The Mutua Madrileña Foundation finances a research project of the ibs.GRANADA with 120.000 euros to generate biotinks for 3D bioprinting
La Mutua Madrileña Foundation, in its XVI Annual Call for Aid for Health Research, has awarded 2 million euros to 24 studies and clinical trials aimed at improving medical treatments that will be developed in different research centers throughout Spain. Among them, it will allocate 120.000 euros to a research project that will be led by the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada, in charge of the professors of the University of Granada (UGR) Juan Antonio Marchal and Elena López.
Researchers from the "Advanced Therapies: Differentiation, Regeneration and Cancer" group at ibs.GRANADA will develop bioinks that, in combination with other biomaterials, allow for the 3D printing of prostheses that mimic all the characteristics of cartilage and bone to resolve osteochondral defects in the knee, allowing for a more efficient and personalized recovery than current therapies that usually require prostheses.
As Marchal and López explain, "thanks to this grant, we will be able to advance this research project, in which we will develop bioinks for 3D printing prostheses based on mesenchymal stem cell matrices, which we generate and differentiate into the patient's own cartilage or bone."
The 120.000 euros from the Mutua Madrileña Foundation will help recruit more staff to continue working in this same line.
The award ceremony for these grants, held in Madrid, was attended by the president of the Mutua Madrileña Group and its Foundation, Ignatius Garralda; the president of the scientific committee of the Fundación Mutua, rafael matesanz, and the reconstructive microsurgeon Pedro Cavadas placeholder image.
The grants have been awarded to different research projects on rare diseases that manifest themselves in childhood, transplants, traumatology and their sequelae and pancreatic cancer that will be carried out in 17 hospitals in 11 Spanish cities.
For the first time, the call has had a specific economic item to finance studies that encourage collaboration in medical research between autonomous communities. Within this item, endowed with 300.000 euros, five projects will be launched: two for rare diseases, two for transplants and one for traumatology. Some Andalusian hospitals also collaborate in these projects.
All selected projects will have a minimum duration of one year and a maximum of three years and will be carried out in hospitals belonging to one of the accredited Health Research Institutes in Spain.
Commitment to research
The objective of the Mutua Madrileña Foundation with this annual aid program is, in addition to improving medical treatments, to contribute to the maintenance and development of scientific research in Spain. Since the launch of the first call in 2004, more than 60 million euros have been allocated to support more than 1.400 research projects.
In this same act, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has also awarded its scholarships to International Cooperation in the field of health for medical and nursing professionals.
