Funding awarded for exciting new initiative
Print version
King's has been successful in the award of a £10M Wellcome Trust / Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council Medical Engineering Centre (MEC). This funding is to run for a period of five years with the Dental Institute being a significant contributor and beneficiary (£1M) of the research programme in the Centre, led by Professor Rezza Razavi and the Imaging Sciences Division within the College.This exciting new initiative called 'Rebuilding Faces', led by Professor Timothy Watson, Director of Research and Head of the Biomaterials, Biomimetics & Biophotonics (B3) Research Group at the Dental Institute, addresses the fundamental concepts that underlie the biology, engineering and manufacture of tissues concerning the human face. The effect of abnormal growths (neoplasia) and trauma and their clinical management, often leads to profound tissue loss in the head and neck, devastating both the patient and their family. At the Dental Institute, 480 new cases a year are managed with an increase in new cases of 10% p.a. The King's College London based Head & Neck Cancer Unit have five year survival rates of 78% for squamous carcinomas (a form of skin cancer) compared with a UK and US national 5 year survival rate of 55%. The Dental Institute therefore has a growing population of survivors in need of facial reconstruction to restore their quality of life.
Professor Watson commented: 'This funding will underpin tissue engineering and imaging development in the Biomaterials, Biomimetics & Biophotonics (B3) Research Group and will undoubtedly enable us to attract further grant income.'
The Rebuilding Faces project is part of the Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre's drive to translate basic laboratory research into clinical practice. The Wellcome funded Medical Engineering Centre integration across the College will lead to the clinical application of tissue engineered products, manufactured to clinically acceptable standards, to be used for patient benefit. Initial clinical application will be in the UK's biggest centre for the management of H&N cancer cases and trauma.
Posted 10 July 200
Professor Watson commented: 'This funding will underpin tissue engineering and imaging development in the Biomaterials, Biomimetics & Biophotonics (B3) Research Group and will undoubtedly enable us to attract further grant income.'
The Rebuilding Faces project is part of the Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre's drive to translate basic laboratory research into clinical practice. The Wellcome funded Medical Engineering Centre integration across the College will lead to the clinical application of tissue engineered products, manufactured to clinically acceptable standards, to be used for patient benefit. Initial clinical application will be in the UK's biggest centre for the management of H&N cancer cases and trauma.
Posted 10 July 200