Professor Kevin Shakesheff from the University of Nottingham has developed a toothpaste-like material that can be squirted into a damaged bone and hardens in minutes. And he has launched a new biotech company to commercialize the technology, which he says can be available in the U.S. in 18 months.

Unlike bone grafts, the material creates a biodegradable scaffold for new bone to grow on. And because it can be injected at room temperature, it avoids the cell-killing properties of currently available bone cements, which heat up the area around the wound. And because it can be injected with a needle, patients don't have to be opened up for surgery. Last week Shakesheff won the Medical Futures awards for the innovation.

"We believe we can just insert the needle, follow it to the right spot and inject the polymer, which will fill the desired area, and set as hard as the bone on either side," Shakesheff told the BBC. "Because the material does not heat up, surrounding bone cells survive and can grow."

- read the report [1] from the BBC