Aniol Bosch, a researcher at the Eurecat technology centre and PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Girona (UdG), has been awarded one of three grants offered by the Daniel Bravo Andreu Private Foundation for short-term biomedical research stays at leading centres abroad. This will enable him to spend six months at the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP) at Nanyang Technological University where he will develop innovative stenting technology.
In recent years, Eurecat and the UdG have developed several manufacturing technologies to address the drawbacks of current stents in patients with vascular disease. The Designing the Stent of the Future research project has devised an innovative tubular technology based on photopolymerisation and is exploring the manufacture of permanent bioabsorbable polymeric stents using new photosensitive materials and 3D printing which could minimise damage to arterial walls and maintain the flexibility of blood vessels, thereby reducing complications.
“This research might be a gamechanger in interventional cardiology for these patients, whose numbers are growing every year, and improve their quality of life and survival rates,” say Dr Joaquim Ciurana, director of the Process, Product and Production Engineering Research Group (GREP) at the University of Girona, and Dr Antonio J. Guerra, head of Biomedical Manufacturing Technologies at Eurecat, Aniol Bosch’s mentors. “It could also cut healthcare costs derived from current complications.”
“The Daniel Bravo grant will allow me to grow as a researcher,” adds Bosch. “The SC3DP lab specialises in synthesising new photosensitive polymers and has two really promising research strands. Plus their industrial experience will also help to optimise processes for producing consistent batches of the new stents for in vivo validation.”
The Catalan researcher’s mentor at SC3DP will be Dr Paulo Jorge Da Silva Bartolo, an internationally renowned academic and researcher in advanced manufacturing and 3D printing.
The Daniel Bravo Andreu Private Foundation has been supporting scientific talent and fostering biomedical research with high academic, clinical and social impact in Catalonia through the Daniel Bravo Grants since 2014.
The Daniel Bravo Grants are for researchers at Catalan hospitals and public research centres working in cardiology and non-invasive diagnostic techniques. They last from three to nine months and come with a monthly stipend of €3,000 for the whole period.
This aid has also been awarded to Dr Marc Soriano from Hospital de Sant Pau and Dr Alicia Prieto from Hospital del Mar Research Institute, who will spend nine months at the Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse and the Department of Interventional Cardiology at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ), respectively.
