Tissue engineering -

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What is Tissue Engineering?

The key purpose of tissue engineering is to replace or repair injured body parts by mimicking the design and function of normal human tissue and organs. Whilst scientists can grow many different cell types in flat petri dishes in the laboratory the key challenge is to move from a 2-dimensional structure to a 3-dimensional structure in order to create useful tissue structures.

Source: Prof Dr Martijn van Griensven, Dr Cornelia Kasper: "Tissue engineering", pp38-39, BIOforum Europe, vol 8(6), Dec 2004

	The preferred approach is to use a scaffold on which the cells can grow and to control that growth. One way is to grow the tissue outside the body (in vitro) but it can also be done after the implant of a suitable scaffold into the body. Eventually, tissue engineering is expected to create organs that are tailored to patient-specific needs and provide a solution to the limited availability of organs for transplantation.		Current therapies The main sources of tissue structures today are: Tissue from elsewhere in the patient (Autogafts) Tissues from other humans (Allografts) Animal tissues (Xenografts) There are shortcomings associated with each of these approaches and some of the well-known problems include: The lack of suitable donor tissue in the patient Healing problems for the donor site in the patient The shortage of human donors and resultant waiting lists The use of anti-rejection drugs
			By using natural tissue structures in tissue engineering, Bio Nova has developed methods to produce three-dimensional structures for use in surgical repair. By careful control of the tissue building processes, Bio Nova is able to tailor the properties and architecture of its engineered tissues to meet specific medical applications. The process allows for almost unlimited design flexibility in terms of both the material and its three dimensional form. Read more about scaffold technology.

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