The Design and Development of Bone Assist Devices to Aid and Enhance Bone Tissue Regeneration

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The prevalence of osteoporosis is increasing with an ageing population and there is a direct clinical need to tackle the issue of poor bone regeneration associated with the disease that directly affects recovery from fragility fractures. These issues are especially relevant in the treatment of fracture sites located at the outer extremities and radius, and poor repair at these sites can lead to enhanced pain, decreased mobility and a reduction in the quality of life.To address this issue, we propose to develop a biodegradable multilayer electrospun membrane for treatments of bone defects via Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR), which will minimize bacterial infection via the production of an antifouling/antimicrobial layer (AL) and support osteogenesis with the incorporation a surface engineered biologically functional layer (FL).The FL will have tuneable sub-micron defined surface chemistry, topography and stiffness profiles, provided by the growth of bespoke -NH2 presenting polymer brushes onto the underlying electrospun (AL) matrix which will be doped with anti-microbial agents, resulting in an underlying structure that has controllable mechanical and anti-microbial properties. The combination of these layers will result in Bone Aid devices that will elevate the GBR products to directly implantable biologically active degradable synthetic devices that will reduce occurrences of infection and failure due to poor bone formation and subsequent remodelling via enhanced control of the initial biological interactions. These devices can be optimised to function in an array of clinical scenarios.