INTELLECTUAL MERIT: Biomaterials is a rapidly emerging component of the materials research community. Research in the area covers a broad range of activities that include the development of materials used for (1) delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents, (2) construction of medical devices that must be compatible with the living systems with which they are in contact, and (3) scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Another aspect of the biomaterials field involves exploiting mimicry of, inspiration by, or co-opting of biological systems to enable creation of novel functional materials. For the purposes of the workshop, the various aspects of the field have been captured under the following topic headings: Cell-Material Interactions, Disperse Systems, Hard Materials and Composites, Soft Materials, and Thin Films and Interfaces. Expertise in all of these areas will be represented among the invited workshop participants. The workshop will involve a mix of plenary speakers and breakout sessions devoted to the topics just enumerated. A formal workshop report will be issued by the steering committee.
BROADER IMPACTS: The results of the workshop will be published in a report that will be widely disseminated and posted on a publicly accessible website. Additionally, a shortened version of the report, highlighting the most important results from the workshop, will be published in a leading journal. The steering committee also intends to return to NSF headquarters upon publication of the report to present their findings. The workshop report can be expected to guide the biomaterials community (educational institutions, commercial organizations, and funding agencies) in directing their resources toward the most critical and important biomaterials research challenges. For the relevant funding agencies, the workshop will help to identify their respective responsibilities in the biomaterials area and to foster robust and durable lines of communication among these agencies as they continue their ongoing investments. Workshop participants will include active researchers with diverse backgrounds in terms of topical area of expertise in biomaterials, career stage, institution, geography, gender, and ethnicity. These efforts will help ensure the conclusions of the workshop are representative of the biomaterials community, as a whole. Additionally, several graduate students will be invited to serve as assistants, allowing them the opportunity to observe the workshop and interact with prestigious members of the field. Finally, government agency representatives and selected members of industry will be welcome to attend the workshop.
On June 19 and 20, 2012, the National Science Foundation convened a workshop in Arlington, VA, to assess the status of the field of biomaterials and to identify especially promising directions for future research. The workshop participants included representatives from 47 universities, companies and federal agencies. Workshop participants included leading researchers with diverse backgrounds in terms of topical area of expertise, career stage, institution, geography, gender, and ethnicity. These efforts helped to ensure that the conclusions of the workshop are representative of the biomaterials community as a whole. Several graduate students were invited to participate both in the workshop and in the preparation of the workshop report. The workshop program was built around nine plenary lectures, a panel discussion on the subject of biomaterials education, and discussion groups focused on Hard Materials and Composites, Soft Materials, Cell-Material Interactions, Dispersed Systems, and Thin Films and Interfaces. The discussion groups reported back to the full workshop several times to get broader feedback and to look for common themes that tie the field together. An overview of the conclusions of the workshop was presented, together with a question-and-answer session, at the National Science Foundation on December 3, 2012, to program directors from NSF and other federal agencies, with web connections to more than 100 scientists and engineers at remote sites. The key outcome of the project was a 123-page report entitled, "Biomaterials: Important Areas for Future Investment." More than 400 copies of the report were distributed by mail, and the report has been posted on the publicly available website http://nsfbiomatworkshop2012.caltech.edu.
