Helping the Body to Heal Itself - New Program Advances Research in Tissue Engineering
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): |
Engineering Photo Competition |
| Learning Resource Type: | Community - General |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | Hospital for Special Surgery |
| Description: | New program in Tissue Engineering at the Hospital for Special Surgery. "Tissue engineering is a rapidly growing field that seeks to restore the function of injured or diseased tissue by either stimulating the body to repair itself or regenerate new tissue, or by replacing damaged tissues with healthy cells and tissues grown outside the body. By harnessing the body�s ability to heal itself, tissue engineering promises to vastly improve treatment options for numerous injuries and illnesses. Hospital for Special Surgery recently created the Tissue Engineering, Regeneration, and Repair Program to advance understanding of how to apply tissue engineering techniques to treat patients plagued by injuries to the musculoskeletal tissues, which include cartilage, meniscus, ligaments, tendons, bone, and skin. Directed by Senior Scientist Peter Torzilli, PhD, the goal of the Program is to understand the fundamental processes underlying the development, damage, degeneration, and healing of musculoskeletal tissues and to use this information to develop new strategies to prevent, repair, regenerate, or replace the injured tissues." Photo caption: Assistant Scientist Suzanne Maher, PhD, who heads the Laboratory for Functional Tissue Engineering, is investigating the use of scaffolds made of hydrogels, to repair damaged cartilage by providing a matrix in which embedded growth factors stimulate the proliferation and migration of healthy cells to the affected areas. |
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| Keywords: | gender equity, women in engineering, women in medicine, women in biomedical engineering |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | "Since the goal of tissue engineering is to restore or replicate normal tissue functioning in compromised individuals, it is necessary for tissue engineering researchers to understand the origin, development, and maintenance of normal tissue. In order to accomplish this, Special Surgery?s Tissue Engineering, Regeneration, and Repair Program is planning to expand in the areas of developmental biology, mesenchymal (adult) stem cells, and cell-matrix signaling. Dr. Torzilli explained that, ?Study in these areas will enhance our ability to develop strategies to repair, regenerate, and replace tissues by helping us address critical questions like: How do tissues develop and grow and how do mechanical forces affect these processes? How can we direct stem cells toward a particular developmental pathway to yield specific types of differentiated cell populations? How do cells and matrix communicate in such a way that cells are prompted to produce a specific kind of tissue??" |
| Difficulty: | Medium |
| Interactivity Level: | Very Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | October 2007 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.hss.edu/14867.asp |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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