Abstract

The “LUSTRE-IAPP” has emerged from a background of successful bilateral academic and industrial collaborations within the UK and Italian partners, in which the knowledge transfer and training of ERs and ESRs are centred on four key aspects of academic research leading to KT and commercialisation activities. These are in the areas of: a) in the engineering and fabrication of laser glass hosts for surgical dentistry, b) mode-locked laser cavity engineering for laboratory prototype, c) laser system development for dental surface tissue engineering and d) application of laser system in ex-vivo and in vitro scenarios for future in vivo clinical trials. The main goal for the project is to demonstrate applications of mode-locked laser systems in ex vivo and in vitro scenarios, which provides engineering acid erosion resistant enamel on extracted human and bovine tissues. Relevant training activity will provide the necessary safety regulations for implementation of laser systems for ultimate clinical use in the future. For enabling such KT activities, the UK partners have strong evidence for previous KT activities through collaborative training at PhD research, which led to the “proofs-of-concept” and formed the basis for LUSTRE-IAPP.  The flow of knowledge transfer is also geared towards manufacturing within the SME sector via value addition for commercialisation, by accruing benefits for the knowledge generating partners,  long term collaboration, impact on sustainable training, and commercial exploitation opportunities in future for public health impact in the area of oral and dental health. Immediate impact is expected in reducing the spread of acid erosion and tooth loss in the general population. Beyond 10 years the impact of such knowledge transfer should also be seen in other areas of hard and musculoskeletal tissues and regenerative therapies.