Bioceramic Fabrication System

There is a need to produce polymer/ceramic materials and customized components that are porous, biocompatible, resorbable, and usable as bone substitutes for patients with bone defects as a result of trauma, oncologic surgery, and congenital disorders. Reconstruction requires development of implantable bone substitutes because present substitutes don't behave physiologically or mechanically like true bone. Research for promoting bone tissue growth at the University of Michigan, with scaffold features fabricated of hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics, shows great promise for bone reconstruction. The proposed Orthopaedic Model Maker (OMM) research will overcome shortcomings of resolution experienced with prior stereolithography methods, by offering finer resolution ink-jets to fabricate scaffolding structures with resolution of 200 to 400 microns. The proposed higher resolution piezo-jets will accommodate a formulated HA ceramic for direct deposition of scaffold features with a concurrently deposited sacrificial material used to define the periphery spacing between scaffold structures. The bio-ceramic scaffold structure will be further tested in vitro to promote bone tissue growth. Phase I will focus on developing a piezo-jet resolution of 30 microns as compared to the current 70 micron state of the art. Formulation of HA material will be conducted and test samples fabricated and tested. Phase II will focus on system and material refinement, in vitro testing and OMM demonstration.