CONTACTS: Sutapa Bhaduri, research scientist, (208) 885-4624, [email protected]; Bill Loftus, University Communications, (208) 885-7694, [email protected]
Improved Dental Implants Goal Of UI Biomaterials Researcher
MOSCOW - University of Idaho research scientist Sutapa Bhaduri seeks new materials to improve dental implants through research supported by a $263,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Bhaduri, a research assistant professor in UI's Materials, Metallurgical, Mining and Geological Engineering Department, won the three-year grant to support her biomaterials research. It is her second NSF grant in the two years since she joined the UI faculty.
Her work focuses on improving one of the critical functions of dental implants -- to ensure they don't loosen after several years due to failed bonding with the surrounding jawbone.
Bhaduri will develop material for metallic implants with surfaces that encourage bone cells from the surrounding jaw to grow into and support it, as well as ceramic coatings for the metallic implants that mimic the structure of bone. The resulting implants are expected to perform better and improve bonding.
Biomaterial research is a rapidly expanding field today, although relatively new to Idaho's research community. It complements other UI research recently stimulated by a $9 million National Institute of Health grant for biomedical research.
Bhaduri and her husband, Sarit Bhaduri, co-direct the UI Nanomaterials and Advanced Ceramics Laboratory. The laboratory is currently supported by five major federal grants, three from NSF, one each from Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research. Eight graduate and undergraduate engineering students are working on these projects.
The laboratory's primary focus is to produce extremely fine-grained materials with improved properties. Such "nanomaterials," measuring about one-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, can improve a material's strength, fracture-toughness, magnetic or electrical properties, compared to larger-grained but chemically identical materials.
Hands-on laboratory experience is important for students to develop their excitement for research, say the Bhaduris. They also plan to introduce high school students to their research through on-site visits or other extended learning opportunities.
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