Surface Modification of Polymeric Biomaterials

by Buddy D. Ratner (Editor), David G. Castner (Editor)

Applications of synthetic materials in medicine date back over 4000 year2. The Egyptians used linen as sutures. In the Roman Empire, gold was used in dentistry. Perhaps even earlier, ivory and bone may have been used in the body by practitioners of the healing arts. The historical origins of modem biomaterials science are also hard to precisely trace, but many of the ideas that define biomaterials as we know them today evolved in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Surface modification technology has played a prominent role in biomaterials science, and has paralleled the evolution of the modem field. In a symposium organized by the Artifical Heart Program of the NIH National Heart Institute and the Artificial Kidney program of the NIH National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1968, there were already a number of presentations on surface modification. Surface characterization at that time included scanning electron microscopy, ellipsometry, contact angle methods, and infrared internal reflection methods.

Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2013

About the author

Buddy Ratner is an American professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering. He is the director of the Research Center for Biomaterials at the University of Washington (University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials, UWEB), and ranks among the leading contemporary researchers in the field of biomaterial sciences. He is also the faculty member for the Program for Technology Commercialization at the University of Washington.