Automatically grow bones?

Inspired by skeletal bone growth, researchers at Linköping University in Sweden and Okayama University in Japan have developed a combination of materials that can deform into various shapes before hardening

When we are born, we have gaps in our skulls, and these gaps are covered by soft connective tissue called fontanelles

"We want to apply this to materials that need to have different properties at different points in time

The idea came about during a research visit by materials scientist Edwin Jager in Japan, when he met Hiroshi Kamioka and Emilio Hara, who work on bone research

In their subsequent study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers constructed a simple "microrobot" that can take on different shapes and change stiffness

One potential application of interest to researchers is bone healing

By patterning them in the gel, the researchers could determine how the simple microrobot would bend when a voltage was applied

"By controlling how the material turns, we can make the micro-robots move in different ways and also affect how the material unfolds in the fracture

To learn more about the biocompatibility of this material combination, the researchers are now further investigating how its properties work with living cells

Magazine

Advanced Materials

DOI

10.