Smart Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering

Response to Francesca

As noted in your article, one of the ways to address the problem relating to the need for organs and tissues for transplant is biomaterials. In his TED talk, Atala (2010) states that the use of smart biomaterials is one of the ways for promoting human regeneration. The demand for smart biomaterials for bone tissue engineering is fueled by the growth in the aging population. The increased demand has resulted in recent advances in and use of smart biomaterials in the field of medicine (Montoya et al., 2021). Over the past few decades, a wide range of smart biomaterials have emerged and are classified into four categories i.e. inert, active, responsive, and autonomous. According to Montoya et al. (2021), inert refers to smart biomaterials with the ability to be simply biocompatible or cause no harm while active biomaterials are those that release at least one-way bioactive therapy. Responsive are those that react or respond to stimuli by releasing certain therapeutic agents while autonomous are biomaterials that adjust their therapeutics or attributes based on biological processes or environmental changes.

Over the past few years, bone tissue engineering has involved the use of smart biomaterials that are stimuli-responsive (Wei et al., 2020). Stimuli-responsive biomaterials promote bone regeneration by responding to triggers and biological processes. In essence, these biomaterials release their therapeutics by responding to biological processes resulting in bone regeneration. Scalable fabrication technologies like three-dimensional printing and powered procedures are processed into stimuli-responsive biomaterials for bone tissue engineering. In addition, extensive research like Calcium Phosphate Cements (CPCs) have undergone advancements since the 1980s to improve biological performance by making them stimuli-responsive. Recent advances in medicine for bone tissue engineering are in line with God’s regenerative power as shown in Ezekiel 37:1-10. God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones and when he did, they came back to life. Therefore, bone tissue engineering through stimuli-responsive biomaterials is a form of God’s regenerative power in an individual’s body through modern medicine.