Biomaterial performance can be programmed and predicted

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Biomaterials, in particular biodegradable materials, are increasingly used in medicine. These materials serve on their own as structural support and replacement, and as platforms for drug release, embedding of cells and tissue engineering. Yet, many materials and devices fail in clinical trials because they do not perform as expected from in vitro experiments. There has not been concise means of predicting in vivo performance from in vitro experiments, hampering the development of new materials and assessment of safety, efficacy and applicability of existing materials. "In many experimental studies, mice are euthanized to evaluate material fate and erosion. This process uses large number of animals and yet cannot provide sequential time-lapse measures of the same specimen, results in high variability and only a qualitative measure of erosion," said Natalie Artzi, a Research Scientist working with Elazer Edelman in the Biomedical Engineering Center.