Publisher's Synopsis
The continual growth and increasing sophistication of biomaterials industries has been driven in large part by advances in the basic sciences of the materials involved. Indeed, advances in understanding biological systems at the molecular level have quickly been exploited by materials scientists to develop more sophisticated approaches to therapeutics and diagnostics. The interdisciplinarity and breadth of the biomaterials field necessitates the close co-operation of scientists in many different fields, including materials science, chemistry, biology, engineering and medicine. This book, first published in 1999, brings together researchers in many of these converging fields to report on advances and to stimulate further discussion and research in these vital areas of discovery and development. Topics include: polymeric drugs and delivery; musculoskeletal tissue engineering; scaffolds and cell seeding - fabrication and characterization techniques; biological cues and organic/inorganic hybrids; novel materials, porous structure and tissue engineering; and orthopaedic bearing surfaces and novel coatings.
