MetaBioMec is a two-year project funded through a Marie Slokdoska Curie individual fellowship (MSCA 2017) awarded to Dr Olga Barrera.

The project is devoted to the thorough understanding of the biomechanics of human menisci with the view of translating the knowledge to the orthopaedic implants arena. This will be achieved through a series of experimental tests and complex theoretical and computational models at different length scales.

There are two Institutions involved in the project. The host institution is the University of Palermo, Italy. The experimental part of the project is conducted at ATeN Center – The Advanced Technologies Network Center – which is one of the few research and development centers in the world able to offer from material synthesis to in vivo testing in the field of biotechnologies applied to human health (http://www.atencenter.com/en/aten-center/). Prof Massimiliano Zingales is a Professor of Solid Mechanics at DICAM and the PI of the Bio-nano mechanics for medical sciences lab and the scientific referent of the project.

The partner institution is the University of Oxford, UK. In particular the activities are based at the Botnar research center, part of the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS). Prof. David Murray is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford, and a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust, Oxford. The secondment at NDORMS will enable the transfer of technology to the clinical arena.