- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/nanomaterials/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:05:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock researcher studies how nanomaterials can speed healing in bone wounds /news-archive/2018/11/29/nanomaterials-bone-wounds/ Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:05:42 +0000 /news/?p=72840 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock researcher studies how nanomaterials can speed healing in bone wounds]]> Dr. Shawn Bourdo, research assistant professor at the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has received an $85,500 grant from the (NIH) to study how certain nanomaterials may enhance healing in bone wounds. The project, led by Dr. Madhu Dhar at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will investigate the effect that graphene nanomaterials have on bone cell growth. The team hopes that these nanomaterials will be able to stimulate cell growth to promote tissue and bone healing. Based on the results, the researchers will understand the cell-nanomaterial interaction which will provide clues on how to tailor the nanomaterials for increased cellular response. Eventually, this research may have major benefits for individuals who suffer from bone fractures, trauma, and diseases. 鈥淥ne of the most exciting aspects of the work is that preliminary data shows that these materials can stimulate stem cells to grow into bone cells without any external growth factors,鈥 Bourdo said. 鈥淭he work we are undertaking will provide some of the first clues as to how graphene-based materials influence the cellular pathways that lead to bone formation.鈥 Bourdo will be joined in his work by an undergraduate student and Dr. Alexandru Biris, director and chief scientist at the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences. This project will provide new research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at both 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, materials chemistry, and veterinary and human medicine. This project is funded through the NIH鈥檚 Academic Research Enhancement Award program. The goal of this program is to support meritorious research, enhance opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student researchers, and strengthen the research environment of schools that have not been major recipients of NIH support. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15AR070460. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Contributing Editor: Lydia Perry / Office of Research and Sponsored Programs]]> Nanomaterial bone regeneration technology has wide-ranging benefits /news-archive/2017/03/06/nanomaterial-bone-regeneration-technology-university-arkansas-little-rock/ Mon, 06 Mar 2017 17:52:06 +0000 /news/?p=66502 ... Nanomaterial bone regeneration technology has wide-ranging benefits]]> Dr. Alexandru Biris, director of the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences, led the development of this technology, the NuCress scaffold, a temporary, implantable filler for missing bone that encourages healthy bone regeneration and is absorbed into the body. In addition to its unique 3-D structure, the device can be loaded with beneficial drugs, such as antibiotics to fight infection or hormones and stem cells to encourage healing. Biris began developing the device in 2005, initially intending it for regeneration of small sections of bone, such as in the human jaw. He believes the NuCress scaffold will, one day, be an invaluable tool for repairing the kind of irregular, complicated bone gaps often seen in victims of severe trauma from wartime violence, car accidents, and bone disease. For now, the scaffold is making a name for itself in America鈥檚 heartland. More than a decade ago, Biris started collaborating with Dr. David Anderson, a veterinarian, and the pair have been refining and developing the device ever since.
Dr. David Anderson

Dr. David Anderson

Anderson has conducted biomaterials and bone trauma research since 1991 through his work at Kansas State and Ohio State universities. Since 2012, he has been a professor and the head of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. Anderson is an internationally renowned expert in veterinary orthopedic surgery, having given keynote addresses in more than a dozen countries and published extensively on the subject. Anderson鈥檚 position and reputation mean he is occasionally called on to take his skills from the classroom to the community. 鈥淰eterinary teaching hospitals exist for two main purposes. One is to educate vet students, and the other is to serve the community with advanced expertise in technologies,鈥 Anderson said. 鈥淚f the primary veterinarian is not able to fix the problem, they can send it to the tertiary care center at the veterinary teaching hospital, where the equipment and expertise is available to be able to deal with these types of complex problems.鈥 This is exactly what happened in 2010, when he was contacted by a local veterinarian whose patient, a young bull in Kansas, had a serious leg injury likely caused by a misplaced step in a hole. While Anderson and his team were no strangers to complicated animal injuries, this case was unique. 鈥淚t was an open fracture that was very badly contaminated with hair, dirt, manure, and debris. The bone was severely damaged,鈥 Anderson said. Not only was the injury severe, but the stakes were high 鈥 the animal was no ordinary bovine. 鈥淭he bull was an Angus breeding bull selected to add genetic advancement for that herd. This was probably about a $20,000 bull. It would have been a total loss for the owner if the bull was put down.鈥 Initially, Anderson and his team put in an external skeletal fixation system to stabilize the bone, hoping this would be sufficient to heal the bull. The bull, however, was not responding. The complexity and contamination of the wound resulted in a bone break that simply wouldn鈥檛 heal. Infection had set in, conventional methods had been exhausted, and the prize bull was running out of options. 鈥淲e either had to do something dramatic or we would have to euthanize the animal,鈥 Anderson said. Not ready to give up, Anderson turned to his research with Biris. In previous studies, the pair had already shown that their scaffold was effective for delivery of antibiotics. Though this scaffold was smaller in size than what the bull would require, Anderson decided to take a chance. 鈥淚 called Alex 鈥 and I asked if he could make one for this bull to see if we could try to control the infection and stimulate the bone to heal more quickly,鈥 Anderson said. Biris immediately went to work, scaling up the scaffold by almost six times the original prototype鈥檚 size. The scaffold was loaded with antibiotics and implanted by Anderson鈥檚 team inside the bull鈥檚 fractured leg. Then they waited, keeping their expectations low. 鈥淲hen the infection has progressed to that extent, it is actually fairly uncommon to be able to reverse it, and most of these animals with such infections end up being euthanized because they are simply too big to survive with an amputated limb,鈥 Anderson explained. But the bull 鈥 and the scaffold 鈥 defied expectations. Not only did the bone heal, but the infection was stopped in its tracks and completely reversed. These results, Anderson asserts, were astounding. The bull returned to full function in his herd in a relatively short amount of time at a fraction of the cost to the rancher that replacement would have involved. While this experience was not the first evidence of the scaffold鈥檚 usefulness, it reinforced its potential value. 鈥淭here is no question that this is a product that has real merit,鈥 Anderson said. 鈥淚t can change the way we do therapy and can really improve outcomes for patients.鈥 Today, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock has patented the scaffold technology, and Biris, Anderson and their team received about $6聽million from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop it further. The researchers hope to bring the NuCress scaffold to clinical trial in the next few years, but they鈥檒l always remember their first successful patient 鈥 a prize bull from a ranch in the heartland. Pictured in the upper right:聽Dr. Alexandru Biris. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Communications]]>