Sümeyye Isik

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

The advantages of bioactive glasses such as controllable biodegradability, excellent osteoconductivity and bioactivity, and ability to deliver cells makes these materials highly attractive to fabricate scaffold for bone tissue engineering. In this project, 45S5 bioactive glass scaffolds will be fabricated using the foam replica approach [1]. Copper-doped mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNs) based on the SiO2-CaO system will be produced using a micro-emulsion-assisted sol-gel method. Scaffolds will be coated with the MBGNs and a biopolymer binder to impart superior antibacterial activity. Furthermore, the produced MBGNs will be used to fabricate composite (PCL and MBGNs) filaments using a filament extruder. All scaffolds and composite filaments will be characterized in terms of bioactivity, degradation, morphology, and mechanical testing.[1] Chen, Q., Thompson, I. M., & Boccaccini, A. R. (2006). 45S5 Bioglass®-derived glass–ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. 27(11), 2414–2425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2005.11.025