Projects inside the Reconstructive Prosthetic Surgery line research:

Evaluation of osteointegration of biomaterials used in prosthetic surgery. Implant osteointegration is a basic prerequisite for the success of reconstructive orthopaedic surgery and features of biomaterial surface influence considerably osteointegration processes and, consequently, the success or failure of orthopaedic surgery in patients. Projects aim to improve knowledge about bone implant physiopathology and to study different biomaterials in order to realize prosthetic implants able to accelerate bone growth and improve quality and maturation of newly-formed bone around implants. The possibility of stimulating intrinsic properties of bone regeneration around an implant through the use of biological factors such as growth factors, platelet-rich plasma, bone derivatives, and mesenchymal stem cells is of special interest in this research field.

Study of biomaterials with different chemical-physical and morphological characteristics for the construction of prosthetic devices in healthy and pathological bone. It's well known that the response of cells and tissues to biomaterials is greatly influenced by surface properties. Because of this, the focus is the development and the biological evaluation of new treatments able to modify prosthesis and implant surfaces, such as biochemical methods (to immobilize proteins, enzymes or peptides on material surface), surface topography properties (porosity, micro-macro roughness, nanostructure) with the aim of inducing a specific cellular and tissue response. At the same time, particular importance is given to the properties of the tissue site of the implant with preparation of specific pathological models (es. osteoporosis by estrogen deficiency, aging or secondary to other diseases) for testing innovative biomaterials in experimental conditions which simulate clinical conditions of patients, more and more affected by diseases influencing bone metabolism.