Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
This topic focuses on bioprinting of living cells for regenerative medicine.
Moreover, 3D printing is generally considered advanced technical manufacturing and 3D analytical printing of non-viable biomaterials to serve e.g. as a scaffold for cell growth or as a structure for medical devices that are already widely used.
However, bioprinting technology involving living cells is still in its infancy, but has enormous potential for tissue engineering, drug testing, and other biomedical applications. Tissue-specific functional 3D bioprinting is a new approach for transformative applications in regenerative medicine, based on the fabrication of tissues and organs with respect to their desired shape and function and implementation in vivo.
Detailed Call Description
“In-situ bio-printing” known as printing cells and biomaterials directly onto or in a patient, or 4D bio-printing, which introduces a “time” variable that allows 3D printed materials to change shape or function when external stimulus is applied, are recent developments facing multiple additional challenges.
Despite some success of 3D bio-printing with thin tissue, thick tissue and complex organs remain a bottleneck because it is difficult to sufficiently mimic their metabolic needs, and the scientific knowledge about their intimate architecture and interplay with other tissues are not sufficiently elucidated. Next to these limitations are a lack of standardised manufacturing protocols and standardised bio-ink formulations with tuneable properties, unstable cellular behaviour, material biocompatibility and printability, etc. Taken together, 3D bio-printing is confronted with several challenges that currently hamper its large-scale deployment.
To overcome these challenges, researchers should work in multidisciplinary teams with engineers, biomedical scientists, cell biologists and medical doctors and proposals should address most of the following activities:
- Design the best bio-printing strategy for at least one type of tissue thanks to a better understanding of the interconnections of the different cell types inside the chosen tissue or organ
- Develop or improve existing equipment able to print bio-constructs with higher resolution in a shorter time using various biomaterials and different cell types
- Cover all steps of the bio-printing suite, including cell collection, cell differentiation and expansion, imaging, modelling, bio-ink formulation, actual bio-printing, nutrient supply, process monitoring and cell-construct delivery at target site
- Scale-up the chosen bio-printing technology to a GMP-conform manufacturing process
- Combine different bio-printing technologies in order to obtain fully functional synthetic constructs of complex tissues or organs.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
EU contribution per project: between €6.00 and €8.00 million
Thematic Categories
- Health
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.
Preclinical stage and early clinical development are eligible. The involvement of SMEs is encouraged.
Regulatory knowledge of the field is desired and should be documented through contacts with relevant national or international European regulatory authorities.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
George Christou
Scientific Officer
Email: gchristou@research.org.cy
Ioannis Theodorou
Scientific Officer
Telephone: +357 22 205 038
Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy
EU Contact Point
European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact