Luísa Fialho

PhD student in Materials Engineering, University of Minho

MSc, Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology of New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL)

Email: luisa.gfialho@gmail.com

Author name: L. Fialho

Current Work

Dental implants are a reliable treatment for the replacement of missing teeth. The main mechanisms related to the titanium implant failure are the poor bioactive, causing a weak implant osseointegration, and infections. Tantalum oxide (TaOx) coatings with calcium, phosphorus and/or magnesium ions incorporated are proposed to be formed onto a Ta substrate by anodization. Zinc nanoparticles will be deposited on the bioactive Ta nanostructure by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. Ta was selected, comparing with Ti, due to its good biocompatibility and bioactive behaviour, its interesting chemistry which promotes the osseointegration. By anodization, it is possible to produce TaOx with nanoporous structures what improves the cell-material interactions, it achieves good mechanical properties and also creates a diffusion zone owing to its ability to bind to Ca promoting a stronger bond. The addition of the mentioned ions enhances osseointegration such as provides an antibacterial behaviour. All these coating components and techniques will be studied in order to develop an implant which will allows the cell, and not the bacteria, to adhere, proliferate and differentiate. Therefore, the new implant will be cytocompatible and antibacterial, providing, as well, a good tissue response.

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Publications

  1. Rita Rebelo; N.K. Manninen; Luísa Fialho; Mariana Henriques; Sandra Carvalho, Morphology and oxygen incorporation effect on antimicrobial activity of silver thin films, Applied Surface Science, (2016), URL: ​doi: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.02.148
  2. S. M. Marques, P. Rico, I. Carvalho, J. L. Gomez Ribelles, L. Fialho, S. Lanceros-Mendez, M. Henriques and S. Carvalho, MC3T3-E1 Cell Response to Ti1−xAgx and Ag-TiNx Electrodes Deposited on Piezoelectric Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Substrates for Sensor Applications, Applied Materials & Interfaces, (2016), URL: doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b11922
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