| A Material World: | |
| Biomaterials | |
Georgia Tech researchers are developing clinically effective constructs for the replacement or restoration of damaged bone and cartilage. A tissue-engineered construct is a combination of living cells and porous biomaterial that form a living matrix for transplantation.
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Researchers are also developing biomaterials that use genetically modified cells or bioactive scaffolds to stimulate repair of defects caused by injury or diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Ultimately, these researchers hope to advance the core technologies that will enable development of the next generation of orthopedic implants.
Mechanical and biomedical engineer Dr. Robert Guldberg is developing three-dimensional, implantable constructs to enhance the repair and regeneration of bone within an organism. One approach attempts to mimic the natural process of bone repair by implanting cartilage constructs created in an incubator into bone defects. Cartilage is bone's natural scaffold during a process called endochondral ossification, which is responsible for bone development, growth and fracture healing.
Guldberg is also studying the possibility of mechanically stimulating bone graft repair with the application of controlled, intermittent force using an in vivo hydraulic bone chamber system.
Understanding how mechanics influences the repair of tissue-engineered constructs would provide microstructural design objectives for manufacturing effective biomaterial scaffolds.
Other bioengineering research is taking a rational approach that involves the application of basic fundamental principles to designing biomaterials very close in nature to actual tissue. Chemical engineer Dr. Pete Ludovice combines experimentation with molecular modeling in a synergistic fashion. The model provides insight into optimizing a material, and the experiment must validate the model. If the model is not quite right, researchers feed information from the experiment back into the model and try again.
Using the rational design approach, Ludovice and Emory University colleague Dr. Elliot Chaikof conducted research that produced material
surfaces that closely mimic the lipid bilayer of a cell membrane. They also filed a patent on a new type of vascular graft. But there are still issues to solve, and Ludovice is working on making the membrane more "biomimetic," meaning it would function more like natural tissue.
Specifically, he is adding proteins called Magainins to create pores that control active transport through the membrane. Simulations and experiments show the pores shut down after a few minutes, and Ludovice is now trying to answer the fundamental question of how to stabilize the pore.
Applications of this work include enhancement of transdermal drug delivery and the use of Magainins as antibacterial agents. Ludovice and Georgia Tech colleague Dr. Mark Prausnitz are studying transdermal drug delivery with a technique called electro-poration in combination with Magainins. Magainins may serve to take the electro-poration process below the human pain threshold.
— Jane M. Sanders
For more information, contact:
(1) Dr. Robert Guldberg, School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405. (Telephone: 404-894-6589) (E-mail:
robert.guldberg@me.gatech.edu);
(2) Dr. Pete Ludovice, School of Chemical Engineering, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0100. (Telephone: 404-894-1835) (E-mail:
pete.ludovice@che.gatech.edu)
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