NIST and Rutgers researchers have developed a novel, 3-D screening method to analyze interactions between cells and new biomaterials. The method could cut initial search times by more than half, as reported in Advanced Materials. The technique, enables rapid assessment of the biocompatibility and other properties of materials designed for repairing, or rebuilding damaged tissues and organs.
The team demonstrated how to screen cell-and-material interactions in a biologically representative, but systematically altered, 3-D environment. According to a report in Science Daily, “the pivotal step in the experiment was the collaborators’ success in making libraries of miniature porous scaffolds that are bone-like in structure but vary incrementally in chemical composition.” By understanding how such changes in scaffold ingredients influence cell responses, researchers can devise strategies for developing biomaterials optimized for particular therapies and treatments.
Informa Healthcare has published the Encyclopedia of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Second Edition. Edited by Gary E. Wnek and Gary L. Bowlin, the 4-volume reference material emphasizes subjects integral to tissue engineering including bioreactors, scaffolding materials and fabrication, tissue mechanics, cellular interaction, and the development of major tissues and organs.
This week is the 8th World Biomaterials Congress in Amsterdam. Although I won’t be there, I’ll try to report everyday on the announcements from companies in attendance.
First up: Polymer Technology Group will present a talk “Thermoplastic Polycarbonate-Urethane with Surface-Active Alkylammonium Chloride End Groups: Antimicrobial Activity, Bulk and Surface Properties.†Bob Ward discusses the characterization of a polymeric biomaterial with permanently-bonded antimicrobial surface properties. The material is designed to reduce medical device-centered infection.
“The device industry has been challenged to produce polymeric biomaterials with built-in antimicrobial surface properties for reducing device-centered infection. But most approaches to date have used drug-eluting compounds or coatings that are eventually consumed. It is much more desirable to have easily processed biomaterials with good wet-strength and long-term efficacy without leachable additives, drugs or biocides,“ said Ward in a press release.
In related news, PTG was also recently acquired by global life sciences and materials company, Royal DSM N.V. The acquisition is expected to close in quarter 2 of 2008. The price was not released and consists of payment at closing and earn-out. Ward will continue to act as President and CEO after the transaction.
Invibio Biomaterial Solutions, a provider of high-performance biomaterials to the surgical and medical device markets, unveiled its newly expanded and redesigned website, www.invibio.com. The enhanced website is designed to streamline access to material properties and comparisons, medical application information, processing and application guidelines, abstracts and papers, and case studies. It has been developed to provide medical device manufacturers, engineers, designers and healthcare professionals with product-specific information.
Invibio Biomaterial Solutions, a global provider of high-performance implantable biomaterials to the surgical and medical device markets, has entered into a collaboration program with Smith & Nephew for the development of structural bioresorbable polymers.
The firms plan to develop a materials with the performance specifications needed for rigid, load bearing applications typically not achievable by resorbable biomaterial technologies currently on the market.
The development collaboration between Invibio and Smith & Nephew is an initial three year project, and is cofunded by the Technology Strategy Board’s Collaborative Research and Development program, following an open competition. The Technology Strategy Board is an executive body established by the Government of the United Kingdom to drive innovation. It promotes and invests in research, development and the exploitation of science, technology and new ideas for the benefit of business - increasing sustainable economic growth in the UK and improving quality of life. For more information visit www.innovateuk.org.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an article in late April on St. Paul-based Synovis Life Technologies Inc. The company has made a big push recently to establish its dominance in biomaterials. The article talks not only about Synovia’s biomaterials products, but also touches on the company’s move to focus exclusively on this sector.
Richard Kramp, the article explains, was hired by the firm to resuscitate its ailing interventional business, which made components for other medical device firm. A few months ago Synovis sold the intervational side . As author Thomas Lee explains, “Kramp, a veteran executive at ATS Medical and at St. Jude Medical, insists that Synovis has found a winning niche: developing implantable biomaterial that helps the body repair and regenerate damaged soft tissue. Kramp decided that task would be made easier without the interventional business.”
Its hardly new that device suppliers are refocusing their core efforts to provide a key service. It is new however, that biomaterials is getting so big that company’s can bank their futures on the sector. Here, here!
An extracellular-matrix (ECM) tissue-reconstruction material made mostly of collagen from CorMatrix Cardiovascular has received FDA approval for repair of intracardiac structures. The material has been available for several years for pericardial repair in the United States.
According to the company, the implant indications have been expanded to include suture-line reinforcing, buttressing for soft-tissue reapproximation, and repair of cannulation sites and bleeding sites. It can also be used as an intracardiac patch or pledget for tissue repair of structural problems such as septal defects.
The company also said that the pericardial-repair indication has recently received CE Mark approval in Europe, paving the way for marketing the technology there.
Its proprietary ECM material, the company notes, provides a bioscaffold to which the patient’s own cells migrate. As the patient’s cells populate the matrix, they lay down their own collagen, which matures over time to form a functional tissue repair. The implanted ECM material is gradually replaced and resorbed by the body as the patient’s tissue is remodeled.”
The May issue of MD&DI features an article that reviews human extracellular matrix products on the market and discusses the future of the technology.
Medical News Today reports that Medtronic has recalled several of its heparin-coated devices used in heart-bypass surgery. Devices containing the product Carmeda BioActive will be recalled, including blood oxygenators and tubing packs. The coating compound was found to contain oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.
The company says there have been no reports of patients getting sick, and it is unclear whether exposure at levels from the coating is dangerous. But the goal, it says, is to remove all contaminated products from the market.
Medtronic says it also found tainted heparin in a different coating, Trillium. But the device manufacturer says it won’t recall Trillium products because they contain much less heparin than the other coating. Based on the current data, the benefit of using the affected products outweighs potential risk to patients. Because the maximum possible patient exposure to heparin from Trillium is extremely low, customers can continue to use the affected Trillium products until a replacement is available.
This is a precautionary step by Medtronic, but I wonder if the company is not fueling the panic that patients and caregivers already feel. In a previous blog, I spoke with Joel Gorski of NAMSA, who explained that covalent bonding would likely protect heparin-coated implants from presenting a risk, even if the coatings are tainted. Then again, in most cases, heparin can be easily replaced by other coatings. Perhaps Medtronic is simply trying to mitigate where it can.
Should other manufacturers follow suit?
Medical devices that make use of a tissue-engineered scaffold have been cleared to begin human clinical trials. The devices contain of a nonwoven biomaterial that can be absorbed by the human body called BioFelt (from Concordia). According to the polymer company, preclinical applications include cardiovascular tissue regeneration for arteries and heart valves and orthopedic tissue regeneration of cartilage.
The clinical trials however, are for products in the urological and dental implant markets.
A novel 3-D screening method for analyzing interactions between cells and new biomaterials could cut initial search times by more than half, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Rutgers University report in Advanced Materials. The technique enables rapid assessment of the biocompatibility and other properties of materials designed for repairing–or even rebuilding–damaged tissues and organs.
The team demonstrated how to screen cell-material interactions in a biologically representative, but systematically altered, 3-D environment. A key step in the experiment was the researchers’ creating libraries of miniature porous scaffolds that are bone-like in structure but vary incrementally in chemical composition. By understanding the affect of changes in scaffold ingredients to cell responses, researchers can develop biomaterials optimized for particular therapies and treatments.
More on this test system is available from Science Daily.
