SANT’ANNA SCHOOL BIOROBOTICS INSTITUTE RESEARCHERS OF EU-FUNDED ADMAIORA PROJECT OFFER A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE TREATMENT OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

Researchers of the EU-funded ADMAIORA (ADvanced nanocomposite MAterIals fOr in situ treatment and ultRAsound-mediated management of osteoarthritis), project through the H2020 initiative are working under the supervision of Professor Leonardo Ricotti to combine regenerative therapy and ultrasound mediated targeted therapy as a novel strategy that has the potential to restore structure and function of damaged cartilage.

The kick-off meeting of four-year project ADMAIORA is bringing together the European partners to explore alternative treatments for Osteoarthritis (OA). Traditional pharmacologic therapies are incapable of reversing cartilage damage, which is the leading cause of disability in elderly people (15 million people in Europe aged 50 years and older). Current research focuses on the development of regenerative therapies and tissue engineering involving bioactive factors, adipose-derived stem cells implantation and ultrasound effects in cells migration.

Overall, the ADMAIORA healthy and active ageing paradigm, after validation in OA disease pre-clinical models, has the potential to reduce the OA-related healthcare costs: estimated Osteoarthritis-related direct medical costs are 50 billion euros annually.

The Consortium partnership includes research institutes and companies Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli - Bologna, Bar-Ilan University – Israel, Regentis (Israel), IGT (France), PlasmaChem (Germany), Vimex (Poland), and H&D Wireless (Sweden).

“Our research team is developing a new system for ultrasound-mediated stimulation” – commented Leonardo Ricotti, as the Micro-Nano-Bio Systems and Targeted Therapies Lab. scientific coordinator. “Our investigators will perform cartilage regeneration in vitro studies in cooperation with researchers from the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli”.