Starting in the mid 1990’s, the founders of Nanovation Partners LLC sponsored research at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) in the lab of Sungho Jin, PhD. This research showed enhanced osseointegration and reduced implant surface infection by forming thousands of rows of tiny metal oxide nanotubes per square millimeter on the medical implant-to-tissue surface. These nanotubes were formed into the metal oxide surface already present on metal implants. No new materials were formed and no synthetic hydroxyapatite or other coating was needed. The group noticed that nearby stem cells treated the nanotube surfaces more like the outer membrane of other cells and they immediately clung to and branched out on this surface. These cells rapidly spread and differentiated into bone cells. Mineralization and mechanical bonding occurred more quickly and four times more prevalently with nanotube surfaces than non-treated surfaces. Ultimately in vivo studies showed that this caused a nine times stronger bond between implant and bone tissue after just four weeks.