TECHNICAL TALK

Topic : APATITES FOR BONE REPAIR

Speaker : Serena M. Best.

Department of Materials and Metallurgy,

University of Cambridge

Date/Time : Wednesday, 6 July 2005, 11:30 am.

(Refreshments will be served at the end of the Seminar).

Venue : LT 9, NTU (Level 4, North Spine, near SCE)

Abstract:

Successful bone replacement and bone repair require the process of osseointegration to occur in order to produce a direct bond between the bone and the implant. Most current bone grafting procedures rely on the use of autograft or allograft. However, the most significant problem with both of these types of procedure is their limited. Therefore there is clearly an urgent need for alternative, synthetic sources of bone graft material.

The ideal “synthetic” solution to orthopaedic and maxillofacial problems where bone fixation or defect filling are required might be expected to be based on the use of calcium phosphates similar in composition and stoichiometry to bone mineral. The mineral phase of bone is an inorganic compound similar in composition to hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂ and for some years now this material has been considered to be one of the closest synthetic bone mineral analogues.

We have studied the effect of the addition of a number of different ionic species into the hydroxyapatite structure and investigated the effects of these substitutions on the biological performance of the materials – and hence the biomineralisation that occurs at the bone-implant interface. Biological evaluation of bioactive materials may be performed in a number of different ways providing data ranging from a simple ranking of bioactivity from material to material, through human bone cell response to substrates, to testing in in-vivo or clinical applications. This paper will describe some of our experiences with the development and evaluation of the biological performance of substituted apatites.

About the Speaker

Dr. Best completed her PhD in 1990 and joined the Cookson Group to work at the Cookson Technology Centre in Oxfordshire. The Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Biomedical Materials was established towards the end of 1991 and Dr. Best returned to Queen Mary and Westfield College to run the Bioceramics Research Group in the Department. Areas of particular interest in the Group included the synthesis and characterisation of novel apatite-based ceramics. Dr. Best was presented with  the Jean Leray Award by the European Society for Biomaterials for contributions to the field in 1999. She subsequently joined the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge in the spring of 2000 and heads the bioceramics research in the Department. She has around 100 published papers in the Biomaterials field and has links with research groups and industry around the world.

Admission is free and all are welcome. For enquiries, please contact A/Prof R.V. Ramanujan, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tel: 6790 4342