The original plan was for the consortium coordinators KTH to host the first BoneFix annual meeting in Stockholm. Unfortunately, this was back in 2020 and covid-19 forced that first meeting to be held online. However, on the 6th and 7th May, the KTH BoneFix team was finally able to welcome the consortium to Stockholm for the fifth BoneFix annual meeting. Sixteen delegates joined the meeting in person at the Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology with several others calling in online.
The agenda included the usual work package presentations, where each technical manager updated the consortium on recent technical progress. The consortium has been busy since we last met in Davos, with multiple in vivo studies and mechanical evaluations ongoing or recently completed along with further development of the primer and degradable composites for use in the bone fixation patch. The consortium also discussed the time line for the remaining project activities and future plans for furthering the research beyond the BoneFix project. A tour was given through the labs of the Division of Coating Technology, where all the chemicals used in BoneFix have been synthesized and where the formulations for the bone scaffold hydrogels, fixation patch primers and composites and the antibacterial hydrogel have been developed and undergone initial evaluations of their mechanical properties. During a workshop, the consortium brought all three of the BoneFix domains together to fixate complex fractures in animal bones, with much discussion of the best ways to apply the domains in a clinical environment.
Since BoneFix is entering its final year, this will be the last in-person consortium-wide annual meeting. It seemed appropriate to end the meeting with some reflections. The consortium has enjoyed working on this immensely ambitious project, which involves the development and integration of radical new technologies for bone regeneration, osteosynthesis and protection against bacterial infections. Much has been accomplished, and the consortium looks forward to sharing the many more exciting results that are still to come from the BoneFix project.
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