Bridging gap between Materials Science and Biology: An interdisciplinary approach to study biocompatibility of some novel biomaterials

After a brief presentation on the interdisciplinary research being carried out in my group, some interesting and recent experimental results will be presented to illustrate some of the outstanding issues, that are related to both the processing aspect as well as on various aspects of structure-property-performance relationship for the bioceramic composites. The questions, that will be broadly addressed during this presentation, will include, a) How to develop Hydroxyapatite (HA)-based composites with enhanced toughness / strength property?, b) How to develop HA-based biomaterials with tailored cytocompatibility and bactericidal property?, c) How to enhance the conductivity property of HA-based materials?, d) How to optimize the electric field for enhanced cell proliferation on biomaterial substrates?, e) can the magnetic field cause bactericidal effect in vitro? In discussing all these issues, both the experimental results as well as analytical models, wherever formulated, will be presented.

One of the major issues in the biomaterials research is the toxicity of nanoparticles at both cellular and genomic level. In the last part of the presentation, the results of gene expression study will be presented to illustrate the effect of Hydroxyapatite-mullite particle eluates on apoptosis and differentiation of human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cells. Apoptotic analysis by annexin V-FITC/PI staining using a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) revealed a concentration and time dependent apoptotic cell death of hFOB cells. The apoptotic cell death was further proven by the analysis of molecular markers of apoptosis, that is, the Bcl-2 family of genes. Specifically, the anti-apoptotic effect was corroborated by the up-regulation of bone cell differentiation marker genes such as, collagen type I, cbfa, and osteocalcin. 



About Prof. Bikramjit Basu:


Dr. Bikramjit Basu is currently an Associate Professor at Materials Research Center, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, since May, 2011. Bikramjit obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, both in Metallurgical Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He earned his PhD in Ceramics at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in March, 2001. He returned to India to join IIT Kanpur in November 2001 as Assistant Professor after a brief post-doctoral research experience at University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He was promoted to Associate Professor at IIT Kanpur in December, 2007. He held visiting positions at University of Warwick, Seoul National University and University Polytechnic Catalonia, Barcelona.

Dr. Basu has authored/co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed research papers with twenty papers in Journal of American Ceramic Society. H-index of his publications is 20 and a total citation is around 950. He edited a book on Biomaterials (2008) published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and authored two textbooks as first author in each case - one on Structural Ceramics (2011) and the other on Tribology (2011), both published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in collaboration with American Ceramic Society. He serves on the editorial board of ten international peer-reviewed journals, including Mat. Sc. Engg. C, J. Biomedical Materials Research, Part B and also contributes as a reviewer of more than 20 SCI journals in the area of Ceramics and Biomaterials. 

In recognition of his contributions to the field of Ceramic Science and Biomaterials Science, Dr. Basu received noteworthy awards from the Indian Ceramic Society (2003), Indian National Academy of Engineering (2004), the Indian National Science Academy (2005), ‘Metallurgist of the year’ award (2010), instituted by Ministry of Steels, Government of India, ‘NASI - SCOPUS Young Scientist Award’, 2010 by Elsevier partnered with the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and lately, Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Medal, 2011. He is the first and only Indian from India, till to date, to receive the prestigious ‘Coble Award for Young Scholars’ (highest recognition for any young ceramicist around the world of age 35 or below) from the American Ceramic Society in 2008. Many of his former students are currently serving as faculty members in various IITs/NIT and have gone on to receive prestigious national awards from Government of India. He currently serves on the project advisory committee/review panel on Glasses and Ceramics, constituted by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.