Bioactive glasses were first discovered in the late 1960s by Larry Hench. In the 1980s and 1990s bioactive glasses experienced a surge of research interest, an interest which has since declined. This talk will examine the current status of bioactive glasses and discuss future roles and applications for bioactive glasses in regenerative medicine, specifically those related to orthopaedic tissue engineering. Bioactive materials are often considered as those that have the ability to bond to mineralised bone tissue in the physiological environment, however, this talk, as well as examining this aspect, will consider the broader sense of bioactive as ‘having or eliciting a biological effect’. It will examine the role of bioactive glasses as active drug carriers and the influence which enhanced nanotechnology will have on the application of bioactive glasses
