A Clemson University bioengineering professor who specializes in making metal implants such as hips and knees last longer in the body is starting the fall semester with a growing reputation as one of the top researchers and mentors in his field.
Jeremy Gilbert serves as the Hansjörg Wyss Endowed Chair for Regenerative Medicine and the director of the Clemson-MUSC Bioengineering Program.
This year, the Society for Biomaterials awarded Gilbert the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature. The award’s name reflects the strong ties between the society and Clemson’s pioneering bioengineering program dating to 1974.
Gilbert’s win marks the first time a Clemson professor has held the honor since 1991, when it went to Andreas F. von Recum.
“It’s a wonderful award,” Gilbert said. “The absolute leaders in the field over the last 50 years have been proud to receive the Clemson award, and here I am as a Clemson professor, winning the Clemson award.”
Gilbert’s work with metal implants starts with a bit of forensic analysis, almost as if he were a detective.
He and his students take the metal implants that have failed while inside of patients’ bodies and investigate them. They ask whether the implants broke, corroded or wore out, then try to create tests that simulate the degradation.
“Once we have that, now we can help,” Gilbert said. “We can work with the manufacturers to look at alternative materials, to change designs. Then you get more insight over time. You learn from the patient, you go back to the lab, you study it, you propose alternative designs and alternative materials, and sometimes you discover things that you would never expect.”
Joshua Jacobs, an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University Medical Center who has collaborated with Gilbert, said he stands out for the breadth and depth of his metallurgy knowledge, particularly electrochemistry-related research, along with his ability to communicate it to physicians. He is also an excellent educator, Jacobs said.
“He really works well with students, and I think that’s another reason for his success,” Jacobs said. “He has an entourage of people that he’s trained and have had a tremendous impact on the field.”
Among them is Mark Ehrensberger, who worked with Gilbert while pursuing a Ph.D. at Syracuse University and is now an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Buffalo.
“From a student perspective, he gave you the freedom to explore in the lab and have independence,” Ehrensberger said. “But he was also a very good mentor, and I remember countless times sitting in his office, and he would get out a piece of paper, and he’d start sketching out the ideas or the fundamental principles of what we really needed to understand. I still have some of those pieces of paper with his handwritten notes on it.”
Metal implants face a barrage of challenges inside the body. It’s a salty environment so they oxidize and corrode. If bacteria forms colonies on implants, they have to be removed and treated with antibiotics and put back in. Many implants, such as knees, have to support a full body’s weight thousands of times a day.
On top of that, the body’s natural reaction is to attack artificial materials inside it.
Another challenge is that patients are getting metal implants at younger ages, often in their 50s when they still want to golf, bike and find other ways to stay active, Gilbert said.
“You’ve created a demand and an environment that’s much more severe than, say, an 80-year-old person who might not be very active getting these devices,” he said. “You’re trying to design the materials so that they can withstand 20, 30 years in the body. You want to reduce corrosion or wear enough that it will last for a long, long time. And that’s really the focus of the work that I do.”
Gilbert is staying up on the latest cutting-edge techniques, including research into a process called tribocorrosion. Rubbing metal implants, such as those made of titanium, can briefly destroy the ultra-thin protective oxide layer that keeps them from corroding.
Gilbert and his team use atomic-force microscopes with a sharp diamond tip to scratch surfaces smaller than a single atom and watch in real time how that protective film breaks down and repairs itself inside the body.
In addition to his Clemson award, Gilbert is set to collect the Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award for Contributions to the Natural Sciences and Mathematics from his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Buffalo.
Yet as Gilbert looks to the future, he’s focused less on the accolades and more on the people.
“What I’m loving doing is making connections to the next generation of scientists, getting them excited about ideas, and then working with them to promote their ideas– to move them forward,” he said.
Delphine Dean, chair of the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson, said Gilbert’s impact goes beyond his research.
“He’s a leader in biomaterials, inspiring a new generation of bioengineers to push boundaries, solve real-world problems, and carry Clemson’s legacy of innovation into the future,” she said. “He exemplifies the best of what it means to be a mentor and colleague.”
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Additional notes: Joshua Jacobs is past Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at Rush University Medical Center and currently holds the title of Grainger Director, Rush Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute. He is also the past president of the Orthopaedic Research Society, among other honors.
