Osteoinductive Nanocomposites for use as Bone Scaffold Materials Useful with 3D Printing
Disciplines
Biomechanical Engineering | Materials Chemistry | Mechanical Engineering | Organic Chemistry | Polymer Chemistry
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Worldwide, over 4.5 million bone tissue reconstructive surgical procedures are performed annually to treat bone defects. Due to bone infections, bone tumors, congenital disabilities, and fracture caused by traumatic injuries in which extensive bone mass is missing, lost, or damaged, there becomes a need to use materials to repair bone. Historically, doctors started repairing bone using brute force methods, for example, fixation using steel rods. Overtime, the materials, and technologies used to repair bone have progressed from using metal and ceramic implants, which completely replace bone to the current field of tissue engineering, which aims to leverage our body’s natural ability to heal and reform bone with the help of a 3D scaffold. Such an evolution is due to extensive research efforts to develop materials and regenerative therapies that lead to regenerative healing resulting in the bone as opposed to the permanent replacement of bone. The goal of this project is to develop materials to meet this need. The development of nanocomposites using calcium carbonate nanorods would be a cost-efficient method to initiate osteoinductivity. Incorporation of rod-shaped nanoparticles will also reinforce the polymer matrices and produce directionally dependent mechanical and barrier properties upon extrusion; these properties are interrelated to the material degradation. The addition of calcium carbonate nanoparticles will increase the melt viscosity of these polyesters. The investigating of these nanocomposites to establish the structure-property relationship will allow for nanocomposite design considering both bone scaffold performance, and fabrication using 3D printing.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
SPCEET - Mechanical Engineering
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
David Veazie
Osteoinductive Nanocomposites for use as Bone Scaffold Materials Useful with 3D Printing
Worldwide, over 4.5 million bone tissue reconstructive surgical procedures are performed annually to treat bone defects. Due to bone infections, bone tumors, congenital disabilities, and fracture caused by traumatic injuries in which extensive bone mass is missing, lost, or damaged, there becomes a need to use materials to repair bone. Historically, doctors started repairing bone using brute force methods, for example, fixation using steel rods. Overtime, the materials, and technologies used to repair bone have progressed from using metal and ceramic implants, which completely replace bone to the current field of tissue engineering, which aims to leverage our body’s natural ability to heal and reform bone with the help of a 3D scaffold. Such an evolution is due to extensive research efforts to develop materials and regenerative therapies that lead to regenerative healing resulting in the bone as opposed to the permanent replacement of bone. The goal of this project is to develop materials to meet this need. The development of nanocomposites using calcium carbonate nanorods would be a cost-efficient method to initiate osteoinductivity. Incorporation of rod-shaped nanoparticles will also reinforce the polymer matrices and produce directionally dependent mechanical and barrier properties upon extrusion; these properties are interrelated to the material degradation. The addition of calcium carbonate nanoparticles will increase the melt viscosity of these polyesters. The investigating of these nanocomposites to establish the structure-property relationship will allow for nanocomposite design considering both bone scaffold performance, and fabrication using 3D printing.