Because of the body’s natural resistance to foreign materials, implants used for bone repair have been fraught with difficulties. In most cases, the problems associated with medical implants like replacement hips and bone-strengthening pins have to do with compatibility — the body’s tissues recognize the implant as foreign and treat it like any other invader, walling the implant off from the living cells for protection. Because no biological connection is established between the living and nonliving material, traditional implants are often weak and prone to infection. Most implants today are made from either titanium-based alloys or alloys made from a mix of cobalt and chromium. Both possess excellent mechanical properties but are bio-inert and attach to the bone through form fit or frictional connections. The weak bone to implant adhesion can result in implant loosening and failure. Coating the metallic implants with bioactive layers could allow biological interaction between the bone and the implant and can consequently improve adhesion. Therefore, surface functionalization with bioactive coatings is emerging as one of the most pertinent fields in current biomaterials research. The immobilization of a vast number of substances and molecules, ranging from inorganic calcium phosphate phases up to peptides and proteins, has been investigated extensively in recent years. This presentation is focused on advances using pulsed laser deposition and chemical methods towards the development of inorganic and organic coatings for Mg implant surfaces with adjustable corrosion and biological properties.

Dr. Dhananjay Kumar graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1994 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.  His career at North Carolina A & T State University began in April 2000 as a Research Scientist in the Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures. Dr. Kumar was appointed in November of 2002 as a joint faculty member between Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN,  and A&T. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering in 2004. He is now a full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

 

He has been awarded several prestigious grants from the NSF as a PI at NCAT, such as MRI, NUE, NER, NIRT etc. He has reached the landmark of one hundred papers in peer-reviewed journal this year. According to the web of science his publications have been cited globally over 2000 times.

He has been the recipient of the A&T Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 2007 as well as the University’s highest research award, Senior Researcher of the Year, in 2012. 

 

Dr. Kumar has developed a pulsed laser deposition assisted synthesis method for self-assembly of nanophase materials. This method is versatile in nature and has attracted worldwide attention of peers and is being applied to the self-assembly of magnetic, superconducting, optical, and super-hard nanomaterials by several research groups.

 

Dr. Kumar enjoys working with students in his laboratories. He works his Ph.D., MS, BS and K-12 students will equal passion and has published papers with students at all levels. He has graduated nine MS and three Ph.D. students as primary advisor. In summer 2013, he served as a visiting faculty member to the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.