More than 500,000 joint replacement surgeries are performed in North America
each year. The procedure involves implanting a prosthesis with two interfacing
surfaces, one a metal alloy and the other plastic. Joint replacement is
a remarkably successful procedure that restores mobility to patients suffering
from arthritis or injury, but the devices aren’t always durable enough
for active patients or heavier patients. And because people are living longer,
they often face a second replacement surgery. These “revision”
surgeries can be more painful, more expensive and less successful than the
original surgery.
“If the nanocrystalline superhard coatings we are developing can reduce
wear in orthopaedic implants and extend the life of the prosthesis, we could
eliminate much patient suffering and save health care dollars,” says
Dr. Namavar. In addition, these nanocrystalline coatings have the potential
for even broader biomedical applications. “This technology could help
control bone growth through surface design, provide infection-resistant
coatings for orthopaedic and dental implants, and much more,” he says.
Before coming to the UNMC in 2002, Dr. Namavar was senior scientist and
director of Nanotechnology at Spire Biomedical in Massachusetts where he
developed various super-hard, wear-resistant coatings to increase the lifetime
of bearing surfaces. His research at Spire Biomedical had a wide range of
applications, ranging from geothermal drill bits to orthopaedic artificial
implants. As a manager of Advanced Si-Based Technology for Spire’s
Optoelectronics he worked on fabrication of components for optoelectronics
integration of Si systems. In 1992 he led a group that developed one of
the first (nanocrystalline) Si-based visible heterojunction LED’s.
A native of Iran, he earned a B.Sc. degree in physics from Tehran University
and later studied in England. He earned a Doctor of Science degree with
summa cum laude in nuclear physics and did research at the Institute for
Nuclear and Radiation Physics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
His broad scientific experience encompasses nuclear physics, radiation damage,
radiation hard electronics materials, high-temperature electronics materials,
optoelectronics, waveguides, modulators, optical beamsteering devices, thin
films and nanotechnology.
Dr. Namavar’s Nano-Biotechnology Laboratory is located in the Scott
Technology Transfer and Incubator Center (STC) near the former Ak-Sar-Ben
racetrack in Omaha. His team recently purchased an ion beam assisted deposition
(IBAD) system which combines physical vapor deposition with concurrent ion
beam bombardment in a high vacuum environment. Dr. Namavar’s research
includes:
• Application of nanotechnology in total joint arthroplasty for: reducing
the wear of orthopaedic implants, and controlling the bone growth through
material and surface design,
• Development of smart infection-resistant coatings for orthopaedics
and dental implants.
In vitro and in vivo absolute wear measurements of orthopaedic implants,
• Development of medical imaging technology by non-ionizing radiation.
Some of his accomplishments have been reported
in Scientific American (“Holey Silicon,” March 1992), The Wall
Street Journal, Science, and other publications. His collaborations with
scientists around the world have resulted in more than 150 publications
and several patents. His personal interests range from gardening and classical
music to archeology and history.
(Fall 2004)
