Degrees in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering – a Future without Ageing?

As general medicine improves across the globe the average lifespan of the human increases, but with an average life expectancy of over 80 years in many developed countries the problem of age related illness or reliance on social care is a growing concern. The process of ageing can be a happy one but for many the idea of growing old and the negative effects involved are a cause of stress and panic.

Effects of ageing vary from the superficial and aesthetic to life-threatening and include:

Decreased elasticity in the skin
Increased likelihood of malfunction within cell division processes can lead to tumour formation
Loss of bone mass
Thickening and loss of elasticity in arterial walls
Compromised immune system due to impaired antibody production

For hundreds, if not thousands of years, people have looked for ways to slow, stop or even reverse the processes of ageing. But, whilst the search for a fountain of youth or holy grail looks unlikely to reach its conclusion any time soon we may be able to rely on science to keep our bodies going into ‘old age’.

Ageing is a complicated subject to study as it affects every aspect of us as human beings, right down to a subcellular level. Therefore to work in this field you would need a good understanding of biology based subjects such as anatomy and physiology, biochemistry and microbiology as well as materials science, chemistry and physics.

A recent course development which bridges both Engineering and Biomedical sciences is the field of Biomaterials Science and Tissue Engineering. The content of the course is similar to Biomedical Engineering, so you can expect the course to be delivered by a mix of laboratory based work and lectures/tutorials. These courses in the UK are normally available as either a four year undergraduate course or a one year postgraduate course, both of which will lead to a masters degree (MSc or MEng).

The course lays the foundations in both biomedical science and engineering fields to allow students to fully understand the concepts they are developing. Expect to see modules in physics and mathematics, materials science, anatomy and physiology, and biochemistry in the first two years of a four year course. Once this knowledge has been built up you will then move to more detailed study in biomaterials, medical physics and tissue engineering in the final two years.

Some aspects of the implications of ageing can be studied from an engineering angle such as choosing between a metal or ceramic in a hip replacement. In this instance properties such as hardness, compressive strength and fatigue limit have to be considered against the weight of the material and the cost of production. This is where studying biomaterials becomes important – not only do you have to understand the physical properties of the material, but also how that material interacts with the body. To continue with the example of the hip replacement you would need to investigate how the outside of the implant interacts with the bone around it. If it causes an immune response you would run the risk of the body rejecting the implant and this would require further surgery for the patient.

Other aspects such as replacing failed/damaged tissues and organs requires more biological consideration. Tissue engineering looks at how cells can be taken from a patient, cultivated to increase their number and then attached to a scaffold before being put back into the patient. A lot of tissue engineering research is involved in the production of simple tissues such as skin but also in the proof-of-concept for the development of more advanced tissues and organs.

Two growing areas of research in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering are stem cell research and nanotechnology. Stem cell research is seen by many as controversial but the principle of using these undifferentiated cells in tissue engineering is very popular. By using stem cells and applying different stimuli they can tell the cells to become any cell type they like – bone, muscle, skin etc. Using a patients own cells within a scaffold reduces the potential immune response when replacing tissues and therefore reduces risk of rejection when placed in the patient.

Nanotechnology looks at the use of atomic structures or devices between 1 -100 nanometres. To give some perspective of this, there are 10 million nanometres in a centimetre. Two key topics of research in the field are the use of carbon nanotubes, an incredibly light structure with one of the highest tensile strengths known to man, and nanobots, which are tiny ‘robot’ like devices that can respond to different stimuli to complete a required task.

Over the coming years the biomaterial scientists and tissue engineers will undoubtedly find novel ways to repair and replace more tissues within the human body, which may even extend to fully engineered organ replacement.

The subject area is popular in the UK in particular and you will find courses in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering or similar fields such as regenerative medicine in several leading research universities worldwide including the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester and UCL.
To study a one year masters course you would be expected to have a good undergraduate degree in a biomedical and/or engineering subject. This will allow you to start studying the more specialised tissue engineering and medical physics subjects immediately.

To study the subject as a four year undergraduate to masters pathway you will need to be strong in one or more of the sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Maths or Biology).