Liline Fermin
PhD student
Project description:
Biomaterials have a range of material properties, which can all influence the bioactivity (stiffness, porosity, topography). In bone regeneration, materials can be classified osteoinductive, which means that a material can induce osteogenesis. The exact mechanisms/pathways of osteoinduction by biomaterials still needs further study. Therefore, during this PhD project, I will be decoupling material properties of different CaP materials, to understand what role the different properties play during induction of osteogenesis.
Furthermore, the focus of my project will be on the immune cells and osteoclasts as they play an important role during the bone healing process, and are often not included in biomaterial validation. By looking at these cells, I want to understand their role in biomaterial-induced osteoinduction, and understand how we can utilize them to improve bone healing.
With all of this information, I hope to be able to design new materials, with optimized properties to guide and induce bone healing.