 Biomaterials
Despite the success of surgical implants such as artificial hip and knee
joints, the materials used in these procedures still do not satisfy the
demands of a durable functioning joint.  Current synthetic materials,
such as stain less steel, titanium alloy, polymers, and ceramic
composites, undergo degradation after 10 to 15 years of use.The
common failures of joints are several.Wear and particulate debris are
the most common ones.This research contains two components. The
first component is to study the tribological performance of implant
materials using tribological testing and surface characterization
techniques. The second component is to synthesize new class of
biomaterials combing livecells and conventional biocompatible
materials. Beside cell culture experiments and materials testing, the
interfaces between cells and materials will be investigated along with
the functionality and performance.
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