On the 20th and 21st June 2022, participants from the BoneFix consortium met up in Bergen, Norway for BoneFix’s second in-person annual meeting, hosted by Kamal Mustafa and his team of researchers at the Department of Clinical Dentistry, University of Bergen (UiB). The meeting program started with the usual series of work package presentations, where the technical managers from each consortium partner gave an update on the progress and current challenges of their work packages. However, the main part of the program was a series of consortium-wide discussions on specific topics, ranging from the current state of the project’s dissemination items to the specific timeline for the upcoming ex vivo and in vivo evaluation studies of the different BoneFix domains. The involvement of all participants resulted in a lot of fruitful back-and-forth debate, leading to a more defined road-map for the upcoming third year of the project.
The discussions and presentations on the first day were broken up by a tour through the Department of Clinical Dentistry. PhD students and postdocs from Kamal’s research group demonstrated their sophisticated lab setup including 3D printers, a bioreactor and micro-CT scanner, all of which will prove invaluable to the tasks of work package 2, where the bone restoration activity of the bone scaffold domain will be evaluated. At the end of the first day, dinner was served at the top of Mount Ulriken, 643 meters above sea level! Fortunately, a quick trip on the Ulriken Cablecar spared everyone the long hike up the mountain to Skyskraperen Restaurant.
The second day of the meeting included discussions on the exploitation of expected results and management of the project, before ending with a steering committee meeting. Afterwards, several members of the consortium took the opportunity to see a little of Bergen’s beautiful old Bryggen area before flying home. Socially and professionally, the annual meeting was a complete success. As in St Etienne the previous year, the consortium relished the opportunity to discuss, work, and enjoy each other’s company face-to-face. More frequent study visits are planned for 2022 and 2023 between the BoneFix partners, including visits by RegionH, KTH and BMB to ARI in August. The whole consortium will meet again at next year’s annual meeting, which will be hosted by Peter Varga and his ARI team in Davos, Switzerland in September 2023.
The participants from the BoneFix consortium outside the Department of Clinical Dentistry, UiB.
David Eglin (MINES) presenting some of his team’s results from work package 3.
PhD Student Ying Xue, from Kamal’s group at UiB, demonstrates the microCT scanner.
The consortium at the top of Mount Ulriken prior to dinner at Skyskraperen Restaurant.
Project Director Michael Malkoch (KTH) thanks the consortium for their efforts and toasts the success of the project and the annual meeting during dinner.
Special thanks to Kamal and his team at UiB for an excellent job hosting the consortium at this meeting.