Using Nacre to Make Substitute Bone

A study led by Professor Minghao Zheng and Dr Rui Ruan confirmed that nacre from silver-lipped pearl oysters in Broome has a structure that makes it suitable for bone substitute material.

UWA has developed a patented technology for using nacre to make a substitute named PearlBone, which has been assigned to a biotech company called Marine Biomedical.

Willie Creek Pearls has a commercial arrangement with Marine Biomedical to supply raw materials to the company.

“It’s completely reshaping the purposes of farming and what can be achieved with the product. If the project is successful it may lead to an increase in demand which in turn leads to more farms.”


“The magnitude of the opportunity is interesting as the business’ foundation product PearlBone is focusing on revolutionising the product used for bone voids and trauma medicine,” he told The Australian.


SOURCE: https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/12523/Ground-breaking-Biomedical-project-may-reshape-Australian-pearl-industry