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News
& Ideas
BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
Replacing bone
Two researchers are investigating the potential
use of nanoceramics and nanoceramic/polymer composites as bone
implants.
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“We’re not only looking at mechanical
behavior, but how living cells interact with materials. Cells
interact very differently with nanoscale materials. They react
selectively and in the right way.”
— Richard W. Siegel—
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Rena Bizios, biomedical engineering professor,
and Richard W. Siegel, the Robert W. Hunt Professor of Materials
Science and Engineering, have used alumnina and titania nanoceramics
separately or in nanocomposites with polymers such as polyactic
acid or polymethlyl methacrylate. The goal is to formulate novel
biomaterials with enhanced mechanical properties that are compatible
with cells.
The researchers have found that the nanoceramic
formulations promote selectively enhanced functions of osteoblasts
(bone-forming cells). These functions include cell adhesion, proliferation,
and deposition of calcium-containing minerals, an indication of
new bone formation in a laboratory setting.
“We’re not only looking at mechanical
behavior, but how living cells interact with materials,”
Siegel says. “Cells interact very differently with nanoscale
materials. They react selectively and in the right way.”
CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840,
bourgt@rpi.edu
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