Arthur Martins Gabriel

Visiting PhD student (Federal University of São Carlos, UFSCar, Brazil)

Development of thermosensitive polymers and bioactive glass nanocomposites for bone tissue regeneration

 

Supervisor in Brazil: Prof. Dr. Emerson Rodrigues de Camargo (Department of Chemistry, UFSCar)
Supervisor in Erlangen: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Approximately 190 million new bone fractures occur worldwide every year. Although bones have inherent self-healing capabilities, these can be limited, leading to poor regeneration and impaired healing processes. Conventional treatment methods face challenges such as limited regenerative capacity, limitations in auto transplantation, and biocompatibility issues. To address these issues, natural and synthetic biomaterials are being explored in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Polymeric nanocomposites with bioactive glass nanoparticles improve integration by promoting cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) nanoparticles can work as drug delivery system and offer properties like biocompatibility, interaction with osteoblasts and mesenchymal stem cells in addition to antibacterial activity. In the other hand, mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles can offer osteogenic activity, biocompatibility as well as bioactivity [1]. The combination of these materials can lead to nanomaterials with optimized tissue regeneration capacity and controlled drug release. This project is in collaboration with the group of Prof. Emerson Rodrigues de Camargo (Department of Chemistry, UFSCar).

[1] Z. Neščáková, et al., Multifunctional zinc ion doped sol–gel derived mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles for biomedical applications, Bioactive Materials 4 (2019) 312-321.