TABLE OF CONTENTS Multidisciplinary teaming is accelerating advances and products in biomedical engineering and technology of organic and artificial tissues, organs, and materials.
Advances in tissue and organ engineering and repair are likely to result in organic and artificial replacement parts for humans. New advances in tissue regeneration and repair continue to improve our ability to resolve health problems within our bodies.
The field of tissue engineering, which is barely a decade old, has already led to engineered commercial skin products for wound treatment. [4] Growth of cartilage for repair and replacement is at the stage of clinical testing, [5] and treatment of heart disease via growth of functional tissue by 2015 is a realistic goal. [6] These advances will depend upon improved biocompatible (or bioabsorbable) scaffold materials, development of 3D vascularized tissues and multicellular tissues, and an improved understanding of the in vivo growth process of cellular material on such scaffolds (Bonassar and Vacanti, 1998 [130]).
Research and applications of stem cell therapies will likely continue and expand, using these unspecialized human cells to augment or replace brain or body functions, organs (e.g., heart, kidney, liver, pancreas), and structures (Shamblott et al., 1998; Thomson et al., 1998; Couzin, 1999; Allen, 2000 [117 119, 122]). As the most unspecialized stem cells are found in early stage embryos or fetal tissue, an ethical debate is ensuing regarding the use of stem cells for research and therapy (Couzin, 1999; U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission, 1999; Allen, 2000...
