Development of a Novel Tissue Engineering Strategy Towards Whole Limb Regeneration
Abstract
Tissue engineering has been a highly successful strategy for regenerating individual musculoskeletal tissue types and holds great potential as a strategy for whole limb regeneration. In contrast to the bottom up approach of limb regeneration that relies on blastema formation outgrowth and cell dedifferentiation as seen in amphibians and lower vertebrates tissue engineering utilizes a top down approach that integrates material science cell and molecular biology and engineering. The aim of this research program is to take full advantage of this new direction to develop novel tissue engineering strategies for regenerating whole limbs in mammalian models. The tasks we have proposed use the collective expertise and insights of the group to test the hypothesis that functional organs can be regenerated by actively integrating the individual component tissues developed via the tissue engineering approach through the administration of appropriate environmental cues for limb regeneration. Key findings of this research program include the successful formation of both microsphere based nanofiber-based and composite microsphere-nanofiber structures for bone cartilage and ligament growth factor binding to and release from scaffolds cellular evaluation of marrow-derived mesenchymal and cell-specific cells on scaffolds in vivo visualization of vascularization of composite scaffolds and in vivo biocompatibility studies of scaffolds.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA489014
Entities
People
- Cato T. Laurencin
Organizations
- University of Virginia