What Is Tissue Engineering?

Tissue engineering is a sub-field of the bigger field  biomaterials. Tissue engineering is the study of the growth of new connective tissue, or organs, from cells and collageneous scaffold to a fully functional organ for implantation, back into the patient. The main point of tissue engineering is to repair, replace, restore, maintain or improve portions of or whole tissue such as bone, blood vessels, skin, muscles, etc.

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Donor tissue dissociates into individual cells, and the cells can be implanted directly into the patient, or they can be expanded in culture, and re-implanted into the patient after expansion. Donor tissue can be heterologous (such as bovine), allogeneic (same species, different person) or autologous (from the same individual the tissue is going back into). The most preferred cells to use are autologous, because using autologous cells avoids rejection, which could happen using the other cells. A limitation to cell growth and tissue engineering is difficulty in growing specific cell types in large quantity. Some organs have a high regenerative capacity, cell growth and expansion can still be difficult. Tissue engineering is a great way to help patients recover from diseases and anything emergent dealing with their body.

-Alex Brown

Sources:
"What Is Tissue Engineering." What Is Tissue Engineering. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

"Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine." Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

Koh, Chester J., and Anthony Atala, Dr. "Journal of the American Society of Nephrology." Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells, and Cloning: Opportunities for Regenerative Medicine. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.