(TECH) Israeli Researchers Move Closer To Creating A Six Million Dollar Man

"An innovative coating process developed by Israeli researchers vastly improves the functionality, longevity and integration ability of orthopedic and dental implants.

Prof. Noam Eliaz from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has developed an electrochemical process for coating metal implants that can vastly improve the ability of people who have undergone complicated joint replacement surgeries to walk, run and ultimately avoid rejection of these implants.

'The surface chemistry, structure and morphology of our new coatings resemble biological material,' explains Eliaz, whose advance is in the application technique of the coating rather than the elements used in the coatings themselves.



There is a 33 percent decrease in the level of materials failure, or delamination, in the implants when they are coated using the new technique developed by Eliaz and his team from the Materials and Nanotechnologies Program at the TAU School of Mechanical Engineering.

In addition, a new 12-week implantation study, recently published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia, favorably compares the performance of the TAU coatings to current commercial coatings." (source)