Objective
Biomimetics is a fast growing multidisciplinary field leading to the fabrication of novel materials with remarkable mechanical properties. Natural bone is a complex biomineralized system with an intricate hierarchical structure. It was widely reported that a typical secondary bone contains around 65 wt.% mineral phase, 25 wt.% organic and 10 wt.% water, among which carbonated hydroxyapatite (HAp) and collagen fibrils are the major components for the mineral and organic phases, respectively. High stiffness and large surface area fibrous clays, halloysite and sepiolite, will be used for the first time to biomimic collagen fibrils as the templates for the growth of HAp nanocrystals. Natural biopolymers, such as anionic sodium alginate, and cationic amino acids (lysine and arginine) and chitosan will be used to interact with HAp-clay composites and improve their toughness. HAp nanocrystals will be grown along the fibrous clays via co-precipitation methods, followed by preparing HAp-clay-biopolymer hybrid membranes by layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly. Processing conditions, materials composition and LBL assembly approaches will be varied to investigate their effects on structure and properties of the hybrid membranes. The chemical and crystalline structure of the HAp grown will be characterized, and its growth mechanisms in the presence of clay will be studied. Interfacial interactions among HAp, clay and biopolymer will be investigated, and the morphology of the hybrid membranes will be observed. Physical and mechanical properties, biodegradability, protein adsorbability as well as regeneration function of the membranes obtained will be measured. The resultant HAp-clay-biopolymer hybrid membranes are expected to have a good combination of stiffness and toughness through the bottom-up colloidal assembly of stiff fibrous HAp-clay with ductile biopolymers, and will have great potential in bone repair and regeneration in particular in scaffolds for tissue engineering.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering composites
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkali metals
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology tissue engineering
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials nanocrystals
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry amines
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
D02 CX56 Dublin
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.