Page 136 - Visions of the Future Chemistry and Life Science

Skeletal structure 125

7.4 Visions for the future

With these new tools and so many unanswered questions about tissue
function and maintenance, the time for mechanobiology has truly arrived.
High-resolution imaging systems will allow us to determine tissue struc-
tures from the highest hierarchy of the organ to the lowest of the genome.
These digital images are ideally suited for analysing physical forces and
linking continuum level tissue stresses to deformation-induced gene acti-
vation in the DNA molecule. Advances in dynamic systems theory and
applied mathematics will play a critical role in explaining the behaviour of
otherwise intractable models.
As the complete genomes of organisms become mapped, functional
genomics will combine with biomechanics to answer questions such as:
what is the regulatory role of mechanics in skeletal gene expression? How
would organisms grow in the microgravity environment of space? Can we
define the mechanical forces needed to culture complete skeletal organs in
the laboratory? Are there genes that code for ‘bone strength’? Orthopaedics
and reconstructive surgery will be completely revolutionised.
The rapid growth of the field has produced an interdisciplinary commu-
nity of engineers, biologists, mathematicians, and physicians who hope to
answer scientific questions of the highest import. These questions will
bridge the boundary between physics and biology – between forces and cells
– to understand how organic forms are shaped by the mechanical world and
how living systems actually ‘extract order from their environment,’ first
posed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1943 in his famous lectures What Is Life?

7.5 Further reading

Carter, D. R. & Beaupré, G. S. 2000 Skeletal Function and Form. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Currey, J. D. 1984 Mechanical adaptations of bones. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Martin, R. B., Burr, D. B. & Sharkey, N. A. 1989 Skeletal tissue mechanics.
New York: Springer Verlag.
Odgaard, A. & Weinans, H. (eds.) 1995 Bone structure and remodeling.
Recent advances in human biology, Volume 2. Singapore: World
Scientific Publishing Co.
Thompson, D. W. 1917 On growth and form. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.