Predictive Modelling in the Fundamental Science of Medical Ceramics

玻璃和陶瓷材料被广泛应用，从移动设备上的屏幕，到牙医用来修复牙齿的牙冠。最近，玻璃产品被用于修复骨骼和治疗癌症。然而，专门定制和设计可以在不同时间段退化的眼镜的能力，从几周、几个月到几年，一直是自然科学中的一个挑战；尽管克服这一挑战将在工业和生物医学工程中带来巨大的好处。有趣的是，可能提供这些功能的玻璃系统只占全球玻璃研究的不到2%。我们建议纠正这一平衡。我们将研究如何使用以前从未被任何国际机构或期刊报道或编目的独特玻璃成分来调节和预测可降解玻璃的分子结构和物理化学。我们将使用统计设计方法发明新的玻璃和陶瓷系统，然后我们将使用最先进的技术和数学模型来探索它们的分子结构和降解行为，以建立预测模型，向其他研究人员展示如何设计-对特定材料的首选降解率。我们打算通过在材料结构中添加生物重要元素来调节它们的分子结构，从而调节它们的降解行为，从而实现这些可变的降解速率。此外，这种方法还将使我们能够研究从玻璃中释放的元素在降解时是否会触发生理系统自我修复和再生。

Glass and ceramic materials are used in a wide array of applications, from screens on mobile devices, to the crowns used by dentists to repair teeth. More recently glass products have been used to repair bones, and treat cancers. However, the ability to specifically tailor and engineer glasses that can degrade at various time frames, from weeks, to months, to years, has long been a challenge in the natural sciences; even though conquering this challenge would open significant benefits in industrial and biomedical engineering. Interestingly, the glass systems that might provide for these features account for less than 2% of glass research worldwide. We propose to redress the balance. We will examine ways to modulate and predict the molecular architecture and physical chemistry of degradable glasses using unique glass compositions that have never previously been reported, nor catalogued, with any of the international agencies or journals. We will use statistical design methods to invent new glasses and ceramic systems, then we will probe their molecular structure and degradation behavior using state of the art techniques and mathematical modelling to build predictive models that will show other researchers how to design-in' a preferred rate of degradation to a particular material. We intend to achieve these variable rates of degradation by adding biologically important elements into the materials structure to modulate their molecular architecture, and as such, their degradation behavior. In addition, this approach will also enable us to investigate if the elements released from a glass, while degrading, can trigger physiological systems to self repair and regenerate.