Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mr.Nagarajan, V.Amutha
NANOSTRUCTURING / NANOCOATING :
Total knee and hip replacements typically last about 15 years until the
components wear down or loosen. For many younger patients, this means a second
surgery to replace the first artificial joint. With approximately 40 percent of the 712,000
total hip and knee replacements in the United States in 2004 performed on younger
patients 45-64 years old, improving the lifetime of the titanium joints and creating a
better connection with the bone becomes extremely important.
Researchers coated clinical-grade titanium with a high density of polymer strands -- akin
to the bristles on a toothbrush. And modified the polymer to create three or five self-
assembled tethered clusters of the engineered fibronectin, which contained the arginine-
glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) sequence to which integrins binds.
To evaluate the in vivo performance of the coated titanium in bone healing, the
researchers drilled two-millimeter circular holes into a rat's tibia bone and pressed tiny
clinical-grade titanium cylinders into the holes. The research team tested coatings that
included individual strands, pairs, three-strand clusters and five-strand clusters of the
engineered fibronectin protein.
The researchers also tested the fixation of the implants by measuring the amount
of force required to pull the implants out of the bone. Implants coated with three- and
five-strand tethered clusters of the engineered fibronectin fragment displayed 250 percent
higher mechanical fixation over the individual strand and pairs coatings and a 400
percent improvement compared to the unmodified polymer coating. The three- and five-
cluster coatings also exhibited a twofold enhancement in pullout strength compared to
uncoated titanium.
TITANIZED SYNTHETICS
Using nanotechnology, we shall develop synthetic materials with a titanium
coating for implants. While titanium has excellent biocompatibility, and is often used for
orthopaedic implants, its use was otherwise limited by its rigidity. Titanized synthetics
have a layer of titanium only 30nm thick – making it not only biocompatible, but also
flexible. The titanium and synthetic material are covalently bonded, so are difficult to
separate, and therefore problems such as tearing or the material degrading are not seen,
which would mean less risk of repeat surgeries being required. The first product to be
made of titanized synthetics was a mesh implant for use in hernia surgery, called
TiMESH Use of TiMESH reduces scarring and post-operative pain, in comparison with
regular plastic meshes, due to the biocompatibility of titanium. Between 2002 and early
2004 more than 70,000 European patients received the TiMESH implant . The product
has also been approved for use in Australia, America, and Canada, with the first
American patients receiving the implant at the beginning of 2004. The company has also
developed titanized suture material (TiGOOD), and breast implants with a titanized
silicone shell (TiBREEZE). Both products have been approved for use in Europe. The
technology could potentially be used in conjunction with other metals and synthetic
material.
ENGINEERED HUMAN CORNEAS
The ‘Cornea Engineering’ project has brought the aim of reconstructing a human
cornea in vitro. Using nanotechnology, the group aims to use recombinant human ECM
to construct a scaffold for the growth of corneal cell types. The project has several aims,
including developing a hemi-cornea (for use in grafting and an alternative to animal
testing), and a complete cornea. This could potentially overcome the shortage of corneas
available for transplant (due to lack of donors and corrective laser surgery making
corneas unusable), and also the risks of transmitting disease from donor to recipient. It
would also cut the number of animals used in testing the toxicity of chemicals in the eye.
The group plan on using human stem cells from the patient. In order to successfully
create a complete cornea however, the group have still to find a stem cell that can be used
for the endothelial cells of the cornea.
