Nanoscale Bioceramics in Bone Implants and Protein Delivery
MIT SEMINAR SERIES IN MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTIVITY
Place: Room 33-116 Time: 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Dr. Susmita Bose
Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Washington State University
Synthetic calcium phosphates (CaPs) have been used in orthopedics and dentistry because of their excellent biocompatibility. Most commonly used synthetic CaPs are bioactive hydroxyapatite (HAp, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) and bioresorbable tricalcium phosphate (TCP, Ca3(PO4)2). One of the key scientific issues to mimic the properties of natural bone is their nanoscale microstructures. Nanostructured CaPs can not only improve mechanical properties due to their better sinterability, but also can carry more drugs/proteins to make them more biologically available due to the presence of nanosized receptors in the cell membrane. We have synthesized CaP based nanoscale ceramics using different template systems with controlled size and morphology. Nanoparticles were characterized using BET surface area analyzer, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Doped TCP showed that their resorbability, mechanical and biological properties could be controlled based on the dopants. Microwave sintering of nanoscale CaP compacts showed improvement in mechanical as well as biological properties. In vitro analysis showed excellent human osteoblast (HOB) cell adhesion, growth and differentiation. Immunocytochemistry showed strong alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression, which is a major characteristic marker for osteoblast differentiation. Our study on both nanoscale CaPs and calcium silicates (CS) showed that protein loading and release could be controlled based on synthesis and processing parameters. Nanomanufacturing of these materials is currently being explored using plasma spray system.
This presentation will discuss synthesis and processing of both calcium phosphate and calcium silicate nanoparticles and their use to study human osteoblast cell response and protein release behavior.
About the Speaker
Susmita Bose received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rutgers University (1998). She is an Associate Professor at the Mechanical and Materials Engineering, WSU and currently a Visiting Professor at Harvard. In 2002 and 2004, she received the CAREER and the PECASE awards from the NSF, respectively. In 2006-‘08, she served as an organizing committee member for the US-Chinese Kavli Frontiers in Science Symposium organized by the NAS. Her research interest lies at the interface of chemistry, materials science and engineering with special emphasis towards nano-materials for various applications. She has published over 95 technical articles, and supervised over 20 graduate students and 3 post doctoral associates. Her current research activities are funded by the NIH, NSF, ONR, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the W. M. Keck Foundation.
