Tissue Engineering Course Overview

Tissue Engineering Course

• Three lab sessions will be conducted: cell counting and bio-imaging, proliferation on ECM substrate, and cell differentiation.
• Each lab session will be held in P4810 and a group report is required.
• The lab report is due the week after the lab session, late reports will not be graded.

Term Project

• Students will work in groups of five to conduct a literature review on a topic related to Tissue Engineering.
• Groups need to register in Canvas and notify the instructor of their chosen topic via email.
• The project presentation is 12 minutes followed by 3 minutes of Q&A.

Term Project Presentation Grading

• The presentation is graded out of 100% with each category worth 25%: presentation, technical content, PowerPoint slides, and Q&A.

Term Project Topics

• Students can choose a topic from a list, with a maximum of two groups choosing the same topic.
• Topics include: heart, skin, bone, nerve system, blood vessel, liver, cartilage, kidney, bladder, and skeletal muscle.

The Need for Tissue Engineering

• Millions of patients suffer from damaged or malfunctioning tissue/organs.
• Examples of affected tissues include spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease.
• Tissues are often not spontaneously repaired or stored after damage.

Tissue Regeneration

• Tissue regeneration is limited in most tissues, leading to long waitlists for organ/tissue transplants.
• The average waitlist for organ transplants has approximately one patient added every 10 minutes, with only 80 transplants occurring each day.

Cloning: Dolly the Sheep

• Dolly is the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell using nuclear transfer.
• Dolly's creation sparked interest in the possibility of reproducing lost tissue or organs.

Cloning: Pet Cloning

• Pet cloning is currently available.
• In December 2001, the first cloned cat, Cc (carbon copy), was born in College Station, Texas.

Human Cloning

• Human cloning is theoretically possible.
• Ethical concerns surrounding human cloning have led to legal restrictions in many countries.

Vacanti Mouse

• In 1997, BBC's "Tomorrow's World" documentary showcased the Vacanti mouse.
• The Vacanti mouse was created using calf chondrocytes and PLGA.

Definition of Tissue Engineering

• Tissue Engineering is a field that combines engineering principles and life sciences to develop biological substitutes to restore, maintain, or improve tissue, organ, or function.
• The ultimate goal is to restore function through the delivery of living elements that integrate into the patient.

Applications of Tissue Engineering

• Tissue engineering applies to various biological components:
  • Organs: heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines can be transplanted.
  • Tissues: corneas, middle ear, skin, heart valves, bone, veins, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments can be stored in tissue banks.
  • Cells: stem cells (marrow, peripheral blood, cord blood), as well as blood and platelets.

Reasons for Tissue Engineering

• Congenital abnormalities necessitate tissue reconstruction.
• Most tissues cannot regenerate following disease or injury.
• Even spontaneously regenerating tissues may not fully recover from large defects.
• Permanent implants have limitations and associated problems.

Tissue Engineering vs. Regenerative Medicine

• Tissue Engineering:
  • Conducted in vitro.
  • Advantages: evaluation of tissue before implantation, strict environmental control.
  • Disadvantages: requires remodeling for incorporation.
• Regenerative Medicine:
  • Conducted in vivo.
  • Advantages: incorporation under endogenous regulators (including mechanics), physiologic environment.
  • Disadvantages: dislodgement and degradation by mechanical stresses in vivo.

Tissue Engineering Paradigm

• Key considerations in tissue engineering include:
  • Cells
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Biochemical Factors (e.g., growth factors)
  • Biophysical Factors (e.g., cyclic mechanical loading)

Types of Transplants

• Autografts: harvesting tissue from a patient's own body for transplantation.
• Allografts: harvesting tissue from a donor for transplantation into a patient (deceased or living donors).
• Xenografts: removing tissue from an animal for transplantation into a human.
• Man-made materials and devices: artificial hearts, heart valves, etc.

History of Tissue Engineering

• The first synthetic skin substitute was developed in 1962.
• The first successful tissue-engineered skin products were developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Need for Engineered Skin

• Wounds larger than 1cm or extending deep into the dermis require specialized treatment for closure.
• The gold standard is autologous skin grafts; however, they have issues:
  • Injury to the uninjured donor site.
  • Difficulty obtaining adequate autologous skin.
  • Challenges with covering large wound areas.

Skin Tissue Engineering

• Skin grafts were the first engineered tissue constructs.
• Developed by Green and colleagues at Harvard Medical School.
• Keratinocytes isolated from biopsies are proliferated by coculturing with a mouse mesenchymal feeder layer, increasing coverage area by a thousandfold within weeks.

Explore the essential components of the Tissue Engineering course, including lab sessions focused on cell counting, imaging, and differentiation. Understand the requirements for group projects and presentations, as well as grading criteria. Perfect for students looking to gain a comprehensive overview of the course structure and expectations.