BRAV3 Project Concludes with Breakthroughs in Cardiac Regenerative Medicine
iBET scientists attend final symposium and consortium meeting in Madrid
The European BRAV3 Consortium, focused on developing a personalized biological ventricular assist device (BioVAD), was officially concluded on June 30th. This marked the successful completion of a major Horizon 2020 research initiative in which iBET played an important role.
On May 27-28, iBET scientists Prof. Paula Alves (CEO of iBET), Margarida Serra (Head of the Stem and Immune Cells Bioengineering Lab at iBET) and researchers Pedro Vicente and Lara Inocêncio, attended the international symposium and final project meeting in Madrid, Spain.
The “BRAV3 Symposium: New Frontiers in Cardiac Regenerative Medicine – From computational and beyond” gathered leading experts in cardiac regenerative medicine to share and discuss the project’s most significant findings and scientific advancements. During the symposium, Margarida Serra delivered an oral presentation titled “Nature-inspired bioprocesses to accelerate the manufacture of hiPSC-cardiac cells: bridging biology and engineering”.
On the second day of the event, during the final consortium meeting, Margarida Serra and Pedro Vicente presented iBET’s most recent contributions to two work packages of the project. Overall, iBET played a pivotal role in the project by developing efficient bioprocesses for the production of hiPSC-cardiac cells in clinically relevant numbers and quality, and in the characterization of the BioVADs.
Coordinated by Clínica Universidad de Navarra and supported by 8 million euros in funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, BRAV3 united 14 institutions across Europe to develop an innovative BioVAD. Personalized devices like BioVAD are expected to provide a one-time regenerative treatment for ischemic heart disease, aimed at reducing the burden on healthcare systems while enhancing patients’ quality of life.
About Project BRAVƎ
The BRAVƎ project, under the EUH2020 grant agreement 874827, was coordinated by Clinica Universidad de Navarra and funded with a total of €8M by European Union programme H2020.
The main project goal was to develop a personalized, human-sized tissue capable of integrating damaged heart tissue, thus providing long-term mechanical and functional support. Through the combination of different expertise, the consortium aimed to engineer a personalized biological tissue (BioVAD) using stem cells and 3D-printed scaffolds via Melt Electrowriting (MEW), to be in-vitro matured in a custom bioreactor. This bioreactor, harbouring the state-of-the-art technology, is one of the major breakthroughs of this European initiative.
The Consortium included members from 14 European institutions: iBET (Portugal) , Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Universitäts-klinikum Würzburg (Germany), Servicio Madrileño de Salud (Spain), University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain), Leartiker S. Coop. (Spain), University of Zaragoza (Spain), EBERS Medical Technology S.L (Spain), Boston Scientific (Ireland), AE Medicalis (the Netherlands), and Ciaotech (Italy).
