Dr. Grover’s background is in the development of novel synthetic materials for the replacement of bone. He studied for his undergraduate degree (Biomedical Materials Science) and PhD (Biomaterials) at the University of Birmingham, before moving to Canada to work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McGill University, Montreal. He returned to the UK in 2006 to work as a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham.

During his PhD, Dr. Grover specialised in the development of orthopaedic biomaterials from calcium phosphate compounds. Much of his work from this time involved the development of calcium phosphate materials which can be processed at ambient or core temperature. He has published widely on the formulation and development of cold-setting inorganic cements and currently holds one patent on a new calcium pyrophosphate cement system.

While at McGill, Dr. Grover began working on the protein stabilisation of amorphous and nanocrystalline inorganic compounds, particularly those pertinent to the formation of biominerals in the laboratory of Dr. Jake Barralet. He is currently continuing his research into the development of novel biomaterials for bone replacement applications and as tissue engineering scaffolds.

Current Research Areas

• Bioresponsives
• Protein control of crystal formation
• Low temperature synthesis of calcium orthophosphate and pyrophosphate compounds
• Calcium phosphate cements and gels
• The development of biologically inspired materials
• Hydrogel encapsulation of cells

Dr. Grover’s research focuses on the development of novel methods to repair diseased and damaged tissue.  His main expertise is in the formulation of new hard tissue replacements, but he also has an interest in tissue engineering soft tissues that typically interface with bone (e.g. ligaments, tendons, and cartilage).

Hard tissue replacement
Dr. Grover has a strong track record in the development and formulation of calcium phosphate based bone replacement materials and has in excess of 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers in this area.  He has worked on calcium phosphate based ceramics that can be produced using a variety of routes at both high (by sintering) and ambient temperatures.
His current research in this area focuses around three central themes:

• The development of bioresponsive bone replacements: Current bone replacement materials tend to degrade at inappropriate rates meaning that they either remain in place for an extended period of time or do not provide sufficient support for new bone growth.  Dr. Grover currently seeks to develop materials, the degradation of which is accelerated by factors associated with tissue formation.
• Nanostructuring ceramic materials to enhance mechanical properties: Biological minerals typically exhibit mechanical properties that are greater than the sum of their parts.  Nacre, for example, exhibits a work of fracture of 3000 times that of the aragonite (CaCO₃) crystals of which it is formed.  The enhanced mechanical properties can be attributed to crystal orientation and the presence of proteins that bond the crystals. 
• Tissue Engineering: Novel approaches are being exploited to develop macroporous tissue engineering scaffolds capable of supporting the formation of nascent bone using hydrogel porogens, 3D printing and supercritical CO₂.

Soft tissue Replacement
Dr. Grover also works on the production of engineered soft tissues, such as skin, ligaments and tendons.  He currently has a project funded by the EU on tissue engineering skin (NANOBIOTACT) for the development of a novel biosensor and two other PhD students working in this area. 

• Hard/soft tissue interfaces: Numerous soft tissues in the body interface with bone (ligaments, tendons, cartilage) and form bonds of sufficient strength to facilitate movement and resist incredibly high forces.  Although both ligaments and tendons can be tissue engineered, currently their attachment to hard-tissues is poor.  Dr. Grover is currently attempting to produce tissue engineered constructs ‘ready-attached’ to calcium phosphate ceramics for direct implantation into bone. 
• Hydrogel encapsulation: The need for a 3D scaffold for the production of functional tissues is well known.  The majority of groups have used macroporous scaffolds onto which cells may be seeded.  Although some success has been demonstrated using this approach, it is now widely accepted that the cells in the construct recognise only the surface to which they are adhered.  Encapsulation in hydrogels provides the cells with an environment that is similar to that in vivo, where they are typically embedded within an extracellular matrix.  Current work seeks to study the behaviour of numerous cell types in alginate and other hydrogels, with the aim of ultimately producing multi-tissue constructs.

Miscellaneous

Dr. Grover is a reviewer for Biomaterials, Journal of Materials Chemistry, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Powder technology. Journal of Dentistry, Spine, Acta Biomaterialia. Journal of Applied Biomaterials Applications, Cryst Eng Comm, Journal of Biomedical Materials Science Part B, Journal of Biomedical Materials Science Part A, Journal of Materials Science, Journal of Materials Science – Materials in Medicine, Tissue Engineering and Biotechnology Progress.
In addition, he reviews for the BBSRC and The Health Technology Devices Programme.

