NEW HORIZON 2020 EU PROJECT AT THE INSTITUTE OF BIOMATERIALS
The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme seeks to introduce nanomaterials for medical applications. In response to this challenge, on 1st November 2015, the project “MOZART- Mesoporous matrices for localized pH-triggered release of therapeutic ions and drugs”, with total funding of 4.65 million €, was launched. The MOZART project involves 8 different countries and 11 partners, 5 high tech SMEs and 6 top European Universities. The FAU Institute of Biomaterials under direction of Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini is one of the academic partners involved in MOZART. The researchers in Erlangen will lead the effort in fabricating nanoscale mesoporous silicate matrices tailored for the controlled release of biologically active ions and bioactive molecules. The overall objective of this four-year highly multidisciplinary project is to develop a library of novel and smart inorganic nanomatrices as a versatile platform for targeted therapies to promote bone and wound healing. MOZART aims to translate these new and innovative medical products into the clinic and market for the benefit of the patients and the industrial healthcare sector in Europe. The potential impact of MOZART is enormous as in the EU alone, 350,000 patients per year suffer delayed or non-union bone fractures and 2.2 million patients suffer from chronic non-healing wounds.