Expanding Frontiers in Biomaterials
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Expanding Frontiers in Biomaterials
Samuel I. Stupp, Jack J.J.M. Donners, Liang-shi Li, and Alvaro Mata Abstract This article celebrating Arthur von Hippel’s career considers the expanding frontiers in the field of biomaterials, a subject that intrigued him given his interests in the molecular engineering of materials. The interface of materials science and biology started to develop decades ago when synthetic materials were first used to repair parts of the human body. An exciting transformation is now occurring in the field, as advances in biology are used to engineer bioactive materials at the molecular level. The transformation is going further to other frontiers that include the use of sophisticated materials to obtain biological information and learn biology, the creation of materials that imitate biological microstructures and functions, and the manipulation of organisms to create artificial materials. Keywords: Arthur von Hippel, bioactive materials, biomaterials, biomimetics.
Introduction Science historians will identify the turn of this century as a time when most scientists became intrigued by the ingenuity and complexity of biology. In our time, some scientists have the ambition to understand biology from the molecular to the systems level, while others hope to mimic, control, or modify biological systems to develop things that are useful to society. In this same period, the field of materials and its close ally, nanoscience, occupy a center-stage position that is no longer just the traditional domain of materials science, but one that has expanded to chemistry, physics, and all areas of engineering. This makes the field of biomaterials one of the most exciting scientific challenges today. Arthur von Hippel, whose life is celebrated in this issue of MRS Bulletin, was a pioneer who decades ago had the vision to advocate all of these key scientific transformations. The Laboratory for Insulation Research, which he founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1937, planted the seeds of molecular engineering of materials, a strategy that makes synthetic chemistry today an important dimension of materials science. Biology is, of course, the ultimate expression of molecular engineering, and von Hippel extended his vision by raising questions on
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how nature proceeds with molecular design to create living systems. In the later stages of his career, his interests in living matter were wisely expressed through research on the structure and properties of water, which he saw as critical to our understanding of biological structures. As a testimony of von Hippel’s vision, his last publication was titled From Atoms toward Living Systems, published in 1979.1 Honoring von Hippel’s foresight, we gaze in this article at the many faces of the expanding and highly inspiring field of biomaterials.
The Genesis of Biomaterials The scope of biomaterials has traditionally consisted of using materials in medicine and dentistry with the purpose of restoring the structure and/or function of tissues and organs. In
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