These microfabricated needles, which are much smaller than hypodermic needles,
may be used to deliver drugs in a painless and efficient manner. By penetrating through
the outer 10–20 m of skin, microneedles can deliver drugs without activating sensory
nerves of the tissue, thus providing a painless method of delivering drugs. Although the
above examples have been performed using microscale resolution, the current state-of
the- art in top-down nanofabrication approaches can generate features that are less than
100 nm in resolution. Therefore, the fabrication of nanoscale devices using these
approaches is theoretically possible and may be advantageous for specific drug-delivery
applications in which miniaturized nanoscale devices are desired. Interestingly, bottom-
up and top-down approaches have merged to optimize drug-delivery vehicles. For
example, microfabricated approaches have been used to develop microfluidic devices that
mimic the body’s vasculature and can be used to test and optimize the interaction of
targeted nanoparticles with the cells that line the cancer blood vessels. By changing
parameters such as shear stress and geometry of the channel, as well as nanoparticle
properties such as size, and surface properties optimized nanoparticle formulations can be
obtained before performing costly animal and clinical experiments.
CARBON NANOTECHNOLOGY:
Carbon nanotechnology is quickly changing our lives like no other time in
history. One day carbon nano-materials will enable us to live longer more productive
lives through tissue engineering. This will enable us to basically order parts, such as,
kidneys, stomachs, hearts, lungs, and even brains. When ever a body part wears out or
becomes cancerous it will be replaced by tissue that was engineered through carbon
nanotechnology. We will explore some of the amazing things that have already
transgressed concerning tissue engineering, what we can look forward to in the future, if
this is going against god, and when will it be going to far.
One amazing breakthrough announced recently was the engineering of spinal cord
receptor tissue. This is the tissue that is damaged when someone has a spinal cord injury.
It is the tissue that sends the messages from the brain down the spinal cord to give
instructions on movement. It is thought that through carbon nanotechnology this tissue
can be fined tuned and injected into a spinal cord victim’s area of injury. This tissue may
grow and link with the undamaged receptors thus completing the link. With the spinal
cord receptor tissue intact it will be able to transmit the messages from the brain for your
legs to walk. This is all being developed with carbon nano-materials and nanotechnology.
In the future, with carbon based nano-materials and carbon based nanotechnology,
will we have stronger, faster athletes? We be able to tissue engineer hearts and lung that
are bigger? Will this create a super race of humans? One with almost super human power
like being able to run faster and farther, jump higher, and hit a baseball farther than
anyone has ever done. Will athletes be tested for engineered parts, like they are now
being tested for steroids. One can only imagine, but with the use of carbon based
nanotechnology tissue engineering there may be no limits.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
There is a system where the surface contains an enzyme that is safe to handle,
doesn’t appear to lead to resistance, doesn’t leach into the environment, and doesn’t clog
up with cell debris. The MRSA bacteria come in contact with the surface, and they’re
killed.”In tests, 100 percent of MRSA in solution were killed within 20 minutes of
contact with a surface painted with latex paint laced with the coating.
The new coating marries carbon nanotubes with lysostaphin, a naturally occurring
enzyme used by non-pathogenic strains of Staph bacteria to defend against
staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA. The resulting nanotube-enzyme “conjugate”
can be mixed with any number of surface finishes — in tests, it was mixed with ordinary
latex house paint.
Unlike other antimicrobial coatings, it is toxic only to MRSA, does not rely on
antibiotics, and does not leach chemicals into the environment or become clogged over
time. It can be washed repeatedly without losing effectiveness and has a dry storage shelf
life of up to six months.
Other tissue engineering projects now being tested are growing and developing of
lung and heart tissue. One day you may be able to have a heart or lungs grown and stored
at a tissue farm. When you are in need of a transplant because of disease or a car accident
it will be ready for transplant. These tissue engineering farms will rely on carbon nano-
materials for the growth and development of transplants. Carbon nanotechnology will
become an established and growing field in years to come.
Our life expectancy will change drastically with the use of carbon nanotechnology
and tissue engineering. Some people think we may be able to live forever. If you believe
in God, as I do, is this going against him. I do not think so. All throughout the bible
people are said to live hundreds of years, a good example is Methuselah, who lived to be
969 years old. I also do not think it is us that is creating life, God is giving us
exceptionally smart scientists with a drive for knowledge. This knowledge, along with the
application of carbon nanotechnology will hopefully benefit all of mankind.