The institute is conducting three research projects, three product development projects and one project related to testing cytotoxicity at Sahlgrenska Science Park. IBCT is conducting these projects together with various players in the region for the purpose of benefiting companies and promoting growth in the region.  “We are trying to find synergies. We want to find players who don´t have quite the same objectives for the projects but who nonetheless have enough in common to be interested in collaborative efforts," says Jenny Mossberg. 

She mentions the fact that Göteborg has been a leader in the field of biomaterial for quite some time. “It probably all began with Professor Brånemark´s dental implants. Göteborg is strong in the fields of biomaterial and cell therapy but we have to keep working to remain at the forefront," says Jenny Mossberg. 

There are currently 25 people from different organisations who are taking part in the various projects. “It´s good for the people attending Park Annual to find out that IBCT exists," says Gunilla Bökmark, MD of Sahlgrenska Science Park. IBCT rents space at Sahlgrenska Science Park´s laboratories, where Jenny Mossberg, among others, is conducting part of the research in the projects. “We provide the facilities and security. The companies have to provide expendable materials themselves. This is in everyone´s best interests. The companies must be able to say with certainty when they present their results that they are in control of the way in which their material is handled," says Gunilla Bökmark. 

In October, IBCT will begin sharing the laboratory with one of the other speakers at the meeting, Arvid Carlsson, Professor of Pharmacology. In 2000, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery of dopamine in the brain and he is now moving his research to Sahlgrenska Science Park. The other companies that had the opportunity to introduce themselves at the meeting included Graftcraft, who have mathematically studied conditions in blood vessels and the angle between two blood vessels when they divide for the purpose of creating better synthetic blood vessels. Sara Pellmé, MD of Ortoma, presented the company´s work towards finding a total solution for synthetic spinal discs. A representative of a project that is at a very early stage was also among the list of speakers. “We´re not even a company yet but we will be able to cure kidney cancer," said Ulf Nilsson, who presented the kidney cancer project NC001, which is expected to become a company at the park in 2010.

Source: Biotech Sweden, by Totta Kasemo