Biomaterial

A biomaterial is a substance that can be derived either from living cells and tissue or synthesized in the laboratory with a variety of chemical approaches utilizing metals, ceramics, plastic, glass or composite materials. The modern field of biomaterials combines medicine, biology, physics, and chemistry, and more recent influences from tissue engineering and materials science. Biomaterials play an integral role in medicine today—supporting, enhancing, or replacing damaged tissue or a biological function after injury or disease. They are often used to interact with biological systems for the following broad range of applications: medical implants, methods to promote healing of human tissues, regenerated human tissues, molecular probes and nanoparticles, biosensors, drug-delivery systems.