Bioplastics research

Lab Notes

The bioplastics are working better than we could have anticipated. We're able to get them to interface with nerves, of course, but we've got models for versions that can serve as tissue lattices to grow blood vessels and muscle as well. Hypothetically we could probably use this stuff to make all kinds of replacement tissue, although that tech is decades away. In the meantime, making a digital-neural interface just got far easier than ever.

The mice with bioplastic modules are still susceptible to skin breakdown over the surgical sites, as with indwelling prosthetics. We haven't seen any increased sign of infection though. The immune system recognizes the bioplastic as 'self' with the right calibration, and once it grows into the body, the bioplastic doesn't serve as a nidus for bacteria.

We haven't completely solved the skin breakdown issue, which is going to mean prosthesis with bioplastics still has some disadvantages, but we've definitely improved it. On dermal-facing sides of bioplastic modules, we can use a slightly different bioplastic formula to encourage the dermis to grow right into the bioplastic and interface with it. If we can work out a way to further encourage subcutaneous fat and fibrous tissue, we might be able to get callous formation and healing of stress points, rather than ulceration and infection. In other words, we'd get the external prosthesis-facing surface to behave like feet in a shoe rather than knees on the floor. Even if this doesn't pan out, the ability of the skin to grow into the plastic means we can make smooth curved surfaces inside the amputation site, and matching smooth cups on the outside, for a clean distributed interface that should be miles ahead of existing technology.

See Also

• Dr. Barnhoff
• CBM research

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