Brown Graduate Student Lucy Weng ScB'08 Wins Award at the Northeast Bioengineering Conference

Brown University biomedical engineering graduate student Lucy Weng ScB'08 recently won the Master's Student Competition at the 2012 Northeast Bioengineering Conference hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia. Overall, there were more than 200 papers accepted, and awards were given for best paper to two master's student and two Ph.D. students. Weng received a certificate and a $250 prize.

Her paper, “Nanophase Magnesium for Orthopedic Applications” discusses the use of magnesium as a biomaterial for orthopedic applications because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and positive effect on bone formation. Likewise, studies have shown nanophase material increase osteoblast (bone-forming cell) function compared to conventional materials, but the two have not been studied together. The purpose of this study was to determine if altering magnesium surface features into the nanometer scale promotes greater osteoblast functions.

Nanorough magnesium surfaces were created by a novel treatment with sodium hydroxide at 1N, 5N, and 10N concentrations for 10, 20, and 30 minutes. Material characterization by scanning electron microscopy showed increased roughness on all treated samples compared to the control magnesium. Contact angle measurements indicated greater hydrophilicity on treated magnesium and no significant effect of ultraviolet sterilization on the surface energy of the material. Osteoblasts were seeded onto treated and untreated surfaces and adhesion at 4hrs were assessed through the MTT assay.

Results indicated increased osteoblast adhesion on nano-treated samples compared to untreated samples. These findings support previous studies indicating the promise of magnesium as a biomaterial for orthopedic applications and suggest further experiments examining the long-term effects of nanophase magnesium on osteoblast proliferation and function.