Selected Publications

Barralet JE, Gibson IR, Grover LM, Gaunt T, Wright AJ.  Preparation of macroporous calcium phosphate tissue engineering scaffold. Biomaterials 2002;23:15: 3063-3072.

Gbureck U, Grolms O, Barralet, JE, Grover LM, Thull R. Mechanical activation and setting reaction of ß-tricalcium phosphate. Biomaterials 2003;24:23:4123-4131.

Grover LM, Knowles JC, Barralet, JE.  In vitro ageing of a brushite calcium phosphate cement. Biomaterials 2003; 24:4133-41.

Barralet JE, Hofmann M, Grover LM, Gbureck U. High Strength Apatitic Cement by Modification with α-Hydroxy Acid Salts. Adv. Mater. 2003;15:2091-2095

Gbureck U, Barralet, JE, Spatz K, Grover LM, Thull R. Ionic Modification of Calcium Phosphate Cement Viscosity Part I: Hypodermic injection and Strength Improvement of Apatite Cement. Biomaterials 2004;25:2187-2195.

Barralet, JE, Grover LM. Gbureck U. Ionic Modification of Calcium Phosphate Cement Viscosity Part II: Hypodermic injection and Strength Improvement of Brushite Cement. Biomaterials 2004;25: 2197-2203.

Barralet JE, Lilley KJ, Grover LM, Farrar DF, Ansell C, Gbureck U.  Cements from nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 2004;15:407-411.

Gbureck U, Knappe O, Grover LM, Barralet JE.  Antimicrobial potency of alkali ion substituted calcium phosphate cements. Biomaterials 2005;26:6880-6886.

Grover LM, Gbureck U, Wright AJ, Barralet JE, Cement formulations in the calcium phosphate H2O-H3PO4-H4P2O7 system. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2005; 24:4133-4141.

Grover LM, Gbureck U, Young AM, Wright AJ, Barralet JE. Temperature dependent setting kinetics and mechanical properties of beta-TCP-pyrophosphoric acid bone cement. Journal of Materials Chemistry 2005;15(46):4955-62.

Grover LM, Gbureck U, Wright AJ, Tremayne M, Barralet JE. Biologically mediated resorption of brushite cement in vitro. Biomaterials 2006;27(10):2178-85.

Gorst NJS, Perrie Y, Gbureck U, Hutton AL, Hofmann MP, Grover LM, et al. Effects of fibre reinforcement on the mechanical properties of brushite cement. Acta Biomaterialia 2006;2(1):95-102.

Xia ZD, Grover LM, Huang YZ, Adamopoulos LE, Gbureck U, Triffitt JT, et al. In vitro biodegradation of three brushite calcium phosphate cements by a macrophage cell-line. Biomaterials 2006;27(26):4557-65.

Tomson PL, Grover LM, Lumley PJ, Sloan AJ, Smith AJ, Cooper PR. Dissolution of bio-active dentine matrix components by mineral trioxide aggregate. Journal of Dentistry 2007;35:636-642.

Gbureck U, Hölzel T, Biermann I, Barralet JE, Grover LM. Preparation of tricalcium phosphate/calcium pyrophosphate structures via rapid prototyping. Journal Of Materials Science-Materials In Medicine 2008;19:4:1559-1563.

Collins NJ, Leeke GA, Bridson RH, Hassan F, Grover LM. The influence of silica on pore diameter and distribution in PLA scaffolds produced using supercritical CO2. Journal Of Materials Science-Materials In Medicine 2008;19:4:1497-1502.

Bridson RH, Collins NJ, Leeke GA, Grover LM. Production of silica-loaded scaffolds using supercritical methods for bone tissue engineering. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2007;59:A64.

Grover LM, Kumarasami B, Hofmann MP, Gbureck U, Barralet JE.  Frozen delivery of brushite calcium phosphate cement pastes.  In Press Acta Biomaterialia.

Vorndran E, Klarner M, Klammert U, Grover LM, Barralet JE, Gbureck U. 3D powder printing of β-tricalcium phosphate ceramics using different strategies. Accepted for publication Advanced Engineering Materials.