Biocompatible Nanocapsules for Self-Healing Dental Resins and Bone Cements.

Bone cements and dental resins are methacrylate-based materials that have been in use for many years, but their failure rates are quite high with essentially all dental resins failing within 10 years and 25% of all prosthetic implants will undergo aseptic loosening. There are significant healthcare costs and impacts on quality of life of patients. Self-healing bone cements and resins could improve the lifespan of these systems, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes, but they have been limited by efficacy and toxicity of the components.

On-Demand and Long-Term Drug Delivery from Degradable Nanocapsules.

We have developed polyurethane nanocapsules as a platform for long-term delivery of drugs over weeks as well as on-demand delivery of drugs via ultrasound. We synthesized nanocapsules encapsulating either a model drug, fluorescein, or a clinically relevant drug, acriflavine, a HIF-1alpha inhibitor. Release studies demonstrated delivery of fluorescein or acriflavine over several weeks.

Self-healing biomaterials: The next generation is nano.

The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that there are over 1 million total hip and total knee replacements each year in the U.