Tissue engineering is an emerging multidisciplinary research area at the interface of engineering sciences, biology and medicine for the creation of new tissue for the therapeutic reconstruction of the human body. A key objective in bone tissue engineering research is the design of biomaterial scaffolds that support cell and tissue growth. Many synthetic structures have been designed to impart bulk properties to the construct, such as adequate mechanical strength and sufficient transport properties for cell infiltration and tissue organization. Although the majority of these structures possess similar macroscopic properties as those of the native tissue, the constructs may fail prior to full healing due to insufficient tissue regeneration around the biomaterial directly after implantation. Since the interaction of cells with the biomaterial is a vital element in the evaluation of a biomaterial, a significant part of our research effort in recent years focuses on designing biomaterial structures that facilitate favorable interactions and enhance tissue regeneration.
Moreover, the scaffolds designed for bone tissue engineering applications must be three-dimensional, highly porous and interconnected to support cell attachment and proliferation. Pores are necessary for bone tissue formation because they allow migration and proliferation of osteoblasts and mesenchymal cells, as well as vascularization. In addition, a porous surface improves mechanical interlocking between the implant biomaterial and the surrounding natural bone, providing greater mechanical stability at this critical interface. Materials used for fabricating scaffolds for bone tissue-engineering application must also have sufficient structural integrity matching the mechanical properties of native tissue, and should offer an ideal and critical micro-environment to function as an artificial extra-cellular matrix (ECM)onto which cells attach, grow, and form new tissues. Hybrid materials and composites with tunable mechanical, chemical, and biological properties exhibit advantageous features and attract much research attention in recent years. In my talk I will present case studies of materials, cells, and their biological and mechanical characteristics that we have tuned to control the efficiency in bone tissue repair.