Technology transfer. Also polyethylene

Our next foray into this field, in collaboration with Rowena Crockett at the Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), took a broader look at the proteins in synovial fluid. We came to the conclusion that albumin actually increases friction in comparison to saline, while glycoproteins, in general, lubricated implant-material sliding surfaces effectively. Despite the massive excess of albumin in synovial fluid, we could show, by fluorescence spectroscopy, that the glycoproteins made it to the surface and lubricated the materials (2.41). Fluorescence microscopy also proved useful for monitoring the transfer of polyethylene to inorganic countersurfaces, and it was found, contrary to conventional wisdom, that this transfer also occurs in the presence of proteins or even synovial fluid (2.42). 

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