Multidisciplinary development of an engineered multicomponent platform for patient tailored bone fracture repair interventions.

Several types of bone and muscle diseases result in bone fractures. As the population ages, the NHS cost for treatment of bone fractures is predicted to reach £6bn by 2036. The majority of treatments for recurrent or severe bone fractures involve surgical implantation of bone mass from the patient or a donor, or of other engineered materials. These procedures further increase cost and result in incomplete healing, possible inflammation and infections as well as rejection. The development of innovative biomaterials will overcome these limitations and address currently unmet clinical needs. This project aims to develop a multicomponent device to enable bone healing and provide the structural support needed during the healing process via a modular system that can be tailored to specific patient needs. The system will be based on liquids which gel once injected into the fracture site. These gels will function as a platform for the delivery of nanomaterials (functional materials of nanometric dimensions) to the fracture site in order to:
- reduce occurrence of infection having antibacterial properties;
- favour calcium deposition for quick bone repair;
- provide a platform for the prolonged release of drugs needed for bone growth;
- allow adhesion, migration and division of the cells that form the new bone;
- provide structural support, to allow the patient to conduct a normal life while recovering from the fracture.
The idea is to formulate a multicomponent system that can be assembled in different ways according to the required application. Studies will provide data to support a funding application for animal studies and the development of 3D in silico simulations able to predict performance from composition data with a view to plan future clinical studies.