The sun was shining and the discussion was flowing all throughout the BoneFix second annual meeting in Saint Étienne, France. Fourteen participants representing six of the seven BoneFix consortium partners, were joined by the independent ethics advisor in Saint Étienne over the 30th of September and the 1st of October. Participants from the Karolinska Institute and Stine Jacobsen from the University of Copenhagen took part in the meeting remotely. Due to restrictions from covid-19, this meeting was the first opportunity for the consortium to finally meet each other in person and the delegates made the most of this interaction by filling the two-day program with simulating discussions and presentations describing the progress made thus far in each work package. Everyone also got some hands-on experience with the current primer and composite systems developed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology during a workshop in which the delegates constructed fixation patches on fractured porcine metacarpal bones. The meeting was hosted by David Eglin and his team at MINES, who gave a tour of their department at the Centre for Healthcare Engineering. After a long day focused on the project, everyone had the chance to bond socially over some lovely French cuisine.
The meeting ended with a steering committee meeting in the beautiful historical campus building of École des Mines de Saint-Étienne and a tour of the current Antarctica exhibition at the science outreach centre La Rotonde. Overall, the meeting was a success, with all delegates participating in and benefiting from a highly collaborative and social environment that can only be achieved face-to-face. Special thanks are given to David, Lea and Guillaume at MINES for hosting the meeting, choosing the great restaurants and for ensuring that no-one got lost while navigating between the hotel and the venues. We all look forward to seeing each other again at the next meeting which will be hosted by the University of Bergen team next June in Norway.
Peter Varga (ARI) with his newly fixated bone.
One of the many fixation patches which were made on porcine metacarpal bone during the workshop.
David Eglin (MINES) provided a tour of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering at MINES St Étienne, including an explanation of their state-of-the-art system for producing hydroxyapatite.
Peter Schwarzenberg (ARI) explains the exciting ways that the mechanics of BoneFix will be analysed as part of work package 5.
Our venue for the second day of the meeting; the beautiful historical building of École des Mines de Saint-Étienne.
At La Rotonde’s Antarctica exhibition.
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