Tailoring Cell-Material Interactions for Improving Bone Regeneration

Healing large bone defects remains challenging in orthopedic surgery and is often associated with poor outcomes and complications. A major issue with bioengineered constructs is achieving a continuous interface between host bone and graft to enhance biological processes and mechanical stability. Many efforts have been made in the past decade to develop biomimetic materials that functionally augment the native bone tissue. However, formation of fibrous tissue often occurs at the biomaterial-tissue interface, resulting in osseointegration failure by encapsulation of the graft by fibrotic connective tissue leading to non-union and aseptic loosening. We are developing different strategies to overcome these problems, by combining different scaffold materials with extracellular matrix components and employing specific stem/progenitor cell populations for improving bone regeneration. These materials are then tested in animal models for critical size defects and analyzed with high resolution technologies.