Title : Smart biomaterials for the future of Healthcare: Linking structure, mechanics, and light–matter interactions in dental and orthopedic systems
Abstract:
In this talk, I would like to emphasize how modern healthcare is being transformed by the emergence of smart biomaterials that go far beyond traditional structural roles. Today, materials used in medical applications are no longer expected to serve only as passive supports; instead, they are designed to actively contribute to diagnosis, treatment, and advanced biomedical device technologies. This shift reflects a growing interdisciplinary approach in materials science, where mechanical performance, chemical stability, biological compatibility, and optical functionality are considered together as interconnected design parameters. In particular, dental and orthopedic biomaterials provide clear examples of this evolution. In dental applications, materials must not only withstand mechanical loading but also reproduce natural optical characteristics such as translucency, color harmony, and controlled interaction with light during photoactivated procedures. In orthopedic systems, materials such as bone cements are primarily required to provide mechanical fixation and long-term stability while maintaining compatibility with surrounding biological tissue. Although these two application areas differ in function, both are fundamentally governed by how material composition and microstructure determine overall performance.
In this presentation, I will highlight how optical and mechanical properties are intrinsically linked in these systems. What I would like to particularly underline in this talk is that the integration of optical functionality into mechanically robust biomaterials opens new opportunities for next-generation healthcare technologies. These include smart implants, optical biosensing platforms, and minimally invasive diagnostic systems. Ultimately, this integrated perspective supports the development of truly multifunctional biomaterials and aligns with the future direction of personalized medicine and advanced biomedical device engineering.
