Luca Cristofolini
EmailUNIBO – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna is considered to be the oldest university in the Western world. Its history is intertwined with that of the great names of science and literature, it is a keystone and a point of reference for European culture. Nearly, 100 000 students are currently enrolled at UNIBO. In the new edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the University of Bologna is among the top 100 universities in the world for 26 subjects.
To date, UNIBO is made up of 31 Departments and 5 Schools (Arts, Humanities, and Cultural Eritage; Economics and Management; Engineering; Medicine; Science) covering almost all sectors of the knowledge. There are also 7 Interdepartmental Research Centres. Over 530 of UNIBO research projects are funded by the EU, more than 230 received national funding and over 440 received regional and local funding. There are 40 active and accredited spin-offs and 14 start-ups.
Role in Metastra
The Biomechanics group at the University of Bologna has been actively innovating for 30 years the approach to musculoskeletal biomechanics. The group uses in silico, ex vivo, and in vivo research methods to investigate how the human body exchanges forces internally and with its environment, particularly in the presence of musculoskeletal pathologies. Activities cover basic research as well as problems of clinical and industrial relevance in orthopaedics. The Biomechanics group have experience of coordination and management of European projects in this field since FP4. Indeed, UNIBO has been collaborating with almost every partner in the METASTRA consortium in the past decade.
UNIBO originally conceived the METASTRA project, in collaboration with the key partners, and will serve as coordinator of the entire METASTRA project. The key scientific role of UNIBO will be on the experimental characterisation of vertebrae affected by metastases, and on the validation of the METASTRA computational models. In addition, the long-standing collaboration between UniBo and IOR is pivotal for the deployment of the AlmaHealthDB data storage and management.
