Using the world’s most advanced electron microscope, Eindhoven University of Technology researchers have, for the first time, captured high-resolution images of the earliest stages of bone formation. Utilizing the FEI Company’s cryoTitan microscope they imaged small clusters of calcium carbonate and showed that clusters consisting of around ten ions formed the basis for the process resulting in nucleation into larger, unstructured nanoparticles with an average diameter of around thirty nanometers through which the crystalline biominerals are formed.

The work, published in Science magazine offers increased understanding of bone, tooth and shell formation and could have important implications for creating industrial biomimetic materials.

Source: Nanowerk