Abstract
Biomedical materials used for reconstructing bone function lost due to trauma or disease include artificial joints, bone fixation
materials, and bone replacement materials, which are indispensable medical devices in the treatment of orthopedic-related diseases.
Their roles are not limited to physically replacing a defective site and acting as a scaffold for bone regeneration. In recent years,
medical devices that work on the molecular and cellular level to realize functional repair of tissues and organs through integration
with the living body have been developed. The design of biocompatible and biofunctional surfaces requires a spatial and temporal
hierarchy of interface phenomena between non-living materials and living organisms. The control of the properties of these artificial
materials through their design, processing methods, and surface treatment techniques is closely related to local cell adhesion, tissue
regeneration, and systemic metabolic reactions. Bone engineering research, including the creation of such materials, is indispensable in
supporting bone medicine, as it affects from molecular adsorption at the bio/material interface to the control of cell adhesion, bacterial
adhesion, and immune response, from biochemical reactions occurring in milliseconds to bone connectivity over a period of years.
In addition, advances in technologies, including additive manufacturing, can establish surface property control targeting selective
activation of biomolecules, from advanced nanoscale structural control to single-molecule chemical modification. In particular,
additive manufacturing is a promising technology that can achieve high spatial resolution for micrometer-order cell control and high
corrosion resistance that leads to a reconstruction of tissues and organs through controlling the bio/materials interfacial reactions. The
control of bio functions through the molding of external and internal shapes and the control of their crystallographic organization is
expected to make a significant contribution to the realization of bone quality-targeted medicine, which has been difficult to achieve
with conventional materials technology alone. Furthermore, it is expected to play a significant role in the future development of ultra
early disease prediction and digital medical technology. The elucidation of atomic-scale phenomena at the interface between non-living
organisms and living organisms will make it possible to realize bone treatment tailored to the pathology and skeletal structure of each
patient by accumulating fundamental knowledge and understanding it from a multilevel perspective.
