Project Info
Accelerating Human Healing via Titanium Nanostructuring
Terry Lowe | lowe@mines.edu
The goal of this project is to apply nanostructuring to variants of titanium and study how this changes the surface properties to enhance human healing (as in titanium metal bone implants) and also interaction with fluids used during the fabrication of medical devices. We have discovered remarkable increases in healing and surface interactions caused solely by mechanical processing of titanium. Now we want to further understand why.
More Information
Lowe TC and Reiss RA, Understanding the Biological Response of Nanostructured Metals and Alloys, IOP Conf. Series, Mater Sci Eng. 2014; 63: 1-17.
Lowe TC and Valiev RZ, Frontiers for bulk nanostructured metals in biomedical applications, in Biomaterials and Biodevices, 2014, Wiley Scrivener Publisher, 3-52.
Grand Engineering Challenge: Advance health informatics
Student Preparation
Qualifications
Interest in materials processing and characterization of biological materials. Basic materials science laboratory skills are helpful but can be taught.
Time Commitment
20 hours/month
Skills/Techniques Gained
Skill and experience in processing titanium by shear and conducting microscopy and surface energy analyses.
Mentoring Plan
We use a formal mentoring system based on a combination of the UC Davis and Univ. of Michigan models for mentoring. MyTransdisciplinary Nanostructured Materials Research Team members employ multiple mentoring modalities to enhance student research and learning.