Bioactive Nanoengineered Hydrogels for Bone Tissue Engineering: A Growth-Factor-Free Approach

Despite bone's impressive ability to heal after traumatic injuries and fractures, a significant need still exists for developing strategies to promote healing of nonunion defects. To address this issue, we developed collagen-based hydrogels containing two-dimensional nanosilicates. Nanosilicates are ultrathin nanomaterials with a high degree of anisotropy and functionality that results in enhanced surface interactions with biological entities compared to their respective three-dimensional counterparts. The addition of nanosilicates resulted in a 4-fold increase in compressive modulus along with an increase in pore size compared to collagen-based hydrogels. In vitro evaluation indicated that the nanocomposite…

• NI
  National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

  Award: R01 AR066033-01
• DO
  Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

  Award: CBET 1264848