Antoni Tomsia has just been given $4.3 million to create artificial bones. Well actually The Berkeley Lab has received the grant, to develop new biomaterials which, when implanted in the body, will encourage the growth of natural tissue.
‘In the case of implants, stress-shielding inhibits the continuous growth of new cells that keep joints healthy and strong, which, in turn, causes implants to loosen over time and require corrective surgery — a fate that befell 59,000 hip and knee replacements in 2000. Tomsia’s research could greatly reduce the number of these surgeries each year.’