Microfluidic fibre extrusion for bone replacement

在大多数情况下，当一个年轻人骨折时，它往往会迅速有效地愈合。随着人们年龄的增长，与他们的骨骼相关的问题也越来越多：-老骨头更容易骨折-关节因磨损而变得疼痛-老年人不那么灵活，因此更容易发生事故，从而导致骨折-年老的骨折比年轻的骨头愈合得慢-由于等待骨头愈合而减少的机动性进一步降低了灵活性.....................在英国，我们的出生率很低，人们的寿命也越来越长。因此，我们的人口正在迅速老龄化，因此上述所有问题都变得更加紧迫。为了解决这些问题，生物材料领域已经取得了很大的进展。然而，理想的解决方案仍然逃避着我们。在自然界中，生命系统通过将有机和无机材料结合在一起，产生骨骼、牙齿和贝壳等矿物结构。工程师们有一些聪明的工具，比如微流体，可以使反应在一分钟内进行。该项目旨在测试微流体是否可以用于生产与矿物相关的有机纤维（就像在《自然》中一样）。然后，矿物纤维复合物可以用作临时支架，促进身体产生新骨，从而形成最终的骨治疗材料。

In most cases, when a young person breaks a bone, it tends to heal quickly and efficiently. As people get older, there are more problems associated with their bones:- Older bones are more prone to fracture- Joints become painful as a result of wear and tear- Older people are less agile and therefore more prone to have an accident that can result in bone breakage - Older broken bones heal more slowly than young bones- The reduced mobility that is associated with waiting for bones to heal, reduces agility further.....................In the UK, we have a low birth rate and people are tending to live longer. Thus, our population is ageing at a rapid rate and so all of the problems outlined above become more pressing.There has been much progress in the field of biomaterials in attempts to produce materials for bone therapies to address some of these problems. However, ideal solutions continue to evade us.In Nature, living systems produce mineral structures like bones, teeth and shells by bringing together organic and inorganic materials. Engineers have clever tools such as microfluidics that enable reactions to be carried out on a minute scale. This project aims to test whether or not microfluidics can be used to produce organic fibres with mineral associated (just like in Nature). The mineral-fibre complex could then be used as a temporary scaffold that would encourage the body to produce new bone, thus forming the ultimate bone therapy material.