Editorial: A forecast of the future for biomaterials

Abstract

In September 2005 we held a symposium, at Imperial College London, celebrating the 44 year career and achievements of Professor Hench in the field of bioactive materials. The event was supported by the Department of Materials and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre at Imperial College London. The symposium was a two days event including invited keynote lectures and submitted talks from many international leaders in the field who have worked with Professor Hench over the years. There were also many posters from students and researchers from around the UK. The aim of the symposium was to bring together leaders in the field of biomaterials and bioceramics to review the past successes of the field and to look to the future of biomaterials research in general. This special issue features papers based on the topics discussed at the symposium. Professor Hench’s seminal work was his discovery of Bioglass©R with colleagues at the University of Florida. His work then moved towards materials for regenerative medicine, which brought him to Imperial College London. In this issue, Professor Bill Bonfield (University of Cambridge) reviews Professor Hench’s life and how the discovery launched the field of bioactive ceramics, while Professor Hench himself reviews the history of Bioglass©R. Recent bioactive glass research, including the development of tissue engineering scaffolds and bioactive sol-gel derived glasses