Tissue
Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Research Network |
Concept
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The concept of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is a multidisciplinary, young and emerging field in biotechnology, which is expected to change medical practice profoundly, regenerating tissues and organs instead of just repairing them. There is much promise connected to this new medical discipline regarding improved treatment possibilities, enhanced quality of the patient´s life and the ability to overcome in a future perspective the need for major grafting procedures. It is expected that this biotechnology has also a high economical impact on clinical medicine. Tissue engineering has grown tremendously during the last decade. Advances in genetic medicine and stem cell technology as a major aspect of tissue generation have significantly improved the potential to influence cell and tissue performance and have recently expanded the field towards regenerative medicine. To fulfill these expectations several challenges concerning scientific, technological, clinical, ethical and also social issues need to be met. Basic research still requires the evaluation and elaboration of fundamental processes and procedures in multiple research fields. Preclinical animal studies are necessary to test the possibilities of regenerative approaches and to refine the therapy before they can be introduced in clinical trials. Based on the necessity of
an interdisciplinary approach we established a research network where
molecular cell biologists, polymer chemists, engineers and clinicians
from different disciplines work together in order to understand the
molecular basis for tissue formation, and to apply this knowledge to
engineer tissues using therapeutic systems of cells, scaffolds and signaling
molecules. |