Overview

The KU-BERC serves as a catalyst for interdisciplinary investigations focused on: 1) the design, synthesis and characterization of novel biomaterials both synthetic and tissue-engineered;2) development of clinical imaging devices and technologies; 3) biosensor and biomarker development and application; 4) medical biophysics and multi-scale bioimaging with various forms of energy, e.g. light, sound, and so forth; 5) multi-scale computational modeling; 6) biomechanics of motion and neural engineering, and 7) the manipulation of molecules to facilitate the next generation of nanotechnologies and the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents.  The focus areas include: early diagnosis of disease, especially various types of cancer; device development for management of major orthopedic injuries; tissue repair and replacement for both soft and mineralized tissues; device and technology development for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular complications, stroke or traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries and material, device and technologydevelopment for diseases of the oral and craniofacial system.  The efforts within these focus areas are integrated with strengths in bioinformatics, pharmaceutical sciences, biological, physical and chemical sciences; these fields of investigation are offered as examples of the collaborative, multi-disciplinary research that are promoted within this Center.

The overlying rationale for the Bioengineering Research Center is that this cross-cutting program cannot be housed in a single school.  The Center builds upon the strengths of the participating academic units and institutions while extending them in entirely new directions.  The KU-BERC represents an approach that allows us to blend team science with independent investigator laboratories.  The Center brings together under one umbrella a synergistic team of material scientists, clinical scientists, engineers from the diverse classical disciplines, pharmaceutical, life and physical scientists, and computer scientists.

 The partnerships that have been forged as part of the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Initiative provide an opportunity to markedly increase biomedical research productivity throughout the I-70 corridor.  The theme of the region’s research as described in the Life Sciences plan is ‘science across the life span’.  Research efforts have been focused in the following areas: aging, cancer, the nervous system, the heart and infectious diseases.  From this list, aging was chosen as a top priority.

 In line with this top research priority, one major area of emphasis for future biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health in which the Founding Director of the KU-BERC, Dr. Paulette Spencer and her colleagues are noted for both nationally and internationally, is the development of durable biomaterials that can be used to replace skeletal or oral tissues lost because of age, cancer or trauma.  The demand in the United States for suitable materials that can be used to restore and improve tissue or joint function is staggering.  For example, these materials are used in nearly 200,000 total hip replacements and 300,000 total knee replacements that are performed annually in the United States (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 2007).  Replacement materials are used in millions of dental-oral-craniofacial procedures, ranging from tooth restorations to major reconstruction of facial hard and soft tissues.  Although these replacement procedures have improved the quality of life for many patients, the clinical lifetime of these synthetic replacement materials is often less than one-tenth that of the original tissue.  The premature failure of these synthetic replacement materials and the shortened clinical lifetime requires repeated treatment and repair to restore the damaged tissue or joint to a level of satisfactory function for the patient.

 Tissue regeneration represents the combination of materials engineering with life sciences and genetic engineering leading to novel therapeutic strategies and new approaches for the development of biological substitutes.  Major aspects of orthopedic research for arthritic diseases are devoted to finding suitable biomaterials for hard tissue replacement and new approaches for tissue regeneration.  Research teams within the KU Bioengineering Research Center are exploring areas such as cell-based technologies that would lead to tissue-targeted therapeutics, selective targeting of therapeutic genes, implantable devices, biomimetic surfaces and scaffolds. 

 Methods of evaluating the functionality of native tissues are still very limited, but assessing engineered tissues is even more at its infancy.  Here is where interdisciplinary research plays the biggest role in identifying innovative methodologies and analytical methods to design and characterize the constructs.  While significant steps in growing regenerative structures/tissues have been made, the shape and functionality could not be tested.  Similar structures based on morphologic characteristics do not necessarily mean similar properties and thus, similar function.  Multiscale structure/property imaging adds a component that is not available through the various modes of morphologic imaging.  Structure/property imaging in combination with modeling provide insight into mechanistic behavior and function of native tissues as well as synthetic and tissue-engineered repair/replacement constructs.

 In biological systems, structure and properties are integrated in such a manner as to provide suitable function and adaptability. Many of the properties of biological materials, including their adaptation to load, effectively exceed the capabilities that can be realized in man-made materials that are designed and processed using present technologies.  The remarkable mechanical properties of biological materials such as bone have been ascribed to their complex hierarchical composition and structure.  For example, a survival strategy used by bone is self-repair via adaptive growth in response to its loading environment.

 The challenge is to transfer the principles that lead to lightweight hierarchical structures with self-healing capabilities and fatigue-resistant design to the development of new biomaterials.  The partners of the KU-BERC envision creating a knowledge base that defines the structure/property/function and adaptation relationships of hierarchical biological tissues. This knowledge base can then be exploited for the development of the next generation of multi-phased, multi-dimensional bio-inspired materials. Through communication, education and collaboration, we will use our understanding of the structure/property/function/adaptation relationships of biologic constructs and systems for the development of the next generation of materials, devices and sensors for the biomedical community .