DrEnnio

This answer will be a little technical because of the question.

The physical environment is emerging as the new component able to induce stem cell differentiation and lineage commitment.

The cell can sense the mechanical properties of its surroundings and adjust accordingly through the activation of molecular pathways that transduce the mechanical signal into a chemical signal within the cytosol.

This ultimately triggers the activation of genes that direct cell specification toward the osteoclast lineage.

The fracture putty is not clinically available yet, as we are in the process of collecting all the information necessary to open an IND case with FDA. That may take 2 years.

The research I'm the most proud of is the Fracture Putty program that I run for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) for the past 5 years.

This program has the objective of rebuliding the shattered bones of US Soldiers that would have never healed and led to the amputation of the limb.

I coordinated a team of more than 50 scientists from the best universities in the states and that resulted in preclinical success, as the materials developed by the team (BioNanoScaffolds) have shown incredible results in the preclinical setting.

That most of the inventions and technologies today are based on observations and discoveries that were anticipated, postulated, or described in the past, often in very different fields of research.

In particular we're witnessing how natural and biological sciences are serving more and more the purpose of solving engineering problems by providing the amazing solutions that life has shown us through the course of evolution.

Cross-talking and interactions between different areas of science will be the way we'll solve problems in this century.

Hello all. My name is David Bricker. I'm a science writer at Houston Methodist Hospital, and Dr. Ennio Tasciotti is sitting next to me. Ennio will start answering questions in a few minutes.

I'm working on the development of biomimetic materials that can imitate the chemical, biological and structural composition and structure of tissues in the body.

Such materials would allow us to bettter interact with the cells of the body in our quest to conquer several ongoing issues in medicine, from drug delivery to cancer to the regeneration of failing organs.