Artificial bone tissue may also serve for targeted drug delivery

PhD student Fadis Murzakhanov speaks about his research.

Murzakhanov works on new materials based on hydroxyapatite. Cooperating sides are Baykov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (Kazan Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

“The primary objective is to create a material close to the bone tissue. Researchers from Baykov Institute use ions of various metals – manganese, iron, copper, aluminum – and integrate them into a crystal lattice of hydroxyapatite, the main component of natural bone tissue. Such additions can improve physicochemical and antibacterial properties of materials,” says Murzakhanov.

He uses electron paramagnetic resonance to find out the localization of dope centers in the material and to study various conditions of synthesis and concentration on the behavior of such centers.

In February 2021, the young scientist became one of the recipients of the Special State Scholarship of the Republic of Tatarstan.

“Our findings show that integrating iron ions into hydroxyapatite increases the number and the size of mesopores, which is important for medicine. Such pores can serve as containers for medication delivery. Furthermore, the material can be used to produce biocompatible implants for bone replacements, where the porous structure speeds up the growth of bone tissue, and hydroxyapatite naturally dissipates in the body,” shares Murzakhanov.

He also notes that KFU conducts research of synthetic calcium phosphates, of which hydroxyapatite is a representative, with regards to purification of petroleum and water.

Lead Research Associate of the Institute of Physics Marat Gafurov comments, “The research was initially targeted at new catalytic materials with iron doping for the petroleum industry. It appears that trivalent iron can significantly increase the surface ration and change the distribution of pores by size, which improves the catalytic properties of synthesized compounds. Apart from that, trivalent iron also increases the biocompatibility of materials based on hydroxyapatite.”

Source text: Larisa Busil

Photo: Fadis Murzakhanov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev