Dr. Mark Clarke

The innovative result of Clarke's research was something more than a 3-D model of bone formation. The result was real human bone.

"We made a structure that has no synthetic components," he said. "It's all made by the two cell types that we start with. What you end up with is a piece of material that is identical to newly formed human trabecular bone, including its mineral components, its histology and its growth factor content."

In a previous NASA-funded study, Clarke studied how skin patches can collect sweat for analysis of biomarkers of bone loss, like calcium.

This most recent research is another example of studies that are market-ready. The start-up company, OsteoSphere, is examining ways the research can be used commercially.

"UH has now licensed the technology to OsteoSphere, which is looking at ways to commercialize the technology in a clinical setting, including culturing an individual's own bone for subsequent transplantation back into the patient, developing other products for use in orthopedic reconstruction or using the technology as a screening tool for pharmaceutical development," Clarke said.