Special Issue "Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini
Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; Visiting Professor, Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK
Website: http://www.biomat.techfak.uni-erlangen.de
E-Mail: aldo.boccaccini@ww.uni-erlangen.de
Phone: +44 207 594 6731
Fax: +44 207 594 6757
Interests: biomaterials; porous materials; scaffolds; tissue engineering; bioactive glasses; composite materials; waste recycling; carbon nanotubes; electrophoretic deposition; vascularization; bioceramics; biofabrication; bioactive coatings; drug delivery

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Showan N. Nazhat
Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
E-Mail: showan.nazhat@mcgill.ca

Dear Colleagues,

New generation biomaterials should be able to stimulate specific cellular responses at the molecular level, moving from the concept of inertness to one of bioactivity, e.g. positive interaction at the biomaterial-tissue interface. In many cases the body needs only the temporary presence of a device or implant, in which case fully or partially biodegradable materials are better alternatives than biostable materials. The ideal biodegradable material – polymer, ceramic, metal or composite - should be biocompatible, provide adequate initial mechanical fixation, controllably degradable, and should ultimately be replaced by the regenerated tissue.

A wide range of biodegradable materials is being continuously investigated for biomedical applications, which include traditional and advanced biodegradable polymers, bioceramics and composites as well as a small group of metals and alloys based on magnesium.

Typical applications and research areas of biodegradable polymers include surgery sutures, wound dressing, antibacterial coatings, fixation devices, tissue engineering scaffolds as well as drug and cell delivery platforms. Current research focuses also on the development of biodegradable composites combining synthetic or natural biodegradable polymers and bioactive inorganic fillers, e.g. bioactive glasses and calcium phosphate ceramics, which mimic the structural characteristics of the natural extracellular matrix. Magnesium alloys are promising candidates for several structural biomedical applications due to their degradation ability combined with appropriate mechanical properties as well as good biocompatibility and are being proposed as cardiovascular stents, bone fixation devices and porous bone repair materials.

The present combined special issue in IJMS/Materials will include papers authored by researchers around the world reporting on cutting-edge results in the broad field of biodegradable materials for biomedical applications.

Prof. S. N. Nazhat
Prof. A. R. Boccaccini
Guest Editors

Related Special Issue

Biodegradability of Materials 2011 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Submission

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• biodegradable polymers
• magnesium alloys
• bioactive glasses
• calcium phosphates
• composites
• tissue engineering
• drug delivery
• sutures
• wound dressing
• coatings
• degradable stents