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Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, Phase II

Project/agreement No.
857287
Project funding
14 999 869.50 EUR
Project manager
Project realization
01.01.2020. - 31.12.2026.

Aim

BBCE project's main objective is to establish a joint Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence for advanced biomaterials development based on the long-term strategic cooperation between AO Research Institute Davos, Switzerland (ARI) and Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (FAU) on the one hand and RTU RBIDC, LIOS and RSU on the other hand.

Description

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) is the leading academic and research institution in the field of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, rehabilitation, and nursing sciences in Latvia. RSU is ranked by QS among top 1000 universities in the world, with the highest rating in international student ratio and academic reputation. The University has close affiliation with leading hospitals in Latvia and experience in EU FP7, Horizon 2020, COST, ERA-NET, Interreg and national research projects. RSU uses a modern quality improvement approach to ensure high study and research quality. In 2017, the quality management system of the University was recertified in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 and received ISO 50001 certificate to comply with the energy management system international standard.

Currently, RSU Faculty of Pharmacy is running a project to set up a new Finished Dosage Form R&D Laboratory (FDF Lab) to promote research in pharmaceutical sciences. It is planned that the Lab will be set up in 2022 and it will gradually expand its research area from oral solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules, granules) to biomaterials to explore kinetics (drug releasing profile) and stability of drug delivery systems. The FDF Lab will use its analytical capacity and infrastructure for dissolution testing, spectroscopy, chromatography, mass spectrometry, and microscopy among other techniques. The Lab will be also involved in material characterization, processing, and quality control of the finished products.

NEWS and EVENTS

Project Kick-off meeting

Inauguration of the Project to Create the Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence - 29.01.2020

Recruitment of scientific staff in RSU for BBCE project

Job Offer: Group Leader in BBCE Project

Visits
  • Agnese Brangule, leading researcher at RSU, visited the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen (Germany) from 25 to 27 October 2021. During her visit, she discussed the planned visits by doctoral and postdoctoral students involved in the BBCE project, the tasks of the visits as well as possibilities for cooperation in electrospinning and bioactive glass research.
  • From 22 to 28 November 2021: a short-term visit to the AO Research Institute Davos (Switzerland). The following topics were discussed during the visit:
    • Controlled release technology: delivery systems for pharmaceuticals and other agents;
    • Drug delivery systems: global technical, regulatory and quality challenges;
    • Advanced drug delivery & drug targeting.

Participants: Riga Technical University (RTU) and RSU
Read more about the visit

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Conferences
DateTitleScientific OutputParticipant
22 March 2021RSU International Student ConferenceAbstract sand oral presentationStudents from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy: Ņikita Blohins
Sanda Namiķe
Elīna Grandāne
25 March 2021RSU Conference Knowledge for Use in Practice 2021Moderators of the 1st section: Agnese Brangule and Ģirts Šalms;
Abstract and oral presentation
Agnese Brangule
24–26 March 2021ANNIC 2021 (Applied Nanotechnology and Nanoscience International Conference)Abstract and presentation “Influence of cationic substitution on antibacterial activity of nanosised calcium phosphate”Agnese Brangule
5–7 May 2021Biosystems Engineering 21Abstract and submitted publication "Potential of Multivariate analyses of X-Ray fluorescence spectra for characterisation of the microchemical composition of plant materials" – Agnese Brangule, Māris Bērtiņš, Artūrs Vīksna and Dace BandereAgnese Brangule
5–9 September 2021Conference "31st Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials ESB 2021"Design of Experiments (DoE) an effective approach in the synthesis and analysis of doped calcium phosphatesAgnese Brangule
23–27 August 2021ADVANCED MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES 2021 23rd International Conference – School

FTIR Spectroscopy: a promising method in the characterization of calcium phosphates

Agnese Brangule
Publications

2021

  • Kļaviņa, A., Keidāne D., Šukele R., Bandere D. and Kovaļčuka L.. "Traditional Latvian herbal medicinal plants used to treat parasite infections of small ruminants: A review." Veterinary World 14, (6), 1548 - 155817, 2021.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1548-1558
  • Gavrilova , A., Bandere , D., Logviss , K., Šmits , D. & Urtāne , I. "Adherence Level to Arterial Hypertension Treatment: A Cross-Sectional Patient Survey and Retrospective Analysis of the NHS Prescription Database", Healthcare, 9, (8), 1085. 2021.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9081085
  • Kivrane, A., Grinberga S., Sevostjanovs E., Igumnova V., Pole I., Viksna A., Bandere D., Krams A., Cirule A., Pugovics O., Ranka R., "LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantification of the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs and six primary metabolites in patient plasma: Implications for therapeutic drug monitoring", Journal of Chromatography B, 1185, 2021.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2021.122986
Projects

6 scientific projects were submitted in 2021:

TitleFinancingSubmitterPartners
Novel oxidized silk fibroin/doped calcium phosphate (OxSF-dCaP) composite materials for bone tissue engineering (NanoBoneSilk)Latvia, Lithuania, TaiwanRSUVilnius University, Taipei Medical University
Fingerprinting of traditional Baltic and Chinese herbal medicine by innovative analytic and chemometric methods (HerbPrint)Latvia, Lithuania, TaiwanRSUVilnius University, Taipei Medical University
High hydrostatic pressure /Radiation sterilisation: advanced processing method for future implantable gel-like biomaterials (SafeGel)Fundamentālo un lietišķo pētījumu projekti (FLPP)RSU 
Herbal Medicine Chemical Fingerprints: Tool for Solutions (HerbPrint)FLPPRSUUniversity of Latvia (LU)
Application of Artificial Intelligence/Machine learning algorithm for the design of medicated calcium phosphate composite material with enhanced properties (BoneSilk)FLPPLURSU
Dissolution modelling for enhanced drug delivery systems (ModelDrug)FLPPRSURiga Technical University (RTU)
Student papers

To be updated.

Reports of scientific focus groups

To be updated.

Publicity Events

BIO-GO-Higher 

BIO-GO-Higher is a knowledge competition for schoolchildren with the aim of raising 10th and 11th graders' knowledge of engineering, natural sciences and of the use of various implant materials in medicine, providing a quality self-education model.

More about the competition (in Latvian)

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2020

  • The 2020/2021 BIO-GO-Higher consisted of four rounds that took place off-site. The tasks in each round were prepared by one of the Latvian BBCE partners.
  • The 2nd round of the competition, Chemistry, was organised by the RSU Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Bauska GOLD won the second round.

2021

  • The 2021/2022 BIO-GO-Higher consists of five rounds that take place off-site (a selection round and four themed rounds) with tasks prepared by Latvian BBCE partners.
  • The 1st round of the competition, Chemistry, was organised by the RSU Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The winners of the first round were three teams from Sigulda State Gymnasium: Skābais komunistiskais atoms, Einšteina kvass, Lāča bērni.

The 2021/2022 BIO-GO-Higher Knowledge Competition in chemistry was supported by:

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Research Breakfast

RSU Resarch Breakfast took place on 7 October 2021 on Zoom. The topic of the event was "The strategic positioning of Latvian science. Showcasing the results of the National Research Agenda." Agnese Brangule, the lead researcher of the BBCE project, participated with the presentation "RSU and the Baltic Biomaterials Centre - current and future opportunities".


European Researchers' Night

European Researchers' Night took place online on 30 April 2021. The aim of the event is to invite the general public into Latvian universities, scientific institutes and research centres virtually in order to introduce them to the scientific achievements and the work researchers are doing. 

Dr Agnese Brangule, leading researcher at the RSU Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and scientists from the Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence participated with a demonstration Spīdolas implanti jeb četri mājās atkārtojami luminiscējoši eksperimenti (Spīdola’s implants – four glow-in-the-dark experiments you can do at home).

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