via Biosingularity

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have published findings that show, for the first time, that bone cells can grow and proliferate on a scaffold of carbon nanotubes. Scientists found that the nanotubes, 100,000 times finer than a human hair, are an excellent scaffold for bone cells to grow on.

…Because carbon nanotubes are not biodegradable, they behave like an inert matrix on which cells can proliferate and deposit new living material, which becomes functional, normal bone…

…“We hope to look at the atomic interactions between living matter and synthetic scaffolds so we can come up with material that can interact at the nanolevel with living cells,” Zanello said.