PI Dr James Covington	Co-I's This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dr Stefan Bon
Researchers Dr Simon Lee Marina Talib

Project Goal: To develop patient-tailored implant materials that can be used to produce 3 dimensional implants specifically for the needs of the injury and injury site and suitable for both hard and soft tissue regeneration.

Relevance of the Research:  Regenerative medicine using tissue engineering involves the creation of living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissue lost due to age, disease, damage, or congenital defects. This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body where the normal biological response is often inadequate in recreating the original mechanics and/or function of the tissue. Conventional implants do not always restore original function and the majority of patients receiving these implants have to undergo several restorative surgeries in their lifetime since the average lifetime of current implants is only 10 to 15 years. As an example, failure rates of permanent ligament implants (that eventually require further restorative surgery) are between 37% and 47% after 4 years, at a cost of between £5000 and £6000 per operation. Failure is usually due to material failure, inadequate integration or an ill-fitting implant. Therefore, designing the next generation of implantable prostheses with improved clinical efficacy, longer lifetimes and a patient specific fit is a high priority for researchers in the biomaterials field in order to decrease patient discomfort and healthcare costs.

The Approach: The research sought to combine cutting-edge 3D micro-fabrication techniques, based on micro-stereolithography, with a spectrum of novel, functional materials that not only perform a structural role, but promote cell re-growth, possess tuned degradability and where necessary, provide nutrients or therapeutic drugs to the infected area.  The work was focussed on delivering the following key objectives:

Development of bio-degradable/bio-compatible polymers that photo-crosslink;

Tuning 3D manufacturing machine parameters (i.e. light level, exposure time, layer thickness etc.) to allow the formation of 3D objects using the machine. Formation of novel functional materials that contain either nutrients (in terms of sugars) and collagen, both to promote/help cell infiltration into the scaffold

Development of novel coatings, based on thiols, to promote initial cell adhesion and promote cell division;

Formations of ceramic loaded material (such as Calcium Pyro Phosphate);

Evaluation of cell survival

Partner Involvement: The project involved researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Birmingham.   As the work was highly speculative there were no industrial partners involved at the start.  As the research progressed a number of companies including EnvisionTEC and Bits for Bytes became involved.

Research Outputs:

A range of different bio-compatible resins, employing PEG acrylates, with appropriate combinations of photo-initiator and photo-inhibitors that allow 3D structures to be produced.

Surface coating techniques that allow improved cell adhesion.

A library of material fillers (including sugars and nutrients) that can be included within the bio-compatible resin.

3D functional sintered ceramic parts containing HAP, CPP and brushite.

Publications: The research has so far led to 2 refereed journal papers and 2 conference papers.

Notable Impacts:

A bio-compatible resin, suitable for 3D part manufacture, using the commercial EnvisionTEC system.

Novel combinations of the new resin with a range of fillers and coatings.

Snapshots of Science 2010 Picture Competition 2010 – Winner, (Image entitled 'A Quick Cup of Coffee') Simon Leigh and Chris Purssell.

The work on biodegradable/compatible polymer resins for micro-stereolithography led to an 18-month post doctoral grant worth £200,000 from EPSRC’s ‘Bright Ideas’ initiative.

The cell/biomaterial interface work led to a two 3-year post doctoral grants worth £650,000 from BBSRC.

Next Steps: IP protection of the process is currently being sought and in addition to the new funding mentioned under notable impacts, further funding is being sought from BBSRC.  It is anticipated that growing interest from commercial companies will lead to future collaborative research projects.

Interested? For further information and to discuss possible future collaboration please contact Dr James Covington, Co-leader of WEB (Warwick Engineering in Biomedicine), School of Engineering, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL.

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