The Bone Physiopathology and Biomaterials group includes basic and clinical researchers from IdiPAZ. The group has broad experience in clinical and basic research on biomaterials for orthopaedic implants and bone tissue engineering. The principal goal of the group is to improve the clinical outcome of orthopaedic surgery through research on implants and biomaterials used for manufacturing prosthetic devices.
The group is also interested in the study of mechanisms underlying joint diseases and in bone tissue engineering applications, in evaluating scaffolds manufactured by collaborative partners, in developing novel gene therapy strategies aimed to heal bone defects and in the study of the interactions of the immune and skeletal systems. Specific areas of clinical research on implants include follow-up studies on various devices in use for osteoarticular surgery.
The main areas of interest in basic research on the biocompatibility of materials include:
a) understanding the influence of the biomaterial properties on the behaviour of bone-related cells
b) the study of cell responses caused by wear particles
c) the deliberate manipulation of cell responses after exposure to nanoparticles designed for gene delivery and optical hyperthermia applications.
The team is also interested in the development of transcriptional targeting strategies to ensure tight control of the expression of therapeutic proteins and their potential application in inducing an orchestrated expression of growth factors involved in bone healing.