Nanotech membranes made of nanoporous alumina coated with diamond-like carbon films promise to minimize problems with medical implants. From North Carolina State University, via AAAS EurekAlert “NC State finds new nanomaterial could be breakthrough for implantable medical devices“
A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has made a breakthrough that could lead to new dialysis devices and a host of other revolutionary medical implants. The researchers have found that the unique properties of a new material can be used to create new devices that can be implanted into the human body — including blood glucose sensors for diabetics and artificial hemo-dialysis membranes that can scrub impurities from the blood.
Researchers have long sought to develop medical devices that could be implanted into patients for a variety of purposes, such as monitoring glucose levels in diabetic patients. However, existing materials present significant problems. For example, devices need to be made of a material that prevents the body’s proteins from building up on sensors and preventing them from working properly. And any implanted device also needs to avoid provoking an inflammatory response from the body that would result in the body’s walling off the device or rejecting it completely.
Now a new study finds that nanoporous ceramic membranes may be used to resolve these issues. Dr. Roger Narayan — an associate professor in the joint biomedical engineering department of NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — led the research and says the nanoporous membranes could be used to “create an interface between human tissues and medical devices that is free of protein buildup.”
—Jim
