BMEG 580 - Tissue Engineering

3 Credit(s)

The objective of this course is to provide students a foundation for the understanding of cell based systems needed for tissue engineering. The structure-property-function relationships in normal and pathological mammalian tissues will be covered. A review of the current development of biological substitutes to restore, maintain, or improve functions that includes strategies to regenerate metabolic organs and repair structural tissues, as well as cell-based therapies to deliver proteins and other therapeutic drugs will be discussed. There are a variety of very important materials issues in tissue engineering, which will be discussed in detail. Cells adherence to the extracellular matrix materials in the body and their enormous effect on cell behavior will be detailed. The physical and chemical properties of these materials will be examined and important materials used in tissue engineering will be discussed.