A look at the Second ExcellMater School: A complete bedside-to-bench-to-bedside pathway
The second ExcellMater School Bioactive hydrogels and hydrogel nanocomposites aimed for wound treatments was successfully held on January 15 – 20, 2024 at FTM with 50 participants including 11 doctoral students who successfully fulfilled all the school requirements. The lecturers were from the ExcellMater consortium with two guests: Prim. Dr med. Javorka Marković Delić from the Health Center “Vizim”, Belgrade, Serbia and Dr Vera Tiodorović from the TU Dresden, Germany. The school presented the complete pathway from the clinical problem of chronic wounds, fundamentals of hydrogels and hydrogel characterization to advanced composites and 3D printing and biofabrication methods, and ending with medical device regulations and phases of medical product development with the focus on wound dressings.
Among all very interesting lectures rated with the highest grades by the School attendees, several topics can be singled out as the ones about which the students and researchers at FTM do not have many chances to hear about. Chronic wounds and clinical treatment options certainly present such a topic, which was overviewed in detail by clinicians Prof. Dr Paola Savoia and Prim. Dr med. Javorka Marković Delić. Another distinctive topic was introduced by Dr Vera Tiodorović presenting approaches to biofabricate wound dressings in space stations. In vivo studies on animals were addressed by Dr Caroline Constant who explained in detail how the need and alternatives to these studies should be evaluated and how these studies, if indisputably required, should be performed with respecting the 3R principle (Replace, Reduce, Refine). Along with updates on medical device and advanced therapy medicinal products regulations presented by Prof. Dr Michael Gasik, the topic that is still difficult for FTM researchers to master, Dr Andrea Montali overviewed technology translation stages to products in healthcare industry. In specific, he introduced analyses of clinical needs, measurable benefits to patients and society, and profitable and sustainable business model and outlined the whole product development process with the key elements. The students had the opportunity to present their research results in a poster session, while the school requirements included teamwork on homework assignments. Specifically, each student team was assigned a topic related to the school to cover in a short presentation. So, three teams presented recent advances in various types of bioactive biomaterials and processes currently being developed for wound treatments. Finally, the school ended with the exam consisting of a multiple-choice questionnaire and the awarding ceremony at which the successful students received the FTM certificates of passing a PhD level course of 2 ECTS.
The Second ExcellMater School was regarded by all participants as attractive, dynamic, and interactive, while the doctoral students expressed satisfaction with the knowledge gained.
A short video on impressions of the School participants (in Serbian) can be found at the ExcellMater YouTube channel
Prof. Petar Uskoković, Dean FTM, and Prof. Bojana Obradović at the opening ceremony
Audience
The guest lecturers: Prim. Dr. med. Javorka Marković Delić and Dr Vera Tiodorović
Poster session
Impressions at the first day of the School: Rauany Cristina Lopes Francisco, PhD student (click on the image above to access the video)
Impressions at the first day of the School: Vukašin Ugrinović, PhD, and Jelena Petrović, PhD student (in Serbian) (click on the image above to access the video)
Take a look at the short video in which doctoral students Milena Stevanović and Nina Tomić are presenting their research in the poster session (in Serbian)
