Biomaterials: The Intersection of Biology and Materials Science

Citation

Temenoff, J. S., & Mikos, A. G. (2022). Biomaterials: The Intersection of Biology and Materials Science (2nd ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The second edition (Pearson, June 2022; about 520 pages) keeps the fourteen chapter titles of the 2008 first edition, followed by appendices and a list of abbreviations and symbols. The first seven chapters treat biomaterials as materials; the last seven treat the biological response to them. The publisher says the new edition adds topics in materials science and current biological techniques, with new problems, examples and colour images. The section headings below come from the first edition's published contents; the chapter titles are unchanged in the second, but section-level revisions in the new edition are not listed publicly. In that contents, each chapter closes with a summary, problems, references and additional reading, and most include a "Techniques" section introducing the laboratory methods used to study the topic.

Chapter 1: Materials for Biomedical Applications

An overview of the field: what biomaterials are, the biological response to them, product testing and approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, the types of biomaterials, processing, important properties, and a review of the principles of chemistry needed later.

Chapter 2: Chemical Structure of Biomaterials

Bonding and the atomic and molecular structure of metals, ceramics and polymers, with an introduction to material characterisation techniques.

Chapter 3: Physical Properties of Biomaterials

From atomic groupings to bulk materials: crystallinity and its linear, planar and volume defects, crystallinity in polymers, thermal transitions in crystalline and non-crystalline materials, and thermal analysis.

Chapter 4: Mechanical Properties of Biomaterials

Modes of mechanical testing and the calculations that go with them, fracture and failure, fatigue and fatigue testing, and methods to improve mechanical properties.

Chapter 5: Biomaterial Degradation

Degradation in the biological environment: corrosion and degradation of metals and ceramics, degradation of polymers, deliberately biodegradable materials, and assays for measuring how far degradation has gone.

Chapter 6: Biomaterial Processing

Processing to improve bulk properties, to form the desired shapes, and to improve biocompatibility.

Chapter 7: Surface Properties of Biomaterials

Concepts in surface chemistry and biology, physicochemical and biological surface modification, surface effects on degradation, patterning techniques, and surface characterisation.

Chapter 8: Protein Interactions with Biomaterials

The bridge to biology: the thermodynamics of protein adsorption, protein structure, transport and adsorption kinetics, the reversibility of adsorption, and assays for protein type and amount.

Chapter 9: Cell Interactions with Biomaterials

Cell structure, the extracellular environment, how interactions with the environment affect cell function, models of adhesion, spreading and migration, and assays for cell–material interactions.

Chapter 10: Biomaterial Implantation and Acute Inflammation

An overview of innate and acquired immunity, the clinical signs of inflammation and their causes, the role of granulocytes, the termination of acute inflammation and in vitro assays.

Chapter 11: Wound Healing and the Presence of Biomaterials

What follows acute inflammation: granulation tissue, the foreign body reaction, fibrous encapsulation, chronic inflammation, the four types of resolution, repair versus regeneration in skin, and in vivo assays.

Chapter 12: Immune Response to Biomaterials

Acquired immunity in more depth: antigen presentation and lymphocyte maturation, B cells and antibodies, T cells, the complement system, undesired immune responses to biomaterials, and immunological assays.

Chapter 13: Biomaterials and Thrombosis

Haemostasis, the role of platelets, the coagulation cascade, ways of limiting clot formation, the role of the endothelium, and tests for haemocompatibility.

Chapter 14: Infection, Tumorigenesis, and Calcification of Biomaterials

Further problems that implants can cause: device-associated infection, tumour formation and pathological calcification, each with the experimental techniques used to study it.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–7: Materials

• Structure–property relationships: how bonding and structure in metals, ceramics and polymers determine their physical and mechanical behaviour.
• Crystallinity and defects: the arrangement of atoms or chains and its imperfections, which control strength and thermal behaviour.
• Degradation: corrosion of metals and breakdown of polymers in the body, whether unwanted or designed in.
• Surface modification: changing only the surface of a material, chemically or biologically, to control how the body responds.

