Biomaterials

By definition any biomaterial is any non-living material intended to interact with living systems. This could include hip replacements, knee replacements, and heart valves to name a few. For interactive animations of some prosthetic replacement surgeries see: [].

The Society for Biomaterials can be reached at []. This organization has formally existed since 1974 and has been involved with all aspects of biomaterials since its infancy in 1969.

The Lerner Research Institute at the The Cleveland Clinic in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University has a number of departments researching various uses of biomaterials engineered for injury and stroke recovery in areas of neural response, tissue engineering and wound healing and others. Here are links to some of the cutting edge research they are doing which includes some nice images:

[|Biomedical Devices] This page has information about new devices being developed in the areas of cardiovascular devices as well as renal support devices. These devices are in the stages of clinical and preclinical testing.

[|Biomems and Nanotechnology] Some of the applications of this technology allows for improvement in both diagnosis and therapy as devices are made smaller and less costly. This means that patients recovering from surgery may have devices that monitor vital signs while other patients may have systems that deliver drugs to them. Click here for more on Nanotechnology.

[|Cardiovascular Bioengineering] Among other endeavors, some of the scientists in this department work on engineering tissues for vascular grafts to ensure the successful implantation of cardio prosthetic devices over time.

[|Orthopaedic Biology and Bioengineering] This department focuses on tissue regeneration and repair as well as tissue engineering. The methods used include robotics and mathematical modeling as well as materials testing.

[|Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing] Artificial skin is among the list of materials being studied by this group.