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Developing clinically effective constructs
A research team at the Georgia Institute of Technology uses an approach in which they attempt to mimic the natural process of bone repair by implanting cartilage constructs, created in an incubator, into bone defects.
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U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researcher Robert Guldberg and his team at Georgia Tech are developing clinically effective constructs to replace or restore damaged bone and cartilage. Cartilage is bone's natural scaffold during a process called endochondral ossification, which is responsible for bone development, growth and fracture healing.
Also being developed are biomaterials that use genetically modified cells or bioactive scaffolds to stimulate the repair of defects caused by injury or diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Guldberg and his team hope that ultimately this technology will help lead to future advances in next-generation orthopedic implants.
Guldberg is also investigating the possibility of mechanically stimulating a bone graft repair by applying 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. (Year of image: 2000)
Credit: Photo by Gary Meeks
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