29 we could use in the lab to mimic the physical native environment after implantation to test our constructs in vitro before we would implant them. Examples are the testing of new biomaterials or tissue engineered constructs and their interaction with macrophages, or the testing of the influence of vascularization speed through application of different flow regimes in the device. This new consolidator grant focusses again much more on in silico models but it is centered around osteoarthritis and addresses the entire therapy development pipeline up until in silico clinical trials. In those virtual patients cohorts we will investigate both drug related therapeutic approaches and tissue engineering approaches. Each of them of course will be accompanied with the appropriate in vitro and in vivo models that we have to perform the validation. For the first consolidator, I did not get it the first time I submitted it. One of the panel members during the interview commented on the fact that there was again a lot of in silico modeling In a bone tissue engineering application, questioning the novelty of that grant. Of course it was not the same but it made me aware that the information I had put in the abstract was too generic. There is so much work still to be done in the development of computational models as well as in the development of regenerative strategies for bone and cartilage pathologies. Looking at the grants I obtained, there is a continuum. Some elements stay the same but new pieces of the puzzle get added every time. MG: Can you tell us about the composition of your group now? Also in term of what the background is for the people and how you bridge Leuven and Liège? LG: The team is quite diverse in its composition, we have biomedical engineers and chemical engineers, mathematicians, biomedical scientists, an orthopedic surgeon, dentistry MDs and lab technicians. I think it’s very important to have that variety in the group because that way people get really trained on all the aspects of the interdisciplinary field we are working in. I’m very lucky that I have a very good group that works very well together; that are always willing to help the others out and that understand the added value of the other disciplines for their own personal work. Everybody benefits when we all work together. The work in Leuven and Liège is not split very clearly. The advantage of in silico work is that a lot can be done online. We use Slack (app) a lot within the team - also to avoid mail boxes that are already overflowing. Additionally, some people in Leuven are located in the engineering school and some in the hospital so also there they’re not on the same site. We have regular physical meetings for smaller groups and twice a year we organise a team day to bring everyone together. MG: How big is the group now? LG: I have 15 PhD students and 10 postdocs. There are a bit more people in Leuven at the moment because some personal grants were easier to obtain there. 8 to 10 people are working at the GIGA, the rest is in Leuven. MG: What is your background? LG: My background is mechanical engineering, in mechatronics and products design to be precise. There was no biomedical engineering option when I was studying, so I had to wait until my last year of engineering to choose more bio-oriented courses. However, I had known even from before starting my studies that biomedical engineering was where I wanted to go. I went to Leuven for the “info days” and there were some PhD students giving demo’s of their research in biomechanics. That was when I realized that this was the perfect way for me to combine my interests in the sciences, mathematics and biology. I also realized quite early that I wanted to do a PhD to further move towards biomedical engineering. By the time I graduated my master’s, I was really hooked on the computational part and looked for a topic that allowed me to combine the computational work with an application in biomedicine. MG: What is your opinion about the ERC and its meaning? European research in general first and then what do you think it means for a University like ours. In general, the funding for research in Europe LG: I think ERC is really important in the European lands- «The main field of research of the team is in silico medicine or in silico regenerative medicine. Our main applications are centered around bone and cartilage pathologies and tissue engineering, with a strong focus on the development of enabling technologies in general and in silico enabling technologies in particular» «The team is quite diverse in its composition, we have biomedical engineers and chemical engineers, mathematicians, biomedical scientists, an orthopedic surgeon, dentistry MDs and lab technicians»
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