Metal rods, screws and bone grafts have long been the backbone of spinal fusion surgeries — a fix for fractured spines, worn-out discs or bones that refuse to heal on their own. The hardware works. But it’s also rigid and invasive, and often leaves patients with lingering pain, stiffness and the need for follow-up surgeries down the road. At the University of Missouri, a team of engineers is working on a new approach. In the Biomodulatory Materials Engineering Laboratory in the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building, researchers led by Principal Investigator Bret Ulery are building a future where spines heal not through steel, but through biology — using tiny, bioactive materials made from therapeutic peptides to guide the body’s natural repair processes from the inside out.
Source: University of Missouri
