A collaborative project in the field of medical engineering between Academy Research Fellow Isaac Afara from the University of Eastern Finland and Professor Achim Kohler from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences has secured a new type of Finnish-Norwegian research funding from the Academy of Finland.
In their project, Afara and Kohler will develop a novel infrared spectroscopy method for real-time monitoring of cartilage tissue growth and for controlling growth parameters during the growth cycle. Their findings can be used to improve functional tissue technology and to produce artificial cartilage for the treatment of joint diseases.
The development of infrared spectroscopy is one of three Finnish-Norwegian engineering projects supported by the Academy of Finland. The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering granted 2 million euros in funding for the Finnish-Norwegian research projects, and funding for Afara’s project amounts to 738,000 euros.
The Academy of Finland and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) announced a pilot call for proposals based on a bilateral agreement on financial cooperation to promote international and high-quality research in the field of engineering. The projects will run for three years.
The financial cooperation is based on researcher-driven international collaboration. In the model, the Academy of Finland and the RCN are mutually committed to financing the work of foreign partners of researchers in their own country. The International Co-Investigator Scheme is expected to bring significant added value to the funded research projects.
The new agreement complements the Academy of Finland’s funding cooperation in the European context.
Source of the press release: Academy of Finland.