Julie A O'Connell

US Patent:

20090136929, May 28, 2009

Filed:

Nov 28, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/946411

Inventors:

Rama Akella - Austin TX, US
Julie R. O'Connell - Lakeway TX, US

Assignee:

ZIMMER ORTHOBIOLOGICS, INC. - Austin TX

International Classification:

C12Q 1/68
C12Q 1/02

US Classification:

435 6, 435 29

Abstract:

The present invention provides an in vitro method for determining the osteoinductive potential of a biomaterial. In particular, the method measures the expression of osterix by osteoblast progenitor cells incubated with the biomaterial. In various embodiments, the biomaterial is demineralized bone (DMB) and the progenitor cells are incubated with DMB or proteins extracted from DMB.