Breaking the Biocompatibility Barrier

This is the personal story of a remarkable discovery that has changed the course of medicine and repair of the human body. For millennia it was accepted that the human body would ultimately reject all foreign materials - the so-called "biocompatibility barrier". A fateful encounter between the author and a colonel in the US Army Medical Corps on a bus ride in 1967 led to research that created a special composition of glass that was not rejected - but in fact, became bonded to living bone. This unique material, called Bioglass, launched a revolution in repair of the human body by use of bioactive materials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This is the story that chronicles the steps from the seminal concept of bioactivity to clinical repair of millions of patients. This is the story of a team of creative people on two continents working together. It is a story that offers hope to improve the quality of life for our aging population.