The £1.2m will be used as part of a four-year project to develop new ways of manufacturing and scaling up the production of nanoparticles and nanocomposites to be used for drug delivery and bone tissue regeneration. Nanocomposites provide a means of achieving significant improvements in mechanical properties over other materials that are currently being used in certain areas of healthcare.

‘We will be combining hydroxyapatite nanoplatelets with resorbable plastics to create implant materials that will be able to fix things such as fractures,’ explains Prof Andrew Parsons from Nottingham University’s Faculty of Engineering.

Healing can be achieved, followed by the gradual disappearance of the implant, obviating the need for a permanent metal implant or secondary surgery to remove the metal. Also, being mostly plastic, implants should weigh less than current solutions and generate less interference with X-ray or MRI imaging or metal detectors in airports.

* Nottingham University is a member of the University Design Industry Partnership (UDIP), a BDI initiative. It is the first formal alliance of its kind in the UK, created to bring the industrial design community and academia closer together to forge stronger links to address a number of issues affecting the growth and quality of the design industry.

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