September 28, 2025
With NIH funding, University of Missouri researchers are pioneering biological alternatives that could someday help the body heal itself.
Metal rods, screws and bone grafts have long been the backbone of spinal fusion surgeries 鈥 a fix for fractured spines, worn-out discs or bones that refuse to heal on their own.
The hardware works. But it鈥檚 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 糖心Vlog传媒 Laboratory in the聽聽building, researchers led by Principal Investigator Bret Ulery are building a future where spines heal not through steel, but through biology 鈥 using tiny, bioactive materials made from therapeutic peptides to guide the body鈥檚 natural repair processes from the inside out.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing is trying to understand and leverage how the body can be guided to regenerate its own bone tissue,鈥 Ulery, an associate professor in the聽Department of Chemical and Biomedical 糖心Vlog传媒, said. 鈥淲e want to convince the body to better heal itself.鈥
With almost $2 million in new funding over the next five years from the National Institutes of Health, Ulery鈥檚 team is developing soft, smart alternatives to metal implants using both synthetic polymers made from chemicals and biological polymers made largely from plant carbohydrates. These materials can be tailored to stimulate bone growth, reduce inflammation and dissolve harmlessly once healing is complete.
One of their most promising drug delivery tools is micelles 鈥 biodegradable particles formed by peptide amphiphiles. These structures act like smart delivery vehicles: they can carry drugs, release bioactive signals or even prompt stem cells to start regenerating tissue. In parallel, the team is building computational models to predict how different peptide sequences will behave, speeding up the design of these micelles and other healing systems.
The science is promising, and for Shwetha Ramachandra, a graduate student on the team, it鈥檚 also deeply personal.
Five years ago, Ramachandra fell and fractured her L5 vertebra. She initially tried physical therapy and injections to manage the pain but to no avail. Eventually 鈥 and reluctantly 鈥 she underwent spinal fusion surgery.
鈥淢etal plates and screws are not compatible with natural bone,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 know how this is going to affect me in the future. I have a greater chance of getting additional fractures, experiencing pain and having to have more surgeries.鈥
Spinal fusion is most often performed on older adults, whose spines wear down with age. In the U.S., doctors perform more than 30,000 spinal fusions a year.
The same type of biomodulatory materials 鈥 engineered to guide the body鈥檚 healing responses 鈥 being developed for spinal repair could also revolutionize treatments for infectious diseases, cancer and autoimmune conditions. Ulery and his team are adapting their peptide-based systems to create next-generation vaccines, tumor-targeting particles and materials to promote craniofacial repair such as healing jawbone fractures.
鈥淚鈥檓 really hopeful that in the next 10 to 15 years, we鈥檒l have a material that can help a lot of people,鈥 Ramachandra said. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just a graduate research project. It鈥檚 so much more than that.鈥
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