Services

Materials Testing

Our multidisciplinary materials testing team of chemists, engineers, and biologists can evaluate a range of materials, including novel nanomaterials, specialized coatings, and polymers, through the use of advanced analytical techniques. We provide broad expertise and a diverse offering of materials testing methods that can be tailored to each intended application based on our clients' specific needs.

During biomaterial design, iFyber takes a holistic materials testing approach with respect to the end application and selection of individual components that constitute the final product. iFyber carefully considers all material interfaces during characterization and product development. Specifically, important interactions occurring between the materials to be tested and the chemical and biological environment surrounding the material in question could have important implications for product development and manufacturing.

iFyber’s materials testing program fits well within specific consulting projects. Rather than solely acting as subject matter experts for our clients, we support our consulting findings with experimentation and data. iFyber can provide specific and creative solutions in the following areas:

Technology Landscaping: What intellectual property (IP) does a client require to meet the market needs of their organization? This process involves a review of the technology in question, including an IP landscape, literature review, and proposed regulatory strategy, to identify enabling technologies and outline potential challenges.
Application Landscaping: What applications should a client consider when deploying an IP asset? This process is the inverse of technology landscaping and involves identifying markets that would support commercialization of a client’s IP asset.
Deformulation: Sometimes called reverse engineering, iFyber’s materials testing and analytical services program allow us to identify methods of action in medical devices to gain competitive intelligence or decide how to position a unique product with respect to its competition.
Litigation Services: iFyber’s materials testing, functional testing, and analytical chemistry services provide clients with a way to defend their IP portfolio by scientifically supporting hypotheses regarding patent infringement.

iFyber’s diverse staff utilizes a broad set of analytical and materials testing techniques and state-of-the-art equipment to answer challenging questions regarding the composition and physical characteristics of a given biomaterial quickly and accurately.

In addition to evaluating material inputs, iFyber can design and perform product-specific functional materials testing, such as evaluating mechanical properties, resorption rate, therapeutic ion release, antimicrobial activity, and biocompatibility, of products including but not limited to medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biologics. In addition to custom testing solutions, iFyber offers GLP-compliant testing services.

Click on the links below to learn more about iFyber’s standard materials testing offerings:

Composition analysis (e.g., NMR, FT-IR, SERs)
Material equivalence testing
Thermalgravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC)
Surface area and particle size analysis
Porosity, pore size, and interconnectivity analysis
Analysis of mechanical properties – compressive strength, elastic modulus
Analysis of molecular weight (e.g., GPC, MALDI)
Resorption rate testing
Biomaterials Testing
In vitroBiocompatibility Screening
Medical Device Development Services
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Interfacial Chemistry in Wound Care and Biosurgery Devices
Use of a Portable, Handheld Device for the Detection of Pyrethroids

What are Biomaterials?

Biomaterials are specially designed materials that are used on or within the body. Devices engineered with these materials can interact with the body’s repair mechanisms. This helps the body to heal itself and allows patients to lead longer and healthier lives. By stimulating a desired reaction in the body, biomaterials can be used to augment a broad variety of important processes for improved healing such as tissue remodeling, bone regeneration, hemostasis, and cell signaling. Development and study within the diverse field of biomaterials require an equally diverse team of scientists and engineers to successfully navigate the complexities of the materials and associated biomedical applications. iFyber provides expertise in a range of materials testing categories that are important to the field of biomaterials including: synthetic chemistry, analytical chemistry, polymers, chemical engineering, nanotechnology, micro- and molecular biology, and cell biology.

Biomaterial Design

Biomaterials design is a multifaceted endeavor, requiring a holistic mindset with respect to the end application and selection of the individual components making up the end product. iFyber digs deep into the biomaterial – often times at the molecular level – without losing sight of the end application. Representative design projects include design and production of nitric oxide-releasing polymers for wound healing applications, design of diagnostic probes for important biomarkers, and development of new hemostatic coatings for fibrous substrates.

Physiochemical Characterization

iFyber provides expertise and a range of materials testing that can be tailored to each material and intended application. If necessary, unique methods are developed based on our clients' specific needs. iFyber utilizes a broad set of analytical techniques to answer challenging questions regarding the composition of a given biomaterial. Specific examples include the use of NMR spectroscopy to determine the fate of a biomaterial within a device during the manufacturing process and the use of EPR spectroscopy to assess the effects of gamma/e-beam sterilization on biomaterials.

In Vitro Testing

Due to the complex environment in the body, biomaterials must be thoroughly evaluated to ensure they are safe while meeting the specific requirements for each application, such as mechanical properties, resorption rate, therapeutic ion release, antimicrobial activity, and biocompatibility. iFyber has the materials testing capacity to study the front-end biomaterial inputs as well as specific functions of the biomaterial in an end product. A particular focus area for iFyber’s materials testing team relates to biomaterials and infection, which can be a major clinical threat.