SPINEFX

"SPINEFX: A University–Industry Network for the Training of High-quality Multidisciplinary Researchers to Deliver Enterprising, Cost-effective Surgical Solutions for Spinal Disease and Trauma"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'SPINEFX is an integrated ITN comprising academic, industrial and clinical partners that is designed to create exceptionally trained researchers with the key skills to deliver commercially significant, innovative solutions to the challenges posed by spinal disease and trauma, namely vertebral fracture. The significant economic and personal impact of these fractures can be gleaned from the fact that in osteoporosis 1 in 3 women will suffer one. Added to this is the high cost of vertebral fractures due to trauma, which can exceed €1 million per patient. It is only with a multidisciplinary approach, which is a synthesis of key academic and industrial skills, that high quality training can be delivered to researchers to address this economic and individual burden. Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will be located within internationally renowned academic institutions with state-of-the-art facilities and will be involved in projects organized around key themes which cascade over basic, oriented and applied research in a truly ‘bench to bedside and beyond’ manner. New knowledge generated by the ESRs will be exploited by the Experienced Researchers (ERs) who will be located in three of Europes leading Small-Medium Sized Enterprises in this arena. Here the ERs will strengthen their scientific competencies in a market-driven environment and advance their managerial and knowledge transfer skills. As well as playing a significant role in training-through-research, Industry will also be a central element of the Structured Training. The latter includes Network-Wide Workshops open to the international community, secondments and the co-hosting of the Final Conference in conjunction with the EuroSpine Meeting organized by the Spine Society for Europe. All training will emphasise both complementary and scientific skills, thus significantly enhancing the career prospects of the ESRs/ERs and creating future research leaders.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

European researchers joined forces to study spinal pathologies associated with various diseases. The proposed treatment modalities have the potential to alleviate the suffering of millions of patients worldwide.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The human spine provides the framework for upright posture, mobility and overall a healthy musculoskeletal system. However, certain types of cancer metastasise in the spine, and diseases such as osteoporosis present with a high incidence of vertebral fractures. Spinal fractures due to trauma are also a significant source of pain and immobility, and pose a heavy economic burden on health care systems.

The scope of the EU-funded http://www.spinefx.eu/ (SPINEFX) project was to overcome such medical challenges and deliver innovative solutions for treating vertebral fractures. Project activities focused both on cutting-edge research and training research fellows.

An important deliverable was the development of a microCT system for investigating trabecular bone samples and vertebral bodies. Using this system, scientists were able to pinpoint differences in vertebral morphology from different pathologies. They observed that osteoporotic and metastatic bones presented different mineral density and structural properties compared to physiological tissue.

To further delineate the effect of impact loading on disc degeneration, the consortium developed a novel bioreactor that simulates disc mechanics and performs loading onto vertebral discs. This method helped them identify the anti-inflammatory potential of the molecule EGCG on the intervertebral disc.

Exploitable achievements of the SPINEFX network included multi-scale spine models and a fully injectable synthetic ceramic bone substitute. Important information was also obtained regarding the development of improved cements that were tested alongside commercially available materials on 2D and 3D bone models.

Overall, the SPINEFX study performed basic and applied research on spinal biomechanics and medical engineering, offering new diagnostic tools and interventions for treating spinal fractures. At the same time, it trained the next generation of researchers in the field who are currently participating in the successor EU project LIFELONGJOINTS.