Chapters 8–9: Proteins and cells

• Protein adsorption: the rapid, thermodynamically driven coating of an implant by proteins, which shapes everything that follows.
• Cell adhesion and migration: how cells attach to, spread on and move across a material, and how this changes their function.

Chapters 10–14: Host response

• Inflammation and the foreign body reaction: the sequence from acute inflammation to chronic inflammation, foreign body reaction and fibrous encapsulation.
• Innate and acquired immunity: the general and specific defences, including complement, that can react to implanted materials.
• Haemocompatibility: whether a material in contact with blood triggers platelet activation and coagulation.
• Late complications: infection, tumorigenesis and calcification as failure modes of implants.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Clear two-part logic. The book first builds a materials vocabulary (structure, properties, degradation, processing, surfaces) and then follows the body's response step by step, from protein adsorption to cell interactions, inflammation, wound healing, immunity, thrombosis and late complications. Students can see where each topic sits.
• Methods built in. In the first-edition contents, most chapters include a "Techniques" section on how the property or response is measured, from characterisation and thermal analysis to protein assays and in vitro and in vivo inflammation assays. This prepares students for laboratory work and for reading research papers.
• Accessible to engineers without biology. The authors' preface, as quoted by Google Books, states that the book assumes basic chemistry and physics but no partial differential equations and no cell biology or biochemistry; the biology is taught from the protein level upward.
• Established text. The authors received the 2010 Meriam/Wiley Distinguished Author Award for the first edition, and the second edition keeps its structure while adding new material, problems and colour images.

Limitations

• Few chapters on specific material classes or devices. The book is organised by property and response rather than by material family or clinical application, so there are no chapters on, for example, orthopaedic or cardiovascular devices; the publisher notes only "carefully selected in-depth applications" within chapters.
• Regulation and design in passing. FDA approval appears as a section of Chapter 1 rather than a chapter of its own, and the closing chapter is on complications rather than device design or regulation.
• Engineering students as the target. The preface aims at undergraduate engineering majors in their second year or later; biology students may find the materials chapters (2–4) demanding, and the book assumes physics and chemistry.
• Limited public detail on the update. The publisher does not list which sections changed in the second edition, so instructors moving from the first edition should check the new problems and topics themselves.

Where It Fits in the Course

Temenoff and Mikos is one of two introductory texts in this course that teach materials and biology together. Chen and Thouas's Biomaterials: A Basic Introduction organises the subject by material class (metals, ceramics, polymers, composites) and gives a long separate part to anatomy, disease and histology; Temenoff and Mikos organise it by property and by stages of the host response. Students who want to know which material is used where should pair it with Chen and Thouas; students who want the mechanisms of the biological response will find Temenoff and Mikos more systematic. Agrawal and colleagues' Introduction to Biomaterials is a shorter course text that extends into sterilisation, drug delivery, tissue engineering and devices.

The two editions of Biomaterials Science: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine (Ratner and colleagues, 2004; Wagner and colleagues, 2020) are large multi-author references to consult for any topic in more depth, especially applications and regulation. Jonathan Black's Biological Performance of Materials is a graduate monograph on biocompatibility that continues from Chapters 5 and 10–14.

How to Use This Book

The book suits second-year or later undergraduates in biomedical engineering, and materials or chemical engineering students taking a first biomaterials course. Basic chemistry and physics are needed; cell biology is not, as Chapters 8–12 supply it.

A practical plan for a one-semester course:

• Materials foundation: Chapters 1–4 in order. Students with a materials science background can move quickly through Chapters 2–3 but should not skip Chapter 1, which sets out the field and the FDA process.
• Bridge chapters: Chapters 5–7 (degradation, processing, surfaces) connect the material to its environment in the body; Chapter 7 is essential for what follows.
• Biological response: Chapters 8–12 form a continuous story and should be read in order, from protein adsorption to acquired immunity.
• Specialised responses: Chapters 13 and 14 can be chosen according to the course's focus, for example Chapter 13 for blood-contacting devices.

Work the end-of-chapter problems, and use the "Techniques" sections to connect each topic with how it is measured in the laboratory. For applications and regulation, read alongside a reference such as Biomaterials Science or the relevant regulator's guidance.