Advances in Ceramic Biomaterials

Paola Palmero is Associate Professor of Material Science and Technology at Politecnico of Torino. She has around 15 years’ experience in the design, development, and characterization of ceramic materials, including monolithic, composite, and nanocomposites ceramics for biomedical, functional, mechanical, and thermomechanical applications. She is Vice-Chair of the Cost Action“New Generation Biomimetic and Customized Implants for Bone Engineering” (NEWGEN)—the current largest European network on biomaterials, and she has an active participation to FP6, FP7, and H2020 European projects. Her scientific production counts on over 90 papers, 6 patents, and numerous invited talks in international conferences. Eamonn De Barra is a materials scientist with over twenty years’ experience in the development and commercialisation of a range of biomaterials and medical devices for dental and orthopaedic applications. With experience of biomaterials from development to translation, Dr. de Barra has previously developed and commercialised a complete product range of dental materials; developed, manufactured and marketed 6 novel precious metal alloys for prosthodontic applications, as well as developing a commercial bioactive bone cement for Ossicular Chain Reconstruction and an injectable bone substitute for Craniotomy Defect Closure. His current research interest is focused on purely commercial orthopaedic materials development, leading a range of research projects based on developing new orthopaedic implantable materials and tailoring their properties in order to optimise their in-vitro and in-vivo performance, as well as the handling and performance requirements dictated by defined user and clinical needs. Francis Cambier is director General of the Belgium Ceramic Research Centre (BCRC), closely linked with the Belgian Ceramic Industry Association and the INISMa, a joint institute with the University of Mons. With over 30 years’ experience in the field, Dr Cambier is involved in the management boards of several companies and associations and he has received several distinctions in Belgium: Officer of the Leopold II Order, honorary dean of work. He is also very active in many ceramic societies and a member of various scientific advisory boards and journals.

Part I: An overview of bio-medical grade ceramic materials 1. Materials for Hard Tissue applications: an overview 2. Types of ceramics: material class 3. Assessment of mechanical properties of ceramic materials 4. Biological assessment of bioceramics

Part II: Bioceramics on the market: issues and perspectives 5. Ceramics for joint replacement: design and application of commercial bearings 6. Ceramics for dentistry: commercial devices and their clinical analysis 7. Ceramics for bone replacement: commercial products and clinical use 8. Ceramic devices for bone regeneration. Mechanical and clinical issues and new perspectives 9. Clinical issues of ceramic devices used in total hip arthroplasty

Part III: Engineering and challenges of new ceramics for medical devices 10. Design of ceramic materials for orthopaedic devices 11. Design and development of dental ceramics: examples of current innovations and future concepts 12. Patient-specific design of tissue engineering scaffolds, based on mathematical modeling 13. Tissue Engineering and biomimetics with bioceramics 14. Advanced processing techniques for customized ceramic medical devices