Cambridge-MIT Institute

Improvement of university - industry knowledge exchange; one project focuses also on tissue engineering and biomaterials.

The CMI was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and Cambridge University, UK. Thus it is jointly owned by the two universities. CMI is funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through a grant of £65.1 million over five years from July 2000, and in addition, will raise £16 million from the UK private sector. The CMI is establishing several Knowledge Integration Communities (KICs), each focused on new knowledge and ideas in fields of applied science, engineering or broader technologies. One of these communities is focused on biomaterials.

Sir Nicholas Scheele, Chairman
Phillip Clay Chancellor
Edward F. Crawley
Ann Dowling
Gordon Edge
Mike Gregory
Susan Hockfield
Alison Richard

Gordon Edge, Prof., Chairman
Neil Alford, Prof.
Nick Butler
Edward F. Crawley, Prof.
Dougal Goodman, Dr.
Rachel Green
Mike Gregory, Prof.
Stephen Heal
Jean-Louis Liévin, Dr.
Tony Meggs
Lord Ron Oxburgh
Graeme Reid

77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
USA
Phone: +1-617-253-7732
Fax: +1-617-258-8539

One biotechnology project that is sponsored by the CMI is the Interdisciplinary Research Cluster (IRC) in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. This interdisciplinary team is developing a new kind of bone that will not be rejected by the human body and will be made of a laboratory equivalent of human bone mineral (hydroxyapatite) and other new materials. The team is lead by Professor Lorna Gibson at the MIT (development of biomaterials and scaffolds for orthopaeadic applications) and Professor William Bonfield in Cambridge, UK (bone replacement and biomaterial innovation).