Carlos González

Visiting student (University Francisco de Vitoria, Spain)

Fabrication and Characterization of Therapeutic Ion-Doped Bioactive Glass Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

Supervisors: Dr. Qaisar Nawaz, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

This project involves the fabrication of 45S5-based bioactive glass scaffolds using the classical foam replica technique [1], to create a porous trabecular-like structure. Moreover therapeutic ion-doped mesoporous bioactive glass nanparticles (MBGNs) will be synthesized via the sol-gel method. Such MBGNs will be used to design nanostructured coatings for the 3D scaffolds in order to impart antibacterial and osteogenic properties. The scaffolds will be characterized (XRD, SEM, FTIR, bioactivity tests) before and after being coated with MBGNs and the acellular bioactivity will be assessed, in particular the possibility to develope a nanostructured in-situ coating. Finally, the antimicrobial and bioactivity properties of MBGN-coated scaffolds will be determined and compared to that of uncoated ones.

[1] Boccardi, E., Ciraldo, F., & Boccaccini, A.R. (2017). Bioactive glass-ceramic scaffolds: Processing and properties. Mrs Bulletin, 42(3), 226-232. https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2017.28