Lucideon announces successful development of bioceramics for bone repair

As a partner in the EU-funded Bio-Bone project (Bioceramics for Bone Repair) Lucideon is pleased to announce that the pan-European consortium has successfully developed phosphate-glasses (p-glasses) with biomaterial properties for bone repair. 

Lucideon’s materials and healthcare experts co-ordinated the biodegradation part of the EU project.  Looking to develop innovative biomaterials, the project included a mixture of partners from academia and industry.

Healthcare development scientist, Dr Martin Stefanic, led the research at Lucideon, working on p-glasses and glass polymer composites for bone regeneration. Studies showed that p-glasses which are used for bone implants, do not give the desired cell response, largely due to their fast degradation rate. The team focused on addressing the issue of p-glass stability by doping with various inorganic ions which are known to affect the biological responses to the implants, and developing p-glasses with the appropriate physiochemical properties.

Dr Stefanic, said:

We have been successful in producing novel strontium-doped p-glasses with superior properties, a development which will have a major impact on the next generation of implants. The new p-glasses we developed are now being tested for their biological effect by a cutting edge institution. Our findings have truly opened the door for future applications in bone implants.

Dr Xiang Zhang, principal consultant, healthcare, and Royal Society Industry Fellow, said:

Much of our work focuses on proprietary development of new materials and technologies, but, of course, open innovation and academic and industrial collaboration is also important to enable progress. In view of Lucideon’s expertise in ceramics, healthcare technologies and our extensive analysis capabilities, the project became an obvious venture for us.  It also builds on our current projects such as bioresorbable glass, toughened ceramics and ceramic polymer hybrids, multi-element-substituted hydroxyapatite to enhance bioactivity and inorganic controlled release technologies.

The results have been presented at several workshops and conferences including the ESB Conference 2014 (European Society for Biomaterials). Dr Martin Stefanic’s paper on ‘Synthesis of bioactive β-TCP coatings with tailored physico-chemical properties on zirconia bioceramics’ was published recently in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine.