The University of Galway is coordinating MEDALLOY, a new Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral network funded under Horizon Europe.
Co-ordinated by Dr William Ronan, the network brings together 11 academic, industry and clinical partners across six European countries and will train nine doctoral candidates to develop the next generation of Nitinol, an advanced nickel-titanium alloy used in medical devices such as stents, heart valves and guidewires.
The project aims to improve the performance and durability of these devices through collaboration in materials science, advanced manufacturing and computational modelling.
The objective
Nitinol is an advanced alloy that is widely used and of critical importance in modern medical devices such as stents, heart valves, and guidewires due to its excellent biocompatibility and unique superelasticity and shape memory behaviour. The deployment of Nitinol in these and other devices has revolutionised treatments for widespread conditions such as atherosclerosis and valvular heart disease, directly addressing Europe’s growing burden of cardiovascular disease.
Our research objectives are:
- Develop NiTi-based alloys with superior functional performance and high cycle fatigue life;
- Optimize and refine both conventional and additive manufacturing processes for Nitinol semi-finished and finished components;
- Improve understanding of defect tolerance and improved prediction of fatigue life;
- Create validated predictive modelling frameworks including advanced material models and simulation frameworks that accurately capture the non-linear, anisotropic behaviour of Nitinol materials and devices under complex loading.
Our training objectives are:
- Provide core technical and research-related skills throughout all elements of the Medical Device Value Chain, ie (i) Materials, (ii) Manufacturing and (iii) Applications;
- Deliver advanced technical and research-related skills training to DCs on advanced topics in all core elements of the Medical Device Value Chain through a comprehensive programme of network-wide events;
- Deliver key transferable and interdisciplinary skills and competences to DCs through an extensive programme of network-wide events and local training, to enhance employability in diverse settings;
- Promote strong international mobility of DCs through all DCs moving internationally for 18-month intersectoral secondments and across all five European countries hosting network-wide training events.
The MEDALLOY consortium brings together academic, industrial, and clinical organisations with established expertise in Nitinol materials, medical device development, and biomechanics. It includes three degree-awarding institutions (University of Galway, Politecnico di Milano, and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences) and our industrial partners Admedes, BioActiveMetals, Boston Scientific, CroiValve, and Ingpuls are involved across the Nitinol medical device supply chain from alloy production to finished devices.
Our network is supported by partners who provide clinical, regulatory, ethical, and commercialisation expertise to support the research and training actions. The network is structured to support the MSCA Doctoral Network requirements, with joint supervision across sectors, formal progress-monitoring procedures, and co-ordinated training activities.
Partners contribute laboratory infrastructure, industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities, simulation tools, and clinical facilities relevant to the individual doctoral projects, and participate in shared management, technical committees, and review processes.