FESI–IOM3 2021 Lecture 3

Investigating the structure and properties of scaffolds for soft- and hard-tissue repair

*Please note that the date of this lecture has been moved from March 23, 2021.

Engineering structural integrity brings together the fields of materials science, structural engineering and many other disciplines to analyse whether a structure is fit for purpose. This could be anything that experiences loading during use, from a complex, multi-component structure like a bridge to a single component such as a bolt. FESI is pleased to be collaborating with IoM3 on this suite of lectures which highlight some of the latest developments and demonstrate the importance of structural integrity.

Speaker

Professor Serena Best, University of Cambridge
Serena Best is a Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. She co-directs the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials (along with Professor Ruth Cameron). She has published around 300 journal papers, books and book chapters, she holds 9 patents in the fields of biomaterials and skeletal repair and has played a part in the spin out two companies associated with this work. She was President of IoM3 from Jan 2019–Dec 2020 and has been an active member of IoM3 for over 30 years. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and she is also a Fellow of Federation of Institutions for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (FAIMBE). She was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2017 for services to Biomaterials Engineering.

Subject

The development of biomedical materials to replace human tissues damaged by injury or disease has been of interest for thousands of years. However, over time, the materials of choice have gradually changed from those that simply offer mechanical support to those that interact directly with the biological environment. Focus now ranges from the recruitment and delivery of biological cells to assist in the tissue regeneration to the support and repair of tissues.

With a move from tissue replacement to cell-mediated tissue reconstruction and regeneration, there is increasing need for the design of appropriate biomaterial “scaffolds” and there has been a focus on materials that will assist in the tissue regeneration, but which will then be removed naturally from the body—avoiding the risks associated with a second surgery. Three examples will be considered, covering a range of applications including: calcium phosphates for bone grafting, collagen scaffolds for cell delivery and poly alpha acids for bone-repair and vascular applications. To optimise the tissue response using these scaffolds, it is important to understand the influences on cell behaviour of structure and chemistry, and the balance required between “activity”, degradation and mechanical performance. This talk will cover recent work undertaken to study the structure and properties of scaffolds for a range of clinical applications in soft- and hard tissue repair.