MUltiSectoral Integrative approaches to CArdiac care – MUSICA - is proposed by a team of universities, companies and hospitals from 4 EU countries (Italy, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium). The main scope of MUSICA is to structure a new trans-sectoral and multidisciplinary network capable of developing research and technology with no barriers between academia, industries and clinicians in the cardiac arena, and of shaping young researchers with a novel and truly multidisciplinary mindset, capable of developing clinical- and business-oriented technology including tools for the advancement of base knowledge. MUSICA activity will impact on the field of cardiac surgery in three ways:
i) from a scientific standpoint, new knowledge will be gained regarding the response of tissues to their surgical reshaping, to the implantation of devices and to drugs;
ii) from a technological standpoint, new technologies will be developed to improve the design and generation of new clinical solutions, the clinical training, and image-based diagnosis and prognosis; iii) from an educational standpoint, a new paradigm of PhD track will be implemented, which will combine academic research in the field of biomedical engineering with industrial research activities and with on-the-field activity within clinical infrastructures. This novel PhD track will be accessed by 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) recruited in the project by universities (7) and companies (8).