The annual meeting of the European Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), which took place in Granada, Spain in June, showcased much of the innovative research undertaken by researchers at the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB), NUI Galway.

The NFB, which was established with funding from Science Foundation Ireland under the Strategic Research Cluster Programme, conducts research on biomaterials, developing technologies for use in clinical applications in the fields of orthopaedics, soft-tissue healing and neural and cardiovascular regeneration.  Last year’s TERMIS-EU meeting, which attracts leading researchers from academia, industry and clinical institutes, was hosted by the NFB in Galway.  

At this year’s meetings, Professor Abhay Pandit, Director of the NFB was invited to deliver a keynote address and eleven postdoctoral candidates and postgraduate students gave podium presentations.  In terms of conference abstracts, the NFB was one of the most prominent groups at the conference.  In addition, six conference sessions were chaired by Professor Pandit and NFB Principal Investigators Dr Wenxin Wang and Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis.  These sessions are in the areas of Neural Tissue Engineering, Polymeric Transfection Vector, Injectable Scaffolds, Tendon Tissue Engineering, Modulation of the in vitro macro-environment and cell-based therapies.  

Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis said “The fact that so many of our abstracts and submissions for conference sessions were approved by an international panel of experts in the field reflects the leading-edge nature of NFB research; this is hugely encouraging.  We always welcome the opportunity to interact and participate with the international scientific community”. 

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