Regenerative Medicine

Full course description

Regenerative medicine has been defined as an interdisciplinary field that integrates principles of engineering and life sciences to develop biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue and organ functions. Three main gears are generally needed to achieve tissue regeneration: cell-based therapies, tissue-inducing factors, and biocompatible matrices or scaffolds. These components have been investigated singularly or in combination to create engineered tissues. Regenerative medicine research includes the following areas:

• Biomaterials: including novel biomaterials that are designed to direct the organization, growth, and differentiation of cells in the process of forming functional tissue by providing both physical and chemical cues;
• Cells: including enabling methodologies for the proliferation and differentiation of cells, acquiring the appropriate source of cells such as autologous cells, allogeneic cells, xenogeneic cells, stem cells, genetically engineered cells, and immunological manipulation;
• Biomolecules: including growth and other differentiating factors;
• Biofabrication: including technologies that enables the production of scaffolds and biological constructs;
• Engineering design aspects: including 2D cell expansion, 3D tissue growth, bioreactors, engineering of surface properties to guide cell-material interactions, vascularization, cell and tissue storage and shipping (biological packaging);
• Biomechanical aspects of design: including properties of native tissues, identification of minimum properties required for engineered tissues, mechanical signals regulating engineered tissues, and efficacy and safety of engineered tissues.

In this course, we will introduce most of these elements through some examples that have already successfully reached the clinics and others that have still to be further improved to enter daily clinical practices.