This is a past event.

Erin Baker is a senior research engineer in the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. Since 2007, she has led the laboratory’s Retrieved Orthopaedic Implant Registry, which collects and archives retrieved orthopaedic implants from revision surgeries at the three legacy Beaumont hospitals and several extrainstitutional collaborators. The program is now expanding to include the five new Beaumont hospitals, following the merger between Beaumont Health System, Oakwood Healthcare, and Botsford Hospital. The nearly 12,000 retrieved implants collected to date are used for FDA reporting purposes and academic studies as well as to plan clinically-relevant experiments in the laboratory’s other sections. She also leads the laboratory’s community outreach and student volunteer programs. As a Ph.D. Candidate, she works with adviser Dr. Craig Friedrich to investigate orthopaedic applications of titania nanotube surfaces. She holds a B.S. Materials Science & Engineering and M.S. Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Outside of research, she is married to a fellow MTU graduate, Kevin, and they have three boys, Everett, Miles, and Hadden.

Enhancing Osseointegration of Orthopaedic Implant with Titania Nanotube Surfaces

The total number of orthopaedic surgical procedures continues to increase year over year. In 2010, there were 719,000 primary total knee replacement and 332,000 total hip replacement surgeries, according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Solid biologic fixation at the bone-implant interface provides long-term stability of the arthroplasty system. The addition of coatings and surface treatments, typically macroor micro-scale, on implant surfaces has historically represented an effective method for promoting osseointegration of joint replacement components. Stability of these implants within bone dictates the longevity of the implant and the likelihood of positive clinical outcomes. One new surface treatment, titania nanotubes etched from titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V ELI; FDA-approved for implantable devices), represents a new, industrially-viable method for enhancing osseointegration. Two surface morphologies of titania nanotubes have been developed, termed Aligned Titania Nanotubes (Aligned TiNT) and Trabecular Titania Nanotubes (Trabecular TiNT). Our research evaluates the two morphologies of titania nanotube surfaces via a rat model of femoral intramedullary fixation (simulated femoral stem or stemmed distal femoral condyle) and subsequent analysis using biomechanical, histologic, microcomputed tomographic, and mass spectrometric techniques, in order to assess the biocompatibility of TiNT surfaces as well as the influence of the structure on de novo bone formation and bone-implant stability.

This event is being partially sponsored/funded by the Visiting Women & Minority Lecturer/Scholar Series (VWMLS) which is funded by a grant to the Institutional Equity & Inclusion from the State of Michigan's King-Chavez-Parks Initiative.