Here is an interview with Dr. Ubaldo Cella, researcher at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Project Manager of the MeDiTATe project.

The MeDiTATe project is one of the largest Industrial Doctorate Programmes funded by the EU Commission. As Project Manager, what are the key points to keep in mind when dealing with the management of such a large Consortium?

One determining factor is having the support of a team specialized in covering all the aspects that a project like MeDiTATe involves. Our consortium is composed of 12 beneficiaries and 13 partners from eight countries, including Australia. It is a broad Consortium that involves institutions with different backgrounds (academic, industrial, manufacturing, medical) and heterogeneous dynamics both in the administrative procedures and in the scientific focus. The complexities of interacting with so many subjects, and of fulfilling the several requirements that a mobility-based project requires, is clearly a demanding task. Furthermore, the large number of Individual Research Projects, in which 14 Early-Stage Researchers are enrolled, involves a heavy administrative burden. The University of Rome “Tor Vergata” has significant experience in managing all the aspects of big projects such as this one. The coordination of MeDiTATe is based on a structured organization in which a large competent staff from offices focused on international research, privacy policy, recruitment, and legal aspects support the PI and the PM in solving all tasks of the project management. Furthermore, the day-to-day coordination is shared with four partners and members of the steering committee, who are responsible for recruitment, training, communication, scientific dissemination, and ethics protocols. Another crucial factor is the very productive communication channel created by the EU Project Officer. In the last two years we had several complex situations to manage. His support was decisive and always promptly available.

The entire project is based on the collaboration within the members of private and public companies, hospitals and research institutions and universities. How can the Project Manager facilitate the cooperation and the communication amongst these different realities?

The MeDiTATe project is an extraordinary environment in which scientists with very different backgrounds in different disciplines share their competences to pursue a common objective. This is not common in the research world and represents one of the added values of our project. We are doing our best to create a network, organize meetings, develop connections and to stimulate collaboration between the fellows. All the Supervisors are invited to identify common interests and propose further research, expanding the connection to projects other than MeDiTATe. Unfortunately, the pandemic situation has created many obstacles most notably the importance of human contact. To remedy this, we have utilized digital platforms to facilitate the communication but inevitably many opportunities have been lost. Read More

The MeDiTATe project will be participating in the ESB 2022, the 27th Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics. The event will take place from June 26th to 29th in Porto, Portugal. In this occasion several Early Stage Researchers will be presenting the results of their activities. Here’s the complete list of the participants with their work.

ESR 01, Antonio Martinez Pascual: Evaluating the effect of computational domain reduction in ascending aorta simulations.
Novel diagnostic techniques are arising by enhancing the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases with the insight given by simulation. However, it is often difficult to adapt these advances into everyday clinical-routine as data needed to personalize the models is often missing, or incomplete. In this study, the effect of reducing the computational domain for ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) simulations by eliminating the arch and descending sections is assessed. The ultimate goal is to understand the requirements for fast and efficient patient-specific modeling, in order to develop appropriate workflows focused on solving real clinical needs.

ESR 02, Leonardo Geronzi: Calibration of the mechanical boundary conditions of a thoracic aorta model including the heart motion effect. In this study, an accurate patient-specific computational model of the thoracic aorta is presented and a new procedure for optimising the visco-elastic structural supports reproducing the interaction of the aorta with the spine and the soft tissue is proposed. The model allows for the inclusion of the heart motion applied at the level of the annulus and is validated by using the available MRI sequences of the vessel. Read More

Here is a chat with Prof. Marco Evangelos Biancolini, Associate Professor and member of the Scientific board of the Doctorate School at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. He is the Principal Investigator of the MeDiTATe project and the academic supervisor for Early Stage Researchers 1, 9 and 12.

Professor Biancolini, the MeDiTATe project is now in its 2nd year. What are your thoughts at this stage of the project? 

I am writing this answer at 33000ft while traveling toward Trondheim to reach all our ESRs for a training event. Sounds good, isn’t it? Despite the pandemic and all the difficulties faced we are now in a very good position. We are recovering all the missed opportunities to work together in person. All the IRPs are progressing good and the hard time of the lockdown and at home working is, hopefully, ended. Last week we had an internal meeting to arrange the upcoming summer school in Greece. The industrial and scientific program is progressing as expected and we are all enthusiastic to consolidate our MeDiTATe community thanks to the many in person meetings we are finally allowed to do.

Let’s talk about the idea behind MeDiTATe. The project received funding from the EU in the Framework of Horizon 2020 programme, therefore it is clear that the approach that you propose meets the EU’s ambition to exploit scientific research to improve the treatment of the Cardiovascular diseases and patient care. How can the scientific community benefit from your work?

I am proud and happy to lead this project. MeDiTATe originated from an industrial and scientific network already active in the in silico approach and committed toward the creation of Medical Digital Twins. We are a European Industrial Doctorate (EID) and the synergy between industry, academic and health research is a paramount. Our EID nature is not only important for our ESRs that are acquiring top skills and a mindset oriented toward the deployment of what learnt, but also for the high TRL we can reach thanks to the industrial partners involvement that is allowing us to start the transfer of results right now, in the middle of the project. It is worth to emphasize that we have already pending patents. This means that benefits are not only limited to the scientific community but will soon help patients, and this is our major focus. We are not doing here basic research and I believe that one of the major benefit for the scientific community will be in the strong connection we are creating with cohorts of patient data within MeDiTATe and the state of the art and beyond state of the art approach we are setting up in the definition of a Medical Digital Twin. Read More