Med Art Review

Engineering

The novel technology concerns a coating that is applied to bio-medical implants. The coating is being tested as to its viability in promoting cell and culture growth.

The big picture of such technology is that it will allow for improved acceptance of the bio-medical implants into the body, thereby promoting improved societal health.

The experiment used an in-lab procedure that compared three different coatings to determine cell growth, surface cell coverage, and cell roundage. The cell roundage verifies the interaction of the cells with the bio-medical device as well as being a predictor of cell death. The scientists used the same procedures for all three coatings.

One way that the experiment could be improved is by using live subjects (be they animal or human). In that way, the environment in which the coating(s) would be used would be more realistic.

The key results were remarkable in that platinum coatings and UNCD both proved to be much more viable than silicon coatings, and that UNCD seemed to be much less likely to produce cell roundage. Silicon coatings were much more likely to produce roundage, with UNCD and platinum were fairly close in the cell viability, cell growth and cell roundage patterns. Additionally the UNCD coating was three times more viable than platinum and six times more viable than silicon when compared in the nuclear area.

One limitation to the results is that it was a relatively small study and that the results could be biased towards the UNCD coating.

I would create a more comprehensive in-lab testing procedure using additional comparisons and I would attempt to discern how the coatings would work under more optimal circumstances.

One ethical consideration could be that the researchers may have been biased towards the UNCD coatings. Since it is the most recent technology, it would be interesting to discern whether the researchers had a financial interest in the development of UNCD.

A lack the understanding of specifically how the three coatings differ in cost for the consumer. Just because the viability is presumed does not necessarily mean that the new coating is going to be cost effective.

My research shows that all three coatings are relatively close in final cost, therefore if UNCD does accomplish the most viability, the cost would have little impact as compared to either silicon coatings or platinum coatings.