The promised benefit to joint replacement recipients is a major extension to the useful life of implants. Most of today’s replacement joints use a totally artificial bearing material to allow the joint’s components to slide on each other throughout their range of motion. Unlike the naturally-occurring lubricating tissue that can last a lifetime in healthy human joints, these artificial bearing materials deteriorate, causing wear that can reduce useful joint life by years. The innovative insight being investigated by Schwartz Biomedical is the biological enhancement of traditional bearing materials with the same naturally-occurring lubricants found in healthy human joints. Initial tests already indicate a 50% reduction in wear with the new biologically enhanced lubrication material.
Because of today’s active lifestyle, total joint replacements are needed in younger and younger patients; however, doctors are reluctant to perform joint replacement surgeries on these younger patients due to the limited life of the bearing materials. This new technology could provide these patients with a longer lasting alternative. For our aging population — living longer, more active lives now than ever before — this new technology holds the hope of replacement joints that will last as long as they do.
Schwartz Biomedical has been named principal investigator to research, develop, commercialize and market this new self-lubricating bearing material. Project partners include Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) who is licensing the technology to Schwartz and participating in the basic research, a major orthopaedic device company in Warsaw, IN, who is involved in the research and development activities and may be interested in commercial production and distribution of the product, and the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (Fort Wayne, IN), who supports Schwartz Biomedical with laboratory facilities and business incubation services.
For more information about this breakthrough study in engineered tissue development, contact Dr. Herb Schwartz, 260-407-6468 or herb@schwartzbiomedical.com.
About Schwartz Biomedical
Schwartz Biomedical, LLC, is a tissue engineering company that generates and develops novel tissue engineering solutions to orthopaedic and oral/maxillofacial problems. Dr. Herb Schwartz is the founder, president, and CEO of Schwartz Biomedical. Prior to founding his own company, Dr. Schwartz was employed by DePuy Orthopaedics in their Orthobiologics (soft tissue engineering) Department. During his tenure with DePuy, Dr Schwartz established himself as a prolific innovator by generating more than 25 U.S. patents (issued or pending) in the field of orthopaedics and tissue engineering. He received his Ph.D. and MS in Biomechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.
About Colorado State University (CSU)
Founded as the Colorado Agricultural College in 1870, Colorado State University (CSU) is a land-grant institution and a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Extensive. Dr Sue James is the Director of the Biomedical Engineering Program, Director of Rocky Mountain Materials Research (RMMR) and co-Director of the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at CSU. Dr. James is also the developer of the chemical enhancement technology that is being licensed by Schwartz Biomedical for theses studies. She received her Ph.D. in polymers from MIT in 1993 and her B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science (with a minor in Biomedical Engineering) from Carnegie Mellon in 1989.
About The Innovation Center
The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC), located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a regional technology business incubator whose mission is to accelerate the growth and success of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services. The Innovation Center’s main goal is to produce successful firms that will leave the incubation program financially viable and freestanding, ready to bring new jobs and investment to Northeast Indiana.