital for the success of the BIOMEND network, which thrives on cutting-edge technology and innovation across the represented interdisciplinary fields.
BIOMEND has been divided into three research work packages (WPs 1-3) that cover the breadth of the medical device development chain, as shown in Figure 2. BIOMEND will be implemented by 15 DCs who will undertake industrial doctorates, where each individual project feeds into the overall scientific objectives. The overall programme vision is to deliver training throughout all areas of bioabsorbable medical implant development. To achieve this, the programme will culminate in the design, prototyping and pre-clinical testing of several functionally superior, bioabsorbable endovascular medical devices.
Associated Partners do not recruit researchers, but get involved in training activities (for example, hosting researchers who are on secondment, contributing to training events, co-supervising a doctoral student)
Beneficiaries participate fully in the network, recruiting and training researchers and receiving a portion of the project budget to fund the full costs of this participation. All beneficiaries must recruit at least one doctoral candidate
Coordinator is the lead beneficiary which is the central contact point for the Research Executive Agency (REA) and is responsible for the successful implementation of the network
Research Vision: Develop next-generation bioabsorbable metals for endovascular medical devices through the design, development and fabrication of novel ultra fine grain Mg and Zn bioabsorbable alloys.
RO.1 Develop ultra-fine grain Mg Zn bioabsorbable alloys with enhanced functional performance
RO.2 Enhance corrosion properties of Mg Zn alloys to ensure long-term performance in medical devices
RO.3 Design proof-of-concept bioabsorbable metallic endovascular medical devices through computational design optimisation
RO.4 Evaluate the pre-clinical performance of proof-of-concept bioabsorbable metallic devices
Training Vision: establish a world class interdisciplinary, international and inter sectoral training platform in the European-led area of design, development and fabrication of bioabsorbable endovascular medical devices.
TO.1 DCs will develop core technical Skills throughout all elements of the medical device development chain, i.e. (i)
Materials Development, (ii) Device Design Process, (iii) Device Verification & Validation and (iv) Pre-Clinical Testing.
TO.2 Provide advanced technical skills training to DCs on advanced topics in all core elements of the medical device
development chain, both locally within host environments (local structured training) and through network wide
training events, delivered based on the complementary expertise of consortium participants.
TO.3 Deliver key transferable skills and competences to DCs through an extensive programme of network wide and local training events on topics including career development, communication, digital and management skills.
TO.4 Provide network-wide training to facilitate interdisciplinary skills development across key aspects of medical implant development, such as clinical engagement, regulatory affairs and entrepreneurship.
TO.5 Deliver network-wide training to DCs on integrating the gender dimension into decision making, research and
innovation to improve the scientific quality and societal relevance of knowledge, technology and innovation.
TO.6 Promote international mobility of DCs through inter sectoral placement and secondment opportunities between
participating countries of the consortium.
MSCA Industrial Doctorate programmes are for PhD candidates who wish develop their skills and step outside academia, in particular in industry and business. Individual participants must be enrolled in a doctoral programme and jointly supervised by the academic and non-academic partners
Applicants must have obtained a degree that formally entitles them to embark on a doctorate in the host country and must not already have a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment.
The funding provides support for each recruited researcher in the form of a living allowance, a mobility allowance and family allowance (if applicable). In addition, funding is provided for research, training and networking activities.
Please follow the application on the BIOMEND website.
BIOMEND is coordinated by the University of Galway, Ireland in close collaboration with Meotec Gmbh, Aachen, Germany.
