The report was carried out by the JRC’s Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Seville, Spain, one out of the seven JRC research institutes established in five EU member states.
Handed to journalists from all the EU accession and candidate countries during a visit to the JRC’s research quarters in Ispra, situated just outside Milan, the report indicates that tissue engineering is an emerging, multidisciplinary, biotechnology sector which promises to change medical practice profoundly.
The development of this novel biotechnology is connected to new treatment possibilities, a better patient quality of life and to gradually overcome the constant shortage of donor organs for transplantation.
During the launch of this report earlier this year, the Commission’s research commissioner Philippe Busquin said the world of tissue engineering research is rapidly approaching applications that will make a big difference for a broad range of patients.
Tissue engineered products according to researchers do improve the quality of life through potentially faster and better healing of wounds and less need for repeated surgery.
Tissue-engineered products open up a new way of treating disease, but the hope is that they deliver superior treatments, improving the speed, extent and duration of healing compared to conventional treatments.
Meanwhile European scientists still hope to achieve their distant goal – that of using tissue engineering to construct in-vitro human organs. This would overcome the scarcity of donor organs and improve disease treatment (urinary bladder, kidney, heart, liver and pancreas).
JRC is the EU’s centre for research in science and technology, with an annual budget of over E300 million. There are around 2,200 persons employed by JRC across their seven specialised institutes which cover a wide range of topics within three core areas: environment and sustainability, food, chemical products and health, and nuclear safety and security. These areas are reinforced by three horizontal competencies: reference material and measurements, public security and antifraud and technological foresight.
JRC supports the efforts of acceding and candidate countries to acquire the scientific and technological know-how needed to implement and further develop the body of EU law.
Its mission is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU politics.
JRC was also the first research centre in Europe to demonstrate boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for targeting difficult cancers.
The cancer therapy research was carried out by the JRC’s Institute for Energy in Petten, the Netherlands. Following this research five European centres now offer the BNCT therapy.
Addressing journalists from the acceding countries to the EU on 1 May, David Wilkinson, the director of science strategy at the JRC in Ispra, said Malta, and all other acceding countries will automatically be able to fully benefit and participate in the JRC projects as full members after accession.
Ms Lisa Pace, a scientist from the Malta Council for Science and Technology is the JRC’s contact person in Malta.
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