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Manuela Gomes receives a millionaire grant from the European Research Council Back

Thursday, 11/30/2017    AvePark, Guimarães
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Manuela E. Gomes, Associate Professor from the School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM) and Assistant Director of UMinho’s 3B’s Research Group, was granted a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), one of the most prestigious in Europe. Her project, funded with two million euros over the next five years, is entitled "MagTendon: Tissue Engineering Technologies Associated with Magnetic Stimulation Methodologies for Tendon Regeneration”.
These ERC grants award only the scientific excellence of the researcher, and their assessment is based on 50% on their curriculum (which must be at the top of the scientists working in Europe) and 50% on the excellence of the project to be carried out, in other words, their degree of risk and the radically innovative approach at the frontiers of knowledge. These projects have approval rates of around 13%. Consolidator Grants are intended to finance projects of researchers who are establishing their own line of research, becoming even more competitive internationally and increasing the visibility of European science.

"MagTendon" will allow Manuela E. Gomes to consolidate an innovative research line focusing on the combination of biomaterials and stem cells through tissue engineering approaches for the development of biological substitutes for tendon and ligaments. New biomaterials with magnetic properties that can be used combined with state-of-the-art technologies, namely 3D bioprinting, will be developed for a very specific control of the three-dimensional structures to be developed, mimicking the unique architecture of the tendon/ligament and the tendon-bone interface. This will allow to control the behaviour of stem cells incorporated in these magnetic biomaterials (magnetic biotins) when grown in the laboratory (in vitro), as well as their remote control, after implantation, through the application of magnetic fields of controlled intensity.

"This grant represents the recognition of excellence in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in UMinho’s 3B's Group, where we have found and created unique working conditions, particularly in recent years, as we seek to establish a research line focused on tendon regeneration and ligaments” Manuela E. Gomes said. "It is also the recognition of the interest and innovative potential of the ideas that we intend to develop in the near future and that we believe will contribute significantly to provide better therapies for the treatment of lesions and diseases affecting these (and possibly others) tissues, which have an impact on the quality of life of a growing number of patients”, she added. “Of course, the attribution of this ERC grant is both a reason of great satisfaction and a very important motivation for us to continue performing excellence research in Portugal. Sometimes it is worth dedicating twenty years of our life to something we really believe in”, she highlighted.


In this 2017 ERC Consolidator Grant (CoG) competition, Portugal obtained eight grants, the only one outside Lisbon for the UMinho, through 3B's Group, based at AvePark, in Guimarães. The academy has already achieved six ERC grants: one for career initiation (StG), three career consolidation (CoG) and two advanced for established scientists (AdG). Five of these (AdG and CoG) were precisely for 3B's researchers, which is one of the groups based on a Portuguese public university with the highest success rate in these competitions and, in a European context, in the highly competitive fundraising. Led by Vice-Rector Rui L. Reis, 3B's - Biomaterials, Biomimetics and Biodegradables is one of the world leaders in its area of research, and is currently responsible for projects with funding of around 50 million euros.


+ info: www.3bs.uminho.pt/users/megomes; facebook.com/3bsResearchGroup; https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2017-consolidator-grants-results
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