Title: Advances in biomaterials and technologies in bone tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and the life sciences toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain or improve tissue function at a specific defect site or trauma. One of the main strategies of tissue engineering includes cells placed on or within biomaterial matrices such as three dimensional (3D) scaffolds. Biomaterials for bone tissue engineering have many potential clinical applications from the treatment of nonunion fractures to spinal fusion. The use of porous biomaterial scaffolds to support bone cell and tissue growth is a longstanding area of interest. Current challenges include the engineering of materials that match both the mechanical and biological context of real bone tissue matrix and support the vascularization of large tissue constructs. This talk will discuss the development of biomimetic biofunctional composite constructs via 3D printing and bioprinting that support bone and vascular tissue regeneration. Bone is a highly dynamic, anisotropic, hierarchically structured tissue that undergoes continuous remodeling throughout lifetime. During this process, osteoblasts and osteoclasts are responsible for bone formation and bone resorption. Mechanical stimuli applied on bone tissue can shift the balance between these two cell populations. This talk will discuss the application of mechanical stimulation on cell-loaded 3D porous composite scaffolds using a bioreactor, and the evaluation of osteogenic and osteoclastogenic potential in co-cultures.