Donation strengthens development of future biomaterials

Age, injury or illness: whatever the cause, the need for treatments that can replace bone and other tissue in the body is rising. Cecilia Persson, professor of materials science, specialising in biomaterials, leads a research group at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Uppsala University whose focus is the development of materials for and through additive manufacturing, often in collaboration with healthcare system and industry.

Here, researchers with different areas of expertise are developing new knowledge and better solutions to clinical problems, involving biomaterials or implant design in the solutions. And now this research into new forms of biomaterials has received a generous and welcome donation to support its future development.

Will make a big difference

“This donation will make a big difference. It will enable time-critical steps to be taken in the process of taking the results from basic research forward towards a potential application,” says Cecilia Persson. “At the moment, this means new metals that we’ve developed using additive manufacturing that could be used in resorbable implants, meaning implants that degrade over time and are replaced with the body’s own tissue. These implants make additional surgeries superfluous, can reduce the risk of infection associated with implants, and can allow bone regeneration in paediatric medicine.”

The donors emphasise that they wanted to make a contribution to research that can make a difference in the future.

“We are privileged to be in a position where we can contribute to research and other areas that we think are important and positive,” the donors say. “For example, we’ve previously supported research into multiple sclerosis and we are very active in the work of the Swedish Burn Care Foundation – a Swedish non-profit organisation aiming to support and improve the treatment of burns and severe wounds in low-income countries.

Support new and promising ideas

This time the donors were inspired by the Vice-Chancellor’s campaign – “Boundless knowledge” – ahead of Uppsala University’s 550th anniversary in 2027. Through their connections with Johan Tysk, Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on External Relations at Uppsala University, Cecilia Persson’s research came to their attention.

“Johan told us about the successes of the research in medical technology at Uppsala University and since we ourselves have a background as researchers in chemistry, materials engineering and medical technology, we settled on supporting Cecilia Persson and her research group’s exciting research. It also has links to the company we previously owned,” the donors add.

The donation may be used freely for the research purposes that Cecilia Persson considers most urgent. But the donors also stress that the funds can be used to support new and promising ideas at an early stage and to enable and finance an initial patent application.

“It's our hope that the donation will lead to the development of something that can be commercialised and for that you need patents,” say the donors. “Cecilia Persson has been involved in starting companies before and that is a positive aspect for us. That she understands the importance of bringing new products to market in a company, thus also benefiting society at large.”

Donations are greatly appreciated

For Uppsala University, this form of donation is greatly appreciated for many reasons.

“Donations have a value as support for important research, and for purposes that do not always fall within the scope of regular research grants. But they also have a value in the form of the personal engagement and interest shown by the donor. I think that means a lot to our researchers,” says Charlotte Platzer Björkman, professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Vice-rector at the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology.

Anna Malmberg