Researchers in glass and ceramics continue to search for materials and fabrication techniques that can deliver strong, well-tolerated, customisable and, its hoped, inexpensive scaffolds for bone replacement and regeneration. The end product typically should be something that can serve as a temporary host for normal tissue to form matrices (that support and encourage cell growth, nutrient transport, vascularization, etc) and also can be resorbed by the body in a planned and therapeutic way. Investigators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab recently described some of the joint work its Advanced Light Source facility is doing with researchers at Imperial College London in using a special bioactive glass material - 6P53B - and the "robocasting" processing technique to produce samples that are both highly porous and strong. For more information, please visit: www-als.lbl.gov
