Biodegradable Materials for Medical Applications II

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-25-2020

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

To mitigate the long-term side effects associated with current corrosion-resistant implants, a new generation of bioabsorbable medical devices is currently being developed and have already been approved in some markets (e.g., Europe). Implants made of biodegradable materials are absorbed and excreted by the body after completing their temporary mechanical, scaffolding, and biointegration functions. Biochemical and mechanical attributes of all classes of materials, including metals, ceramics, and polymers, have been broadly explored by scientific and industrial research and development laboratories for various clinical applications over the last 2 decades. The second (biannual) international symposium Biodegradable Materials for Medical Applications took place during the TMS 2020 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA and addressed the emerging multidisciplinary field of biodegradable materials and implants, involving materials scientists and engineers working with biologists, bioengineers, and medical personnel. The symposium had four oral sessions with 4 keynote presentations, 7 invited talks, and 18 regular presentations, and a poster session with 11 posters. Papers presented covered a broad range of topics related to materials selection, development, processing, and testing, material surface treatments, and modifications, in vitro/in vivo performance assessment, and evaluation of biodegradable-based implants, including vascular, orthopedic, tissue engineering, and other applications, presented by representatives from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, and the USA. Nearly two dozen selected quality papers were submitted for publication into three journals, including JOM (this issue), Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A (to be published in volume 51), and Surface Innovations (to be published in volume 8). Although the papers from the first symposium in this series were not published, last year, the April 2019 issue of JOM (vol. 71, no. 4) offered five papers on characterization of biodegradable medical materials. The papers can be downloaded from the journal website, with the table of contents page for this issue available at: http://link.springer.com/journal/11837/71/4/page/1.

Publication Title

Biodegradable Materials for Medical Applications

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