Andra Păsărin

visiting student (University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania)

Processing and characterisation of bioactive glass based scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

 

Supervisors: Usanee Pantulap, Qaisar Nawaz,  Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Bone defects caused by disease or trauma can be repaired and regenerated, but this is still a significant therapeutic problem. Bioactive glass shows promising properties in the field of bone tissue engineering, especially its use as a scaffold material as it has the capacity to attach to bone and, through the released ions, to modify cellular processes [1]. Despite the characteristics mentioned above, the poor mechanical properties frequently restrict the use for the healing of load-bearing bone deformities [2]. The aim of the project is to synthesise mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles using the sol-gel method and to produce scaffolds using the replica technique. The new scaffolds will be analysed using standard methods (FTIR, XRD, SEM, mechanical properties, bioactivity tests).

[1] Fu, Q., Saiz, E., Rahaman, M. N., & Tomsia, A. P. (2011). Bioactive glass scaffolds for bone tissue engineering: state of the art and future perspectives. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 31(7), 1245–1256.

[2] Chen, Q. Z., Thompson, I. D., & Boccaccini, A. R. (2006). 45S5 Bioglass®-derived glass–ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Biomaterials, 27(11), 2414–2425.