17th February 2009

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Advanced research at the University of Ulster is leading the way to a new generation of medical implant devices that should radically improve patient health and aid recovery from trauma or degenerative diseases. 

The work aims to achieve progress in one of biomedicine’s most exciting fields - tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM). 

Biological cells are the building blocks that create functional tissues and can be stimulated to create new bone, cartilage, skin, etc.  TERM involves development of processes in which cells from the body are directed by man-made means to produce tissues and organs.  

Brian Meenan, Professor of Biomedical Materials, says medical devices made of metal alloys, polymers and ceramics have served us well for the past 50 years or more. “However, these types of medical implants have limited bio-functionality in their own right, due to the synthetic nature of the materials from which they are fabricated. 

“It makes sense, then, to explore the use of other types of materials to help to create viable biological tissues so as to provide more effective medical therapies. By the fabrication and application of such functional biomaterials, we can provide stimuli to cells that enable them to undergo the processes leading to tissue formation.” 

Researchers at Ulster are developing techniques that can enhance the interaction of cells with the biomaterials used to fabricate medical implants and, so, translate the early promise of regenerative medicine into reality.  

Much of the international research focus in this area at present is on creating biomaterials which, when formed into a three-dimensional construct (a “scaffold”) and seeded with cells, promote the formation of viable tissues which are the same shape as the implant. 

Ulster’s researchers are working at the frontier of human capability in materials research by manipulating properties at the “nano-scale” for TERM applications. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre. Consequently, work at this scale requires extremely specialist resources and associated expertise, of the type available in University’s Nanotechnology and Advance Materials Research Institute (NAMRI). 

The research team has received a huge a vote of confidence via a £1.4 million award to establish a new “Functional Biomaterials” R&D programme at Ulster. This exciting initiative will be undertaken in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Functional Biomaterials at the National University of Ireland, Galway, which is directed by Professor Abhay Pandit. 

The award is part of a £7.7million research package that the Department of Employment and Learning (NI) announced for the University to strengthen cross-border research collaborations in the strategically important areas of intelligent point of care sensors, functional biomaterials, computational neuroscience, nutrition and energy storage. 

The DEL funding is further recognition of the cutting edge quality of a wide range of Ulster research activity. The recent authoritative UK-wide university Research Assessment Exercise found that all the subjects it assessed at Ulster contained research of "international quality".

Professor Meenan, who heads the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Research Group (BTERG) within the NAMRI, says: “The key to the realisation of a new generation of medical devices is the development of biomaterials that are capable of interacting directly and effectively with the body’s biology, unlike the situation with traditional materials, which are generally inert.”  

The BTERG team – to be increased by 11 academic, research and support staff as a result of the DEL award - will initially target development of functional biomaterials for use in areas such as joint replacement, bone grafting and cartilage repair.  

Professor Meenan cautions that transition from research into clinical usage often takes over 10 years but he hopes that significant progress will be seen over the next five years. 

“Almost 20 years ago, scientists and engineers were predicting that major advances in the control of cell-scaffold interactions would provide for tissue-engineered skin, bone, cartilage and for the replacements for major organs such as the liver, kidneys and heart. 

“However, progress in the intervening period has been much slower than had been predicted because the delivery processes that are needed to realise the benefits did not live up to expectation. Our challenge is to both improve today’s materials and also deliver new systems that are designed to interact with the body in specific ways. 

“All of this must, be done in a cost effective way to enable the benefits to reach the patient. Hence the technologies we are developing at Ulster are specifically chosen to reflect this important requirement.” 

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter