About this Research Topic
Biomaterials greatly contribute to the demand for bone and dental repair for millions of people worldwide who suffer from skeletal diseases, such as tumor resection, trauma, osteoporotic, infection, etc. Since biomaterials for their potential to affect the fate of surgery and modulate the host inflammatory microenvironment, the design of inflammation manipulating implants for tissue repair with minimal post-surgical complications is an urgent clinical need. Adaptive inflammatory response plays an important role in killing pathogenic microorganisms, clearing damaged cells, and promoting tissue repair and regeneration, as tissue repair can be facilitated by harnessing immune responses and recruiting endogenous progenitors. However, excess immune responses will hinder the process of tissue repair and regeneration. Therefore, biomaterial design strategies can be developed to better leverage inflammation responses around the injury site by precisely controlling biophysical and biochemical properties.
In addition, achieving an implant with a bionic structure closed to the bone tissue is considered to favor tissue healing and regeneration. As the field matures, 3D printing technologies have been extensively applied in the treatment of bone defects to reconstruct personalized implants following medical-image-based digital design. The combination of advanced biomaterials and 3D printing technologies can greatly contribute to providing patient-specific, and biofunctional implants by manipulating and simulating multi-material and multifunctional structures closed to nature. Although 3D printing enables the production of on-demand, customized complex designs in implants, the real applications are limited due to the lack of diversity and usability in biomaterials. In this regard, developing novel biomaterials and the corresponding 3D printing technologies to produce customized medical implants is a new opportunity and challenge for expanding applications in bone repair.
This Research Topic aims to cover cutting-edge research in novel biomaterials and 3D printing technologies in bone repair and regeneration. All article types including Original Research, Review, and Perspective articles with related topics will be welcomed, including but not limited to:
1. Design and development of biomaterials mediated osteoimmunomodualtion;
2. Smart, stimuli-responsive, and drug-releasing biomaterials;
3. Biomaterials with the ability to combat implant infections;
4. Design and Development of biomaterials applied to 3D printing technologies;
5. Design, process, and characterization of 3D printed biomaterial.
Keywords: Bone repair, 3D printing, Inflammation, Osteoimmunomodualtion, Biocompatibility
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