The step towards the invention of ready-to-use bone forming units for effective and predictive bone regeneration.

Repair of bone defects remains a clinical challenge, due to the limitations of autograft and allograft use, and the absence of bone substitutes comprised of critical biological and physicochemical characteristics to induce robust bone regeneration. Besides requiring an in-depth understanding on the cell-material interactions, the availability of versatile technological tools and standardised manufacturing processes are crucial. In this project, we adopt surface biofunctionalisation approaches developed by the applicant [i.e. perfusion electrodeposition (P-ELD) and cell-mediated biomineralisation (CMBio) technologies] to modify surface of porous titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) 3D structures with osteoinductive CaP coating or mineralised extracellular matrix that were promising in our pilot studies. Specifically, we aim at translating these technologies towards robust engineering processes, firstly by optimising the controllablity and reproducibility of the process parameters for quality designed attributes, followed by in-depth in vitro study on the stem cell-material interactions and bone formation signalling, and lastly validating the osteoinductivity and bone forming potency in ectopic and orthotopic animal models and their mechanisms of action. The results of this research will form solid scientific evidence towards novel tissue engineering strategies to manufacture semi-autonomous bone forming units (BFUs) for effective and predictive repair of bone defects.