Susmita Bose
Washington State University, WA·Biomedical Engineering
Patients who need new bone, or whose joint implants loosen, often depend on grafts or implants that fail to bond fully with living bone. Synthetic replacements usually rely on added growth factors, proteins that stimulate bone growth.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Materials Science
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
bone tissue engineering
bone grafts
calcium phosphate
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Determine how natural medicinal compounds such as curcumin, acemannan and vitamin D3 affect bone-forming activity of 3D-printed porous calcium phosphate and ceramic–polymer scaffolds in cell studies, including the needed doses and release rates.
- Measure new bone and blood vessel growth in animals implanted with doped calcium phosphate scaffolds loaded with natural compounds, to test whether these scaffolds work without growth factors.
- Examine gene expression in bone cells grown on Ti6Al4V titanium alloy coated with doped hydroxyapatite and plant-derived compounds such as gingerol, allicin and carvacrol, to learn how these coatings trigger bone formation.
- Test whether plant-derived compounds released from doped hydroxyapatite coatings improve early bone cell interactions and bone integration, using rat and rabbit thigh-bone implant models.
- Test whether adding an oxide layer between the titanium implant and the hydroxyapatite coating strengthens their bond and extends the coating's lifetime in the body.
More about the research
This work asks whether natural compounds from plants and foods can take on that role instead. The compounds include curcumin from turmeric, acemannan from aloe vera, gingerol from ginger, allicin from garlic and carvacrol from oregano. The aim is to help bone and blood vessels grow into ceramic bone grafts and onto metal implants. Both projects pair these compounds with dopants, small amounts of metal ions such as magnesium, zinc and silicon added to calcium phosphate minerals similar to the mineral in bone.
Why it matters
More than a million joint replacements were performed in the U.S. in 2019, and aseptic loosening remains a leading cause of failure. Coatings and grafts that use natural compounds could help cementless implants stay fixed longer and help patients heal faster, especially in revision surgery. Patient-matched 3D-printed grafts could one day replace bone harvested from the patient in dental and orthopedic repair.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Amit Bandyopadhyay
Washington State University, WA·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how calcium phosphate–reinforced titanium alloy composites form a protective tribofilm that resists combined wear and corrosion, and measure how cells respond to these materials in vitro.
Ibrahim Ozbolat
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether vascular micropuncture, making tiny needle holes in the sagittal sinus vein, speeds vascularization of skull defects in rats, measured with laser Doppler, angiography and immunohistochemistry.
Martha Grady
University of Kentucky, KY·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Identify the dominant parameters that promote strong biofilm adhesion using laser spallation, and establish an Adhesion Index comparing mammalian cell adhesion to biofilm adhesion on implant surfaces.
The school
Washington State University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $403M a year on research, 259 research doctorates a year.
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