Human tissues and organs built in the laboratory. Or even man-machine mergers capable of making us stronger, more resistant and more performing. It is thanks to the synergy between human beings and increasingly innovative materials that science fiction is becoming reality.
A marriage, the one with biomaterials, already combined centuries or even millennia ago, between sensational failures and extraordinary successes. And that now makes extraordinary leaps. So we went from creating a wooden big toe, found on a mummy of 3 thousand years ago, to designing technologies that will make us more and more like being hybrids and cyborgs.
He explains it You must be Bellucci, researcher in materials science and technology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and passionate popularizer. In his book Materials for life. The incredible stories of the biomaterials that repair our body, published by Bollati Boringhieri, takes us on a fascinating journey, between brilliant minds, heroic experiments and fortuitous discoveries. The protagonists are, in fact, the biomaterials.
Hand surgery: that’s why you need to turn to super-specialists
by Guido Andruetto
Their intended use is peculiar: they are designed to be implanted in our tissues, which normally do not like foreign bodies and try to get rid of them. “Exactly how Gulliver was initially rejected by the Lilliputians – explains Bellucci with a clear metaphor. – Now we are learning how to make an implanted biomaterial communicate with the cells of our body. The problem – he continues – is that Gulliver must be able to speak the language. of Lilliputians to be well received “. And it is not a small achievement.
“It was difficult to acquire the concept of biocompatibility – adds Bellucci – that is, the idea that well-tolerated materials exist, able to remain implanted for a long time without producing adverse effects”. The human body, in fact, is a rather hostile environment for any material, rich as it is in saline and hot fluids, constantly mixing. In fact, most metals are corroded, while plastics are degraded. “The path is still long – he continues – because in order to develop materials capable of chemically communicating with cells, carrying out specific functions in synergy with the biological world, we must first of all understand how cells communicate with each other”.
The first surgeon who ‘repairs’ the vertebrae with the robot: “I’ve always loved fixing things”
by Rory Cappelli
The biochemical language is sophisticated and in the 21st century the concept of biomaterial is increasingly ambitious. “Man has always tried to build prostheses”, says Bellucci. “We think of the glass and the impressive glass eyes and then the wooden legs and gold used in dentistry. However, until the Second World War, the catalog of materials for biomedical use was limited: natural fibers to suture wounds, wood , dental amalgam or, indeed, glass and gold. Some daring surgeons tried to reduce fractures with iron nails, but the results were often worse than the disease “.
The first lenses to replace the crystalline
Today, what makes the difference is that many materials are developed for specific biomedical uses. It is only in the 1940s and 1960s that we witness the development of the first plastic intraocular lenses, which replace the diseased lens in cataract patients, the implantation of the first silicone breast implants and the development of hip prostheses. of new conception, up to the pioneering studies of Larry Hench, American, with which bioglasses are born: these are the first synthetic materials capable of binding to living tissue. “Today there is a wide choice of biomaterials: not only external prostheses – he explains – but implants. Materials for dentistry, cardiovascular stents, titanium and alloys for prostheses such as those of the hip and knee. Bioceramics have made the revolution. such as synthetic hydroxyapatite, bioglasses and resorbable and non-absorbable plastics. These are artificial materials, specially designed in the laboratory. There is a huge gap between wood for shaping a leg and Plexiglas for an intraocular lens. ”
Liquid artificial retina restores sight to guinea pigs
by Matteo Marini
Another peculiarity of the history of materials is linked to the randomness with which important and decisive discoveries have often been made. “Serendipity has played a fundamental role -, says Bellucci. – The most famous case is, perhaps, that of penicillin, but also the science of materials, as well as chemistry or physics, are full of anecdotes of this type. like to mention the development of the first intraocular lenses, the discovery of shape memory alloys (one of the famous “intelligent materials”) then applied in stents, the development of the hip prosthesis “. In many cases the researcher on duty was intent on doing something else, had different goals, was working for different purposes. “Then, on any given day, something curious happened before his eyes. Here lies the skill: realizing it. Who knows how many potential discoveries ended up in the basket because the researcher, that day, decided not to investigate something that did not fit him. . After all, men and women of science are like all of us: they are often in a hurry, thoughts on their mind, deadlines to meet “.
Biomedical engineering
The invention of intraocular lenses to treat cataracts, for example, is the result of the intuition of the Englishman Harold Ridley, who had his first surgery in 1949 at St. Thomas in London, almost secretly. He used a plastic, Perspex, now known as Plexiglas: he had observed in an airman who during the war had been injured in the eyes by the splinters of the shattered cockpit, that that material had not inflamed the tissues, but, on the contrary, was well tolerated. Ridley decided to use it for implant lenses: a courageous choice, in contrast to the protocols of the time. In fact, he is the pioneer of biomedical engineering.
“Counting” stem cells to measure the body’s ability to regenerate
by Anna Lisa Bonfranceschi
To the serendipity that has accompanied the history of biomaterials, today, new and intriguing developments are added. Let’s think about tissue engineering. “It is the possibility, which in many cases is still a dream, to regenerate body tissues in the laboratory – says Bellucci. – In the future, perhaps, even entire organs. In this case, there are three ingredients: the patient’s cells, a support on which to sow them and a bioreactor in which to grow the tissue “. But we are still in the early stages.
Materials that release drugs
Then there are the materials for “drug delivery”, the controlled release of drugs. “One hypothesis is to use a polymer as a vector to direct a drug towards a specific target, such as a tumor mass, and release it slowly, limiting its effect. In this way we aim to optimize the effects of the substance, reducing the collateral ones” .
And the future a little further? We can imagine merging with technology and giving up a part of our humanity to become more and more like cyborgs. “Some of us – underlines Bellucci – will not be satisfied with restoring any lost functions of the body. There are those who will aim to be better, more performing”.
Will we become cyborg?
In other words, to run faster, to be stronger, to become more receptive than Mother Nature has given us. “None of us see infrared, for example. With biomaterials and electronics it will probably be possible to give some of us this possibility. We will look younger, both in appearance and in the efforts we can endure. All this, in fact, it will come from implantable electronics. There are already various examples and we must not think that it is necessarily bad. It all depends on the wisdom with which we will be able to exploit inanimate matter to integrate it with our bodies. Personally, I am curious and look forward to the future with optimism “, concludes the researcher.