Development of orthopaedic implants based on an improved model of the mineral - collagen interface in bone

The projects aim is to produce alternating collagen-mineral layers to model in vivo calcified tissue. The deposition of each layer can be carefully controlled using pulsed electrophoretic deposition with a variety of parameters available, including applied voltage, pulse time and pulse width. It is important to mimic natural bone formation on both nano and microscopic scales due to the enhanced cell migration into the material and cell proliferation which enables its use in bone tissue engineering. The analysis of structures produced will use a variety of